O Canada

Well, one of my favorite Thanksgiving stories is when I celebrated my first (and last) Canadian Thanksgiving. I was studying here at the time and some of the students around us in our housing complex were from Canada. Imagine my surprise when they told us all that they were going to host a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone in October. Here is how the conversation went with one of the Canadians, according to my admittedly foggy (and undoubtedly embellished) memory.
"Don't you mean November?"
"What?"
"Thanksgiving is in November."
"No, Canadian Thanksgiving is in October"
"Canadian Thanksgiving?"
"Yeah, Canadian Thanksgiving"
"Wait, did you guys steal our holiday?" (by which I meant Americans, by which I meant those who dwell in the United States).
"No, we have it every year." (well that clears it up?!)
"What is Canadian Thanksgiving?"
"Well every year we get together with family and have a big meal with turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc"
"Hang on a second, what do you guys celebrate during your Thanksgiving?"
"You know, when the Pilgrims had a big feast with the Indians a long time ago."
"That happened in the English Colonies, in what would become the United States. That didn't happen in Canada. Your country was founded by a bunch of French fur traders. Why do you have a holiday that celebrates American history?" (by which I meant United States history and not Canadian)
"I don't know, that's what we do."
"So you mean to tell me, that you have a holiday in Canada every year that celebrates the Pilgrims coming to America and having a feast with a local Indian tribe during harvest time?"
"I guess so."
"You stole our holiday. Why did you steal our holiday? Doesn't that seem like a strange thing to do?"
"We didn't steal your holiday, it's Canadian Thanksgiving."
"Well if you are going to steal our holiday why don't you at least have it during November like we do?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think it would be a little less obvious that you stole our holiday if you had it in October instead of November?"
No response.
So October came and we had a Thanksgiving meal, just like all the Thanksgiving meals I had every November growing up in the States. Then in November the Americans hosted a Thanksgiving meal for everyone, which was pretty much exactly the same. I wonder if you have relatives from Canada and they want to celebrate in October and you want to celebrate in November you compromise and have a Thanksgiving meal together on Halloween.