Thanksgiving's dubious origins

[cos]

Yesterday, my housemate asked if Thanksgiving is a holiday all over the world, or mainly just here? We all knew that Canada has a Thanksgiving in October, but she had no idea if it's widespread in the rest of the world. I thought it was probably just here, and couldn't think of any other country that has it, but didn't know whether maybe a few others might... so I went searching the net.

Apparently, one other country in the world has a national Thanksgiving holiday. It's on October 25th, in between the Canadian (2nd Monday of October) and American (4th Thursday of November). Do you know which country, and what the holiday is commemorating?

Think of your answer. Then click here to check. Then come back and vote in my poll, and also leave a comment with your initial reaction once you found out (preferably before reading anyone else's comments).

[Poll #1490935]

Comments

[cinnabarine.livejournal.com]

I'd heard of Thanksgiving prior to coming to the US and sort of celebrated it in Puerto Rico (which, to be fair, is technically a part of the US). It was taught to me as more of a religious thing. A general day of being thankful to God for being alive and having good things/people in my life. There wasn't that much emphasis on pilgrims or the history of it. Nor on turkey. And we certainly celebrated it way more once we moved here.

Grenada is interesting, though not so surprising.

[cos]

I'm not surprised that Thanksgiving traditions in Puerto Rico are different than here in New England, but yes, Puerto Rico is a part of the US and therefore I expect it to have the same idiosyncratic US-specific national holidays we do here. For example, I assume there's a Labor Day in October in Puerto Rico, too. Although there's an international Labor Day as well, that one's on May 1st, and the one in October is US-specific. I also assume Puerto Rico has a 4th of July holiday, etc.

[madcaptenor.livejournal.com]

American Labor Day is actually in September.

[cos]

Right, oops. Yes, I knew that :)

[cinnabarine.livejournal.com]

Heh. Not exactly. There is a distinct culture with different emphasis on different holidays and such. American independence from England? Nope. Three Kings Day? Heck yes.

The link is more that Puerto Rico is more likely to have exposure to what American holidays are, what with TV and federal days off that are observed and such.