Happy Thanksgiving from Columbia Orthodontics

Hopefully, you are spending Thanksgiving enjoying family and friends just as much as the food. In fact, we hope you enjoy people even more than the food. All of us need a support system and loved ones.

This holiday is only celebrated in a handful of countries. In the United States it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. In Canada, the day of gratitude is celebrated on the second Monday of October. In some ways this October celebration makes more sense because it is closer to a time when harvests were most likely gathered.

Besides celebrating on different dates, the origins of the celebration also have different roots.

The United States tradition was inspired by a good harvest and the celebration spread.

Our neighbors to the north credit an explorer named Martin Frobisher for the first Canadian Thanksgiving. He survived the arduous journey from England through harsh weather conditions and rough terrain, and after his last voyage from Europe to present-day Nunavut, he held a formal ceremony to give thanks for his survival and good fortune. As time passed and more settlers arrived, a feast was added to what quickly became a yearly tradition. Another explorer, Samuel de Champlain, is linked to the first actual Thanksgiving celebration in honor of a successful harvest; settlers who arrived with him in New France celebrated the harvest with a bountiful feast.

Enjoy your individual traditions this year.  Happy Thanksgiving from Columbia Orthodontics.