Which American holiday is officially celebrated in three other countries?

We’ve all heard of the pervasive influence of American culture, from Hollywood to big clothing brands. And some of us have heard that some American holiday traditions have crossed over into other cultures of the world, like Halloween candy and love notes on Valentine’s Day. But did you know that there is one American holiday that is celebrated in an official manner by three other countries? 

Welcome to Not Trivial! A podcast that takes a deeper dive into the stories behind the trivia questions you may or may not have heard at the pub. My name is Liz, and I’ve been a trivia nerd since I was young. My parents and I would play Trivial Pursuit very often. I’ve hosted and played pub trivia, and I’m a collector of random history, language, and world culture facts. One of my greatest passions is sharing what I’ve collected with others. I’m hopeful this podcast makes the trivia questions feel less trivial, and more important to understanding how the past creates the present, and subsequently the future.

Hopefully, based on the context of when this podcast episode is being released, you’ve got a clue as to the answer to today’s trivia question. It’s easy to see how Americanisms have become part of global culture. Maybe dressing up in costume and eating specific candy on Halloween isn’t too hard for some cultures, because they already have rituals that include costumes. But it’s not official, is it? Even Halloween here in the US isn’t official, it’s cultural. 

The American holiday that’s celebrated officially elsewhere is one of our most beloved national holidays. Well, at least the food can be thought of that way. And it’s a decidedly American history that this holiday stems from, no? Even if it’s not a holiday we can all engage with, due to its problematic narrative. If you hadn’t clued in, it’s Thanksgiving, we’re talking about Thanksgiving. 

So how is it that three other countries around the world officially celebrate Thanksgiving? Did those countries experience a similar narrative of persecuted refugees claiming land as a colony that could be seen as a religious haven? Or did these countries experience a historic moment of two different peoples coming together in a peaceful manner? 

Narrative is what I said. Not factual retelling. Don’t you worry - we’ll take the time to untangle the mythos of American Thanksgiving. Because that’s going to inform how we discover the reason behind why these three countries officially celebrate Thanksgiving. But before we get to demystifying our own holiday, let’s find out which three countries I’m talking about. It may surprise you!

Ok, we’ll start with the least surprising country: Canada. If you live in the US, you’re likely to know that our northern neighbor celebrates Thanksgiving in October, while we celebrate in November. The other two countries are Liberia and St Lucia. Liberia might not surprise you, since it has a political tie back to the US, but St Lucia? We’ll dive into each of those countries’ Thanksgiving traditions.

Unofficially though, Thanksgiving is celebrated in Brazil, the Philippines, and Germany. It’s observed in the Dutch town of Leiden and also the Australian territory of Norfolk Island. That’s pretty far flung and seemingly arbitrary. But each location must have a particular reason for either observing or officially celebrating, right?

Let’s take a look at those who unofficially observe, starting with the Dutch town of Leiden. This one may not surprise those who understand where the religiously persecuted refugees came from. Yes, many of the Pilgrims and family members who migrated to the Plymouth Plantation resided in Leiden between 1609 and 1620. A specific church is where their births, marriages, or deaths are recorded: Pieterskerk. In this church on the same Thanksgiving day as in the US, a non-denominational commemoration service is held. It’s specifically focused on the hospitality the refugees received while in Leiden, as they made their way to the New World. 

That sounds like a nice nod to Leiden’s history, regardless of the who why or how. And why Norfolk Island? Well, in Australia, Norfolk Island is an external territory. It’s not part of the mainland and its politics. There, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the last Wednesday in November. It’s also a nod to the island’s history. Because the holiday was brought to the island by American whaling ships in the 19th century. Doesn’t make for quite as thrilling a movie as In The Heart Of The Sea, but it was similar folks who while traversing the Southern and Pacific Oceans for years at a time. Why not create a little bit of home while out on the road? So to speak…

So far, these two locations make a lot of sense and have a direct tie to the American Thanksgiving that the US celebrates. What about Brazil? This one is less interesting, but does speak to the influence of American culture. In 1909, the Brazilian Ambassador to the US went to a Thanksgiving commemoration at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Forty years later, the Brazilian President Gaspar Dutra (what a name!) instituted a law that established the day of Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November. But it’s not an official national holiday, it’s only celebrated by Protestant Christians or families of American origin.

The Philippines was an American colony, so it’s no surprise that they have a history of celebrating Thanksgiving. As you can imagine, until World War Two, the Philippines would have celebrated on the same day and in the same manner as the US. It was celebrated in secret during the occupation of the Philippines by the Japanese. And after the war, celebrating Thanksgiving was extremely common until the late 60s. However, when Ferdinand Marcos revived the holiday, the date was changed to be in September. The 21st to be specific, in reference to when martial law was imposed in the country. As soon as Marcos was ousted, Thanksgiving became extremely uncommon. 

A much larger reason to observe or celebrate a holiday like Thanksgiving is related to celebrating the fall harvest. That is one aspect of Thanksgiving being held in the fall months that is a throughline across the world. That’s true in Germany, as well as Canada. The big difference between Germany and Canada is that it’s more of a Protestant religious holiday in Germany and it is a decidedly secular holiday in Canada. Although, it had its origins in religion initially in Canada. Thanksgiving has been officially celebrated in Canada since 1879. But the harvest festival goes way back in Canada’s history.

Some historians argue that a fall harvest dinner originated in 1579 due to the successful landing of a fleet of ships in Newfoundland. Martin Frobisher’s fleet to be specific, which had unsuccessfully tried to navigate the arctic waterways of the region, in the hopes of finding the Northwest Passage. As you can imagine, the frostbitten sailors were probably very happy to be in a more southern clime, in order to give thanks for their deliverance. By the time French settlers were crossing the Atlantic in 1604 with Samuel Champlain, the idea of giving thanks with a fall harvest holiday was a well-worn shoe. 

Some historians also argue that Spanish colonizers were also conducting a thanksgiving commemorative harvest dinner even back into the 1550s. The idea of Europeans breaking bread with Native Americans though, is documented in Canada with French settlers and their First Nations neighbors in the early 17th century. Infact, the general idea of a thanksgiving is a decidedly religious one. Or rather, giving thanks and sharing a meal in the name of peace was adopted by religious orders to reflect certain aspects of religious dogma. Christians already understand the idea of communion. Which has its roots in Judaism, although is no longer practiced by those of Jewish faith. However, the Seder during Passover is common practice amongst Jewish communities. In Christianity, communion is called the Eucharist. Which stems from a Greek word, ‘eucharistia’. This word is a translated version of the Hebrew word ‘berekah’, which means ‘praise’ or ‘thanksgiving’. Islam as a religion does not practice communion of any kind. However, during the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims break their fast with the eating of dates. This is not communion or a thanksgiving, but it is a ritual practice in accordance with Islam, and it has to do with food. Just thought that was interesting…

OK, small religious sidetrack complete! Let’s refocus on the official celebrants of Thanksgiving. Where, at least for me, Thanksgiving gets interesting is looking at Liberia. In 1883, the Legislature of Liberia enacted a statue declaring the first Thursday in November as a national holiday. To this day, Thanksgiving is celebrated in large part due to the nation’s founding as a colony of the American Colonization Society in 1821 by former slaves and free people of color from the US. But how Liberians celebrate is markedly different than how the US celebrates. Feasting as a family is not a staple of the holiday. There is no specific food heavily associated with Thanksgiving in Liberia. It’s widely celebrated either by attending religious ceremonies focused on gratitude, or relaxing for the day. And in recent years, following the second civil war of the country, some Liberians take the holiday as a time to be thankful for a new period of peace and relative stability.

Here in the United States, Thanksgiving is an annual tradition that many people look forward to for a variety of reasons. Today, it’s a time to eat turkey and an assortment of side dishes, like mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and casseroles. Perhaps you attend a church service focused on thankfulness, but it’s more likely that you will focus on sporting events and time spent with family. There are public parades, like the famous Macy’s Parade in NYC, but there are large parades in Plymouth Mass, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New Orleans. The day after Thanksgiving is also a day off from work and kicks off the shopping season for Christmas. 

This is all very far removed from the holiday’s origins here in the US. It was traditionally a celebration of the blessings of the year, in reference to the bounty of the harvest. Abraham Lincoln formalized the holiday with a presidential proclamation in 1863, but prior to that each state had its own legislation regarding the fall harvest tradition. In 1941, the US Congress further formalized and nationalized Thanksgiving, specifically fixing the day as the fourth Thursday in November. 

Even some of that history of the national aspect of the holiday is just the logistics. It’s nothing to do with why the holiday exists in the first place. Americans can’t just celebrate a simply fall harvest holiday, right? We’ve got to have a helpful narrative that speaks to the story of America. But helpful in what regard? Who is the narrative of Thanksgiving for? Let’s dive into some of the mythos of American Thanksgiving.

Schoolchildren across America have heard the simplified and watered down version story of the first Thanksgiving. How the Pilgrims and Wampanoag tribe of the region around Plymouth, Mass drew up a peace treaty and ate a harvest dinner together in recognition of their peace. How the Wampanoag taught the Pilgrims to grow corn and hunt in the area, so that they would not starve over the winter. How they all sat at the same table, how the Pilgrims grew in prosperity due to this initial kindness, how the meal was celebrated as a day of giving thanks. 

This narrative is mostly myth. Some of the facts are that yes, there was a man by the name of Squanto, who was present at the first Thanksgiving, but Squanto was his slave name not his birth name. It was the name his white captors could pronounce. He was Patuxet, and after he was stolen and sold into slavery in Spain, he eventually made his way to England and learned the language well enough. When he returned to his tribal lands in 1619, the English had already cleared his tribe’s lands and raised a settlement. His tribe had all died from an epidemic, possibly smallpox but also possibly another disease brought on by contaminated water. His birth name was Tisquantum and by the time of the first thanksgiving in 1621, he was in his forties or even his early fifties. 

Tisquantum did translate and deal with the Pilgrims, since he could speak English well enough. And this is a mythbuster as well. He was a broker of peace, yes, but this peace was sought out by the Wampanoag and not the Pilgrims. Native tribes in the Americas were not new to Europeans. This was not their first rodeo, and they wished for trade. The first Thanksgiving was a political alliance at best. The Wampanoag had previously had bad experiences with Europeans, similar to Tisquantum’s experience of being captured into slavery. They wanted to force a good experience, an alliance that was to their advantage. And why not?! But this wasn’t a universally approved alliance either, and it wasn’t out of the goodness of their hearts. It was self-preservation. 

At this first Thanksgiving in 1621, there were only 50 white settlers. But Wampanoag? At least 80-90. To say that each group was on equal footing is a reach. And this alliance didn’t last long either. As more and more settlers arrived to the area, and trade became less of a priority for the settlers, the native tribes were less useful to them. They now understood how to grow crops in the short summer season, they had built their fences and farms, they were clearing land for future settlers. By the 1630s, it became a full-blown war, known as the Pequot War. 

Americans have heard the Thanksgiving story so often, that they forget the religious refugee settlers were not the first Europeans native tribes had contact with. The fur trade had been occurring in the Northeast for decades. Local tribes had been vying for power within the trade, just as the European powers were. Power vacuums would come and go, and one such vacuum existed prior to the kickoff of this war - a war that would decimate the Pequot tribe and diminish the influence of Algonquin-speaking people in local trade. 

The winners of battles often get to write the history of the battle first and more loudly. So, it’s not a surprise that white European settlers would begin to spin a narrative told down through the decades. Of the Pilgrims seeking asylum and assistance from the Wampanoag. Of the Wampanoag being generous and helpful out of the kindness of their hearts. The first Thanksgiving of 1621 wasn’t even a meal of thanksgiving. Not like the religious days of giving thanks I talked about earlier. Those happened, but not alongside the Wampanoag in the autumn of 1621. It was more likely to have been a show of agreement and political allyship, than even a fall harvest celebration.

And there wasn’t turkey or potatoes or even pie at this first “Thanksgiving”. There was deer, pumpkins, cranberries, succotash, local shellfish and fish, and cornmeal. No potatoes because those were not in North America yet. No pie because the Pilgrims wouldn’t have had butter or flour yet - that’s a luxury item to be sure. And no turkey - although this definitely would have been an animal the Wampanoag would hunt. They would even use turkey feathers as part of their cloaks and other clothing. So turkey does play a significant role with native tribes across the Eastern shores and forests in North America. 

This event in 1621 isn’t even called the first Thanksgiving until the 1830s. In the 1840s, the writer Sarah Josepha Hale read an account of the 1621 event and connected it to a day of thanksgiving as Christians would understand it. She began writing to presidents like Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan, advocating for a national holiday. It was her letter to Abraham Lincoln that finally helped inspire his decision to nationalize a Thanksgiving holiday. He did so in 1863, in the midst of a bloody and severe Civil War, hoping it would unite his citizens. Once declared, Hale went on to publish a Thanksgiving menu in a ladies’ magazine, which included pumpkin pie and turkey recipes. 

As America grew, and the idea of Manifest Destiny grew, there were other religious arrivals in the US. Catholics and Jews, to name two. White Protestants used the myth of a peaceful first Thanksgiving as a means to claim that God had claimed this land for them. And not others that would seek to emigrate here and claim it for themselves. Especially after the Civil War, New Englanders were driven to whitewash the actual history, making the first Thanksgiving appear bloodless. This, in stark contrast to the dark spot of slavery in the South and the brutal Indian wars in the West. 

It’s not until Franklin D Roosevelt and the conclusion of WWII that the myth of this bloodless and peaceful generosity by local Wampanoag tribes towards the Pilgrims, ensuring their survival, was fully enmeshed with the national Thanksgiving holiday. In 1963, JFK said as part of his Thanksgiving commemoration speech, “Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving.” 

But what of the actual history? Clearly, the myth of Thanksgiving has held up until present day. But in the 20th century, many holes have been poked in it. Much like Columbus Day (another American holiday that is controversial for many), Thanksgiving holds a deep-seated place of mourning in the hearts of many Native Americans. It is infact a National Day Of Mourning, as it observes the genocide that took place once white Europeans began colonizing the Americas. As part of the wave of the Native American resistance movement, in 1970 protest groups in New England staged gatherings to loudly voice their truth, namely that the myth of Thanksgiving is a deliberate fabrication by the American government. An effort to wipe away the true facts and only display a deaf ear towards injustices towards Native Americans. 

Did you know that Christians (and other religions) not only celebrate Days of Thanksgiving but Days of Atonement? And infact, you cannot have one without the other. If you are going to give thanks for what God has given you, you must also atone for your sins - so that you can be able to receive those gifts and be thankful. Without atoning for the impact European colonizers had on Native Americans, the only thing to be thankful for is that colonizers prevailed. American Thanksgiving today is self-indulgent. Which to be honest, sounds very much in line with the myth narrative that most Americans have grown up with. And to me personally, that sounds a lot like brainwashing. 

I can’t sit here and say that I’m not personally thankful for my family - of course I am. I’m thankful for many things in my life. But that’s me and my own individual life. As a national holiday, a federally mandated day-off work, we need to do better when it comes to understanding what Thanksgiving actually is. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating your individual family - I’m about to do it! Eat the turkey, and the potatoes, and the stuffing, and the pie! It’s OK to be grateful for what you have. However, I would argue that we consider how we got here. Consider why you might have more or less than others and why others see things very differently. 

This is the point of this podcast. We must learn what has happened in the past, because it is our present and it will continue to shape our future. And that’s the deep dive into the holiday of Thanksgiving. The answer to the trivia question: Which American holiday is officially celebrated in three other countries?

I hope you enjoyed this little tale of myth versus fact! Another episode of Not Trivial is coming soon, so please subscribe - available wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you!