The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an English explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient. He did not succeed but he did establish a settlement in Canada. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. This is considered the first Canadian Thanksgiving, and the first Thanksgiving to have taken place in North America. Other settlers arrived and continued these ceremonies. Frobisher was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him - Frobisher Bay.
Coincidentally, Health & Sports' Day (体育の日, Taiiku no hi) in Japan runs on the same day, but it doesn't have much in common with Thanksgiving, apart from us both getting the day off.
Health & Sports Day is a national holiday to foster healthy minds and bodies through physical activity. It was established to commemorate the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which were held from October 10 to 24. It was designated a national holiday two years later in 1966. Until 1999 the holiday was on October 10, but beginning in 2000 it has been changed to the second Monday of the month.
How did I celebrate the two holidays? Well, we can all be thankful for beautiful weather and I just happened to spend the day with a young lass and her two children. They ran around and collected donburi (acorns) and I even flew a kite for a while. We spent over 3 hours and enjoyed each others' company immensely. Let's see what the future holds...
By the way, let me apologize in advance should Japan get nuked by Kim Jong Il and his lackeys. It's fate's way of showing Michael not to get too happy or bad things will happen.
Should that occur, here's my way of cheering you up with a clip of one of history's most famous Thanksgiving moments...
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