Monday 8 October 2018

Mon 8th October 2018 - Canadian 'thanksgiving'

The second Monday of October (8th 2018) in Canada is Canadian Thanksgiving', their fixed celebration of seasons, harvest and plenty. Based on ancient, pagan, seasonal celebrations, now, high-jacked for religious / political gains, it wasn't always a fixed date.(1879). For millennia, early peoples would have been aware that the summer growing season was over and their journey in to winter was beginning and food stores would have to last
them through the colder period. The global and solar reality of the Winter Solstice and the Northern Hemisphere return to Spring. This happens worldwide through history.

Indigenous people observed their place in the natural world, early settlers from other lands brought with them the harvest rituals that they observed. In these new lands, the end of the growing season would vary in time and severity depending on location, the more northerly 'states' having an earlier and harsher on set of winter. The US harvest rituals are much later, fixed by Abraham Lincoln in the hope that all the states would celebrate in order to a give the people a sense of unity (1863). Giving thanks to nature for a good harvest, it is another ancient celebration of human existence and seasonal change. Observing our place in the solar system through festivals and feasts .( For e.g ) Thanks to be nature. 

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