Finnmarken - 1 Story

1) Thanksgiving i Vadsø kirke (By Oddbjørn Gundersen) 2 November 2005
http://www.finnmarken.no/kulturliv/article1806637.ece

This story requires some clarification regarding the international holiday knows as Thanksgiving. In this story the journalist writes about the Thanksgiving holiday celebrated in Liberia, the USA and Canada. In the story it states: "I Liberia har nettopp denne festdagen lang tradisjon. Det samme er for øvrig tilfellet også i USA og Canada." The Thanksgiving tradition is not the same in Canada, and what is celebrated in Liberia and the USA are closer simply because Liberia was founded by free American slaves from the USA that brought the American tradition to Liberia. In Canada the tradition has always been more about a general day of thanks for a good harvest. Taken from KidsWorld: "Thanksgiving in Canada is more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the USA. Long before (French, Spanish and English) Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England, arrived in Newfoundland (Canada) in 1578. He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World. That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, (USA)." In Canada the tradition is known by two names, depending if you are in the French speaking part of Canada or the English speaking part of Canada. It is Thanksgiving by millions in the English speaking parts of Canada and Action de Grâce by millions in the French speaking parts of Canada. And, in Canada it has a different history, date, and heritage than the holiday in the USA or Liberia. In fact, not just Canada, but several countries in the world (Argentina, Brasil, Japan, Korea, Liberia, Switzerland and the USA) celebrate Thanksgiving and the traditions are separate in each country. The journalist that wrote this story just wrote "Det samme er for øvrig tilfellet også i USA og Canada" (the same in Canada and the USA), but the reality is the holiday in Canada has a separate history from the American holiday in November and the Liberian holiday late in October. Perhaps the journalist thought the holiday had the same history in Canada, as the USA, and for some reason added Canada into this story? Americans have a different tradition that relates to their culture and traditions and this holiday than Canadians. After the American Revolution, the British colony of Canada took in over 60,000 American refugees (homeless and exiled Americans colonists that supported and remained loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolution), as Canada was still in British control at the time. These American refugees brought some of their Thanksgiving holiday traditions to Canada, but their holiday is not what is celebrated in Canada. Another difference with Canadian Thanksgiving is that it is earlier than the American holiday because Canada is for the most part, geographically further north than the United States, causing the Canadian harvest season to arrive earlier than the American harvest season. And since Thanksgiving for Canadians is more about giving thanks for the harvest season than American history of the arrival of pilgrims, it makes sense to celebrate the holiday in October in Canada. In Liberia, the Thanksgiving Liberians celebrate is based off the American holiday, not the Canadian holiday because Liberia was set up by freed Black American slaves seeking freedom they could not find in the USA. Many of these American Blacks escaped to Canada for freedom as slavery was illegal in Canada, but many left the USA as well to set up their own country in Africa.