Festival of the Pumpkin

[deathpixie]

So, Thanksgiving has come and gone and Halloween is approaching. And everywhere in Toronto there are pumpkins.

Seriously.

Pumpkins in the greengrocers, stacked row upon row. Pumpkins in store windows, tastefully arranged with garlands of plastic autumn leaves. Pumpkins in the florists, in what is actually pretty creative arrangments. Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere, big glowing orange beachball sized gourds, awaiting people to buy them, take them home, scoop out the insides and carve spooky faces on them, whilst making the rest into sweet pumpkin pie.

But only the orange ones are pumpkins. The rest, including the faithful butternut of my student housing years (mmm, pumpkin soup), are called squashes here. Dex and I mock-argue over it every time we buy one.

"Pumpkin!"

"Squash!"

"Pumpkin!"

"Squash!"

"Pumpkin! It's a pumpkin where I'm from!"

"You Australians are all insane."

Unfortunately I shall miss Halloween, being in the land Down Under for that time. But Thanksgiving was fun, tho'. A vertible metric tonne of food, including enough roasted veggies to make even me go, "Eh, I think I've had enough roasted pumpkin-squash for a while. Like, the next month." The amusing thing is, no-one could explain to me why Thanksgiving. It's not like the Americans, who have Pilgrims and Native Americans and those little school plays. Canada just decides it's time to break out the turkey/ham/roasted beast of choice and the pumpkin pie and eat themselves into a stupour. "It's a harvest festival," was the best I could get.

Still, it's my kind of holiday. Day off work, lots of food, lots of wine and the company of good friends. We had ten of us over here for dinner, which was entertaining and worked rather well.

We still have pumpkin pie in the fridge.

Comments

[ferox.livejournal.com]

...you still have pie? Thanksgiving was how long ago? You STILL have PIE?

Don't get me wrong, you're adorable, but you're clearly insane.

(unless it's bland, store pie. then it's understandable.)

[hopeness.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm.... squash by any other name still tastes yummy!

And for your enlightenment:

History and Origin of Canadian Thanksgiving

In Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Unlike the American tradition of remembering Pilgrims and settling in the New World, Canadians give thanks for a successful harvest. The harvest season falls earlier in Canada compared to the United States due to the simple fact that Canada is further north.

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 Northern America. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now called Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. This is considered the first Canadian Thanksgiving. Other settlers arrived and continued these ceremonies. He was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him - Frobisher Bay.

At the same time, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, also held huge feasts of thanks. They even formed 'The Order of Good Cheer' and gladly shared their food with their Indian neighbours.

After the Seven Year's War ended in 1763, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving.

During the American Revolution, Americans who remained loyal to England moved to Canada where they brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada. There are many similarities between the two Thanksgivings such as the cornucopia and the pumpkin pie.

Eventually in 1879, Parliament declared November 6th a day of Thanksgiving and a national holiday. Over the years many dates were used for Thanksgiving, the most popular was the 3rd Monday in October. After World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11th occurred. Ten years later, in 1931, the two days became separate holidays and Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day.

Finally, on January 31st, 1957, Parliament proclaimed...

"A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty G-d for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed ... to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.

[ion-duck.livejournal.com]

Here in the states Thanksgiving used to be in December. During the depression, FDR (or one of his advisors) thought that if the length of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was longer people would buy more stuff and jump start the economy.

Ever since Cartoon Network killed syndicated kids shows, Washington D.C. Thanksgiving has been kinda boring. One of the local stations used to air all sorts of weird stuff on Thanksgiving. Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving followed by 'The Three Bear's Christmas' and Jim Henson's 'The Christmas Toy' and then lots of those stop motion puppets Christmas specials. Though why 'Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July' which about the Fourth of July and Christmas would air on Thanksgiving boggles me to this day. The last time they did it the closed it out with Nightmare Before Christmas.

[maureenans.livejournal.com]

translation:

we want to eat ourselves into oblivion like the USA! *jealous*

[maureenans.livejournal.com]

pie is good. I like pie.

and pi. and phi. (can't let the letters feel unloved either)