Subject: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: *daylia* Date: 10 Oct 05 - 09:01 AM It's Turkey Time in Canada... ...sit down and have some fun! Try this one if your mousie's bored And this if you like guns. (No luck? Still feel a bit grumpy? Just click here. ) Happy Day! |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Steve Latimer Date: 10 Oct 05 - 09:12 AM Happy Thanksgiving fellow Canucks. We had ours yesterday, had a Thanksgiving Dinner that couldn't be beat. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: sian, west wales Date: 10 Oct 05 - 09:40 AM I had mine last week as I was working yesterday and there's no holiday in Britain. Still have Turkey in the freezer and it's turkey soup for supper. A festival that keeps on giving .... Happy Thanksgiving! siân |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: *daylia* Date: 10 Oct 05 - 12:43 PM Yup! And for the Native North/Americans, Turkey really just kept/keeps on giving too, providing feathers to make warm winter capes (the Oddo peoples, Texas) ceremonial headdresses (Tarahumara, Mexico) even wedding gowns (Cherokee, eastern woodlands) |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Mooh Date: 10 Oct 05 - 02:16 PM Had two Thanksgiving dinners and so much for which to be thankful. Dinner one was at home with wife and kids. Dinner two was at the family cottage with the extended family, which is smaller again this year. Had a good hike in the woods with my dog and my brother, and a good walk along the shore with my oldest daughter. Had to take the same daughter to the train this morning as she's off to school again, an act which breaks my heart and makes me proud all at once. All in all though, a good weekend among family. Peace and love at Thanksgiving, friends! Peace, Mooh. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: dianavan Date: 10 Oct 05 - 02:44 PM As usual, I was up until 2:00 A.M. making pies, sweet potatoes, and cranberry relish. We will have roasted chicken instead of turkey because of the number of folks who are vegetarian. Just too many turkey leftovers as a result. I am always happy to harvest what is left in the garden. It makes it more meaningful to me when the food we share is homegrown. Looks like the garden will give, squash, potatoes, brocoli, arugula, mizuna, tomatoes, chard, parsley and raspberries. Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your prosperity. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Elmer Fudd Date: 10 Oct 05 - 02:55 PM Howdy y'all. I'm a stranger in these parts. Please enlighten my ignorant self. What do you fine folks give thanks for in the land of the Maple Leaf, if not for setting foot on Plymouth Rock? (Maybe for NOT hanging your hats in the future US of A?) Times have changed Oftentimes we've rewound the clock Since the Puritans got a shock When they landed on Plymouth Rock. If today any shock they should try to stem 'stead of landing on Plymouth Rock Plymouth Rock would land on them! ---Cole Porter, "Anything Goes" |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: CarolC Date: 10 Oct 05 - 03:14 PM Happy Thanksgiving! |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Clinton Hammond Date: 10 Oct 05 - 03:15 PM Ug... Too..... Much........ Fooood........ :-P |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: sian, west wales Date: 10 Oct 05 - 05:18 PM I always supposed that Canadian Thanksgiving was a 'version' of the British 'Harvest Thanksgiving'. Britain celebrates it around the same time, but without a fixed dated. Most of the churches and chapels have their harvest festival on one of the first two Sundays in October. sian |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Peace Date: 10 Oct 05 - 05:20 PM BURP! |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: number 6 Date: 10 Oct 05 - 05:44 PM please ... excuse yourself Peace! We jumped the gun and had our thanksgiving last weekend ... my cousin, and his wife),who I haven't seen for 12 years was up here visiting us in SJ ... it was special, not only having him here, but also it was our grandson Ry's first thanksgiving ... it was a good family gathering and feast. Happy Thanksgiving Canada. sIx |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: gnu Date: 10 Oct 05 - 07:04 PM Turkey, ham, potatoes, carrots, turnip, squash, green beans, wax beans, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, gravy, coleslaw, chow, cranberry sauce & jelly, various pickled fruits and veggies, pumpkin cheesecake... and the families together. I hope everyone had a good celebration. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Elmer Fudd Date: 10 Oct 05 - 09:07 PM So no one is gonna tell me what y'all are grateful for? I'm gonna have to resort to (gulp) Google?????? Pesky wabbits.... |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Mooh Date: 10 Oct 05 - 10:28 PM Mr. Fudd...Maybe we're thankful for patience. And, health care, education, gun laws, parliamentary democracy, good luthiers, international friends, freedom of religion, and for the time being a few good places to catch fish. Peace, Mooh. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Elmer Fudd Date: 10 Oct 05 - 10:38 PM Touché, Mooh. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: GUEST Date: 10 Oct 05 - 10:56 PM ... and don't forget peace loving people. sIx |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Peace Date: 10 Oct 05 - 11:06 PM Amen to that, bro. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Elmer Fudd Date: 10 Oct 05 - 11:33 PM The question was a friendly, peace-loving one, though. I know y'all think we're arrogant, ethnocentric a-holes down this way, but I only know the Plymouth Rock, Squanto, Injuns helping Puritans through the first winter version of Thanksgiving. That's all my second grade teacher deigned to tell me. I was merely curious about the Canuck Thanksgiving tradition, to chew on while I wait another six weeks or so for my plate of turkey and trimmings. Elmer |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: number 6 Date: 10 Oct 05 - 11:42 PM That's basically the story what we were taught too Elmer .... we have it earlier because, well, we have to feast on the harvested crops before the cold sets in ... one belessing is that our Thanksgiving hasn't evolved into the grand premier day of Xmas shopping madness as it has down below the border. sIx |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Peace Date: 10 Oct 05 - 11:50 PM "I know y'all think we're arrogant, ethnocentric a-holes down this way" Ya know wrong about that, Elmer. That is NOT at all what the majority of Canadians think. Certainly not what I think either. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: number 6 Date: 10 Oct 05 - 11:57 PM Peace is correct on that statement Elmer. Certainly not what I think also sIx |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Elmer Fudd Date: 11 Oct 05 - 12:07 AM Well shucks guys, thanks a bunch. We're always gettin' blasted for not knowing anybody's history but our own, so I thought I'd better eat some crow in advance before askin'. Whew. I feel so much better. Elmer |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Elmer Fudd Date: 11 Oct 05 - 12:15 AM PS: A Happy Thankgiving to y'all. And thanks for Farley Mowat too. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: number 6 Date: 11 Oct 05 - 12:23 AM HeHe .... and I thank you for Kirk Vonnegut! sIx |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: sian, west wales Date: 11 Oct 05 - 04:35 AM Six, I was always taught (as a Canadian) ABOUT the American tradition but it was never put across to us - except by Hallmark cards - that it was also the Canadian tradition. OK - the choice of turkey is probably tied in with the whole Pilgrim story. Elmer, that's why I made my first comment, above: to point out that I'm fairly sure that the Canadian tradition is a continuation of the British (and possibly other European) traditions. It's a HARVEST Thanksgiving. And I, too, am thankful for a lot of what Mooh and Six (guest) listed. Except I can't fish worth a damn. Oh - and I would also add that I'm thankful that Canadians celebrate at the beginning of October. No way do I want two turkeys within 4 weeks of each other! (It happened once in boyfriend terms. Never again.) siân |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: gnu Date: 11 Oct 05 - 05:47 AM I am thankful for the "Bugs Bunny and Road Runner Show". Hmmm, how did their Thanksgiving tribute start? A farm scene I believe. With a big tom turkey strutting across the barnyard... and a voiceover... "Good morning Tom. Great day to be alive , isn't it? Think you can staaaaay that way? Oh, it's nothing.... just that I see farmer Fudd over there.... sharpening his... AXE! And, the day after tomorrow IS Thanksgiving, isn't it Tom?" Priceless. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: number 6 Date: 11 Oct 05 - 08:38 AM Jeeeeeez gnu ..... that's it .... lay the 'ol guilt trip on. Think I'll go back to being a vegetarian again. sian ... it is more of a Harvest thing ... sorta coincides with the fall fairs ... give thanks to the Big Guy, Goddess or whatever for having a plentiful bounty of crops, thanks for making it through another year. sIx :) |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: *daylia* Date: 11 Oct 05 - 10:10 AM Well, for those with a burning need to know, here's the official Proclamation and Observance of General Thanksgiving Days and reasons therefore (Canadian Heritage pages, CBC) Apparently the first "official" Thanksgiving Day here was in Lower Canada (Quebec) on Jan 10, 1799, "In signal victory over our enemy and for the manifold and inestimable blessings which our Kingdoms and Provinces have received and daily continue to receive." In Upper Canada (Ontario), the first Thanksgiving was observed June 18 1816, in gratitude for the end of the war between Great Britain and France. After Confederation, the first Thanksgiving was April 15 1872, "for the restoration to health of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales". In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the dates for officially proclaimed Thanksgiving celebrations seem to be all over the map, and the reasons included: "End of the war with the United States of America and restoration of the blessings of Peace" (April 6, 1815) "For God's mercies and cessation of grievous disease" (Jan 3 1850) and "Blessings of an abundant harvest" (Oct 18, 1920) In 1957, the second Monday of Oct was fixed by proclamation as the official Thanksgiving Day, "For general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessings with which the people of Canada have been favoured." All very interesting, but I have read other accounts which state that the peoples of Canada celebrated the traditional European harvest festival of Thanksgiving long before it was ever declared by official statute. One such article claims that the explorer Martin Frobisher celebrated the first Thanksgiving here when he landed in Newfoundland in the 1500's, in gratitude for a safe and successful voyage. And that was WAY (and I do mean way!) before Plymouth Rock! :-) ANd whether or not this has anything to do with traditional Thanksgiving menus, I do know that wild turkeys were hunted to extinction here in Ontario in the 1900's. A few American turkeys were re-introduced into the wild here about 10 years ago though - and now, flocks (or is it "gaggles"??) of wild turkeys are a common sight in my locale. I remember the first time I came across one, out for a run on the hiking trails through the forest nearby. Just about had a cardiac - I'd never seen a bird that large on the ground before. Thought it was an ostrich at first! |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Peace Date: 11 Oct 05 - 10:13 AM Many of my students had turkey. An equal number had elk, deer, moose, chicken, ham, fish and beef. A few vegetarians--myself included (I eat meat very rarely) had other things. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: number 6 Date: 11 Oct 05 - 02:06 PM Thanks for that info *daylia*. I certainly didn't realize the official proclamation of Canadian Thanksgiving was only back in 1957. Interesting. My wife and I almost ran over a gaggle of wild turkeys over on Deer Is. a couple of years ago .... first time I ever saw one (or a bunch) .. my first reaction was a herd of wild buzzards ... anyway, these birds are protected by by law over there ... apparently they have a free run of the island. sIx |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Elmer Fudd Date: 11 Oct 05 - 06:21 PM Gnu, I gotta sharpen that axe for 34 MORE DAZE down this-away!!!!!!!!!!!! Heh heh heh. Wabbit stew in the meantime, if only... Farmer Fudd |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: sian, west wales Date: 11 Oct 05 - 06:30 PM 1957? Gee, I must ask my mum what she did prior to that. I bet it was still Harvest Thanksgiving. I saw my first flock (oh, there HAS to be a better collective noun!) of wild turkeys in the Niagara Penninsula September last year. Mum says they're playing havoc with the crops. Quite a thrill to see them, though. siân |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: bobad Date: 07 Oct 06 - 09:55 AM It's that time again, time to take stock of our bounty and to be thankful for the good life, that we here in Canada, have. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: GUEST,thurg Date: 07 Oct 06 - 10:50 AM Never thought much about it before - but we got a heavy dose of Pilgrims and Indians when I was a kid in school; we were clearly given to believe that this was the basis of Thanksgiving. Much as I'd like to blame this on some sneaky Yankee plot to take over Canada by the back door, in retrospect it was no doubt simply an excuse to have kids make headgear out of construction paper and put on little plays. Let's face it, the Americans have it all over us when it comes to myth-making. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: bobad Date: 07 Oct 06 - 11:56 AM For rural people anyway, it is more of a harvest festival - the crops have been harvested, the root cellar stocked, pickles preseved - time to celebrate a successful growing season by feasting on the bounty and getting prepared to hunker down and ride out another winter. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: GUEST,Bee Date: 07 Oct 06 - 12:34 PM I'm wondering where the Canadians who caught the Plymouth-pilgrim-helpful natives motif went to school. My elementary schooling in NS never suggested those items, except in reference to other people's celebrations. We were told it was a harvest festival, a time for thankfulness for the bounty of fields and gardens. Also, our churches (united, presbyterian, methodist, that I know for sure) decorated the altars with heaps of produce and breads and thanked God for his having given us all these goodies (and I suppose for holding off on the unseasonable frosts, droughts, six-inch hailstones and the like). Turkey wasn't always the meal of choice, though I think it's a great meal, one U.S. custom I'm happy to see Canadians mimic. ;-D When I was a kid (in the dark ages, mind), it was more likely to be ham or venison. This weekend it's gonna be a fat domestic duck with wild picked-em-myself cranberries, squash, parsnips, carrots, potatos and greasy duck gravy. (Falls over from cholesteral overdose...) |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: GUEST,thurg Date: 07 Oct 06 - 12:51 PM Okay - southern Ontario. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: GUEST,Bee Date: 07 Oct 06 - 12:55 PM Ah, too close to the border, perhaps - folklore creepage. ;-D |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: gnu Date: 07 Oct 06 - 02:51 PM Pumpkin pie. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Clinton Hammond Date: 07 Oct 06 - 04:33 PM Stuff it, fellow Canadians! (With gravy please) :-) |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Peter T. Date: 07 Oct 06 - 05:47 PM What we really need is a February holiday, though I will take this one gladly. The weather is so beautiful one can hardly stand it. yours, Peter T. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Big Mick Date: 07 Oct 06 - 07:19 PM Thanks offered from south of the border for the land of many friends, great music, great beer, and a more than I can mention here. Mick |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Clinton Hammond Date: 07 Oct 06 - 07:38 PM "a February holiday" The 2nd is Groundhog day.... The 14th is Valentines Day The 18 (16th??) is Chinese New Year.... Pick one... call in blind.... Tell work "I can't see myself coming in today." |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Divis Sweeney Date: 07 Oct 06 - 07:47 PM To my dear friends in Canada, number Six, peace and all the rest of you. May your God smile upon you and bring health, happiness and wealth for the years ahead. Best wishes and goodnight from the Emerald Isle of Ireland. DS |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Peace Date: 07 Oct 06 - 08:04 PM Goodnight, Divis, and thank you very much. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 07 Oct 06 - 11:14 PM A bright harvest moon outside. Need a different name because harvest here in Alberta was over fairly early last month. Raised in New Mexico, we didn't get much about the pilgrims in school, but the American thanksgiving holiday pretty well coincided with local harvest festivities of the descendants of the Spanish, and later, Mexican peoples who lost the land to American expansion, and the Indians who before that had lost control of the land to the Spanish. The Merriam turkey is native to the Southwest and southern Rockies, and often we managed to have a wild bird for the celebration (some males weigh up to 40 pounds). The bird was seen here and described by the Spaniard, Casteñada, the historian with the Coronado Expedition of 1540, who was impressed by the "cocks with great hanging chins." Its meat was appreciated by settlers and Indians here long before those late-comers to America, the pilgrams, landed on their rock. The central New Mexico area was sufficiently settled by 1610 that a "Historia de la Nueva Mexico" was published that year (A most unusual book, the history is written poetically, in cantos, by Capitan Gaspar de Villagra, and can be found on the web). Canada once had turkeys in southern Ontario, but I believe that they are extinct in the wild. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Clinton Hammond Date: 07 Oct 06 - 11:40 PM " Canada once had turkeys in southern Ontario, but I believe that they are extinct in the wild." No... They're still around. We just elected them all to Parliment Hill. |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Metchosin Date: 08 Oct 06 - 04:11 AM Fortunately there are still wild turkeys in south eastern BC and unfortunately some of the other kind in Victoria too. Which reminds me that one afternoon I was channel surfing and was delighted to see a nature programme on wild turkeys. I was watching a close up of a beautiful tom strutting his stuff, when all of a sudden his head exploded on the screen in a hail of gunfire. Seems it wasn't exactly a nature programme, but Michigan Outdoors.LOL All the best to everyone, have a great weekend! |
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! From: Mooh Date: 08 Oct 06 - 07:10 AM Wild turkeys were reintroduced in the "wild" southern Ontario years ago. There are a few places where they like to sun themselves on the road around here. They were also (maybe) illegally released 25-30 years ago in select places, though I don't know if those birds successfully parented a surviving population. Am leaving shortly for an overnight stay with family for Thanksgiving, store bought turkey, home made pie and everything else. It's one of the few times of the year when we have all the extended family together. Peace, Mooh. |