What is the history of Canadian Thanksgiving?

What is the REAL history behind Thanksgiving?

• In elementary school I learned that the pilgrims and native americans were like, friends and helped each other. I know this isn't true obviously because in every history book 2 ...show more

• Answer:

  The real history is it has little to do with Pilgrims or Indians. It's rooted in harvest festivals. They used to have them in Europe, too. Occasionally they would have a "feast of thanks-giving." Truth is, the Pilgrims weren't the first to have one. They weren't even the first on this continent, as there had already been "feast of thanks-giving" celebrations in what is now Florida, Virginia & Canada. The Pilgrims had that one celebration and the Natives joined them. That was it-- there wasn't another one for over a century. The Pilgrims and the Natives had their ups and downs, but at that T-day they both attended, genocide wasn't the intention, and ultimately a lot of factors led to the demise of the Natives from the ever-increasing European settlements. Part of it was disease, and that was certainly not intentional genocide. What happened to the Natives is tragic, but the Pilgrim story got latched onto in the history books because it was a time when there was peace and cooperation. Anyway-- the real reason we have T-day. Sarah Hale, a magazine editor in the 1800s, didn't like the industrial revolution. She thought it was eroding American values. She wrote letters for 40 years-- 40 YEARS!!!-- to everyone and his mother. She wanted a holiday focused on home & hearth to remind people of what was important. Abraham Lincoln finally granted her wish with a decree that Thanksgiving would be an annual national holiday. That was in the 1860s. So basically the Pilgrims and Natives actually played a small role in it; their coming together was just an inspiring story that got popularized in legend.