As Thanksgiving weekend quickly approaches, many students are looking forward to having a day off and eating pumpkin pie. But, 54 years after the creation of the holiday, is anyone still taking it as a day to be thankful?
The first recorded times of giving thanks were in the late 1700s, when people in eastern Canada celebrated a successful harvest by sharing a meal with family.
In 1957, when Thanksgiving day was officially recognized as a national holiday in Canada, people celebrated for the first time as a country by feasting with friends on the second Monday of October.
Fast forward to 2011, and we don’t have to rely on a successful harvest because the food on most of our tables no longer comes from the farms or fields in our community.
In the 21st century we can go to the grocery store to find pretty much any type of food at pretty much any time of year because we have the means to ship fresh meat, fruits, and vegetables from not only the other side of the country, but the opposite side of the world.
Society is no longer dependent on a successful harvest to have nutritious meals on our plates each night due to this globalization of food production. But, because Thanksgiving has been added to a list of holidays in most of Canada, we are left with a day that many take for granted.
Society is so far removed from the original reason behind the holiday that it seems no one is thankful on Thanksgiving day anymore.
Instead, it has become a day for pumpkin pie, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and, for some – students especially – a day of forced visits with grandparents, parents, cousins, uncles, aunts.
If a holiday that was created around a good growing season or enough rain doesn’t mean anything to us anymore, what we all need to do is find something to be thankful for.
Whether that something be passing a recent exam, getting to sleep in for another day, spending time with your family, making time for friends, or having a few hours to enjoy on your own, we all need to realize we have something to be thankful for.
This thankfulness should not just last for 24 hours on the second Monday in October.
But since society has become so unthankful, it’s not a bad place to start.
***
Something on your mind? Send Open Space submissions (up to 400 words) to editor@nexusnewspaper.com. Include your student number. Thanks!