Gratitude.
It’s the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
Many people view Thanksgiving, the holiday, as a ripoff from the Americans. The most famous Thanksgiving celebration was the one that took place in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621, when the pilgrims celebrated making it through their first year and their first successful harvest.
The American holiday has become so huge, in fact, that even many Canadians refer to our holiday as Canadian Thanksgiving.
However, the first Thanksgiving on North American soil is said to have taken place in Canada in 1578, when Martin Frobisher held a celebration for his safe arrival in the New World.
Of course, this may well be a matter of semantics, because Thanksgiving—Canadian or American, and notwithstanding its modern incarnation as a day for football and turkey — is basically a harvest festival.
Long before explorers arrived in Canada, or pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, the Spanish had imported harvest celebration from Europe.
But wait, feasting in the fall as celebration of nature’s summer bounty, is also a staple of most (if not all) First Nations cultures, so thanks giving was practised in North America thousands of years before Europeans arrived.
In fact, it is difficult to find any culture anywhere on the planet that doesn’t have some version or another of thanks giving. And there are 17 countries, including Canada and the U.S., that have official national holidays.
It makes a lot of sense.
After all, what could be more appropriate than being grateful for that which makes our very existence possible.
We hope you find many things to be grateful for on this day, and every day.