It’s Thanksgiving weekend in Canada and we have so much music to be thankful for. There are songs of coming home, the garden and the harvest, cooking, saying grace and being thankful for all the good things in life, and celebrating family, and more.

The first official, annual Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated on 6 November 1879, though Indigenous peoples in Canada have a history of celebrating the fall harvest that predates the arrival of European settlers. Sir Martin Frobisher  and his crew are credited as the first Europeans to celebrate a Thanksgiving ceremony in North America, in 1578. They were followed by the inhabitants of New France under Samuel de Champlain in 1606. The celebration featuring the uniquely North American turkey, squash and pumpkin was introduced to Nova Scotia in the 1750s and became common across Canada by the 1870s. In 1957, Thanksgiving was proclaimed an annual event to occur on the second Monday of October. It is an official statutory holiday in all provinces and territories except Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Indigenous peoples in North America have a history of holding communal feasts in celebration of the fall harvest that predates the arrival of European settlers. The Smithsonian Institute has noted that some First Nations “sought to insure a good harvest with dances and rituals.” The European settlers brought with them a similar tradition of harvest celebrations (for which the symbol was the cornucopia, or horn of plenty), which dates back to European peasant societies. Canadian and American holidays are no longer restricted to harvest activities, and have become a day for gathering family to give thanks for their general well-being.*

I love that we can come together with friends and family and be thankful and celebrate. The food is great but more music and dance I say! May this playlist help with that and thank you for listening.

Happy Thanksgiving!

*History from The Canadian Encyclopedia.