October 30th was smack dab in the middle between the two holiday days that Americans and Canadians share, yet celebrate independently: Thanksgiving.
In Canada, Thanksgiving is not a statutory holiday in the provinces of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The holiday has its roots in the 1578 voyage of Martin Frobisher, an English explorer in search of the Northwest Passage.
In the U.S it has been celebrated as annual tradition since President Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, proclaimed it a national holiday of thanks and praise “to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens”
I’m always somewhat surprised at the differences between the two countries, some obvious and some not so. I thought I might treat y’all to a little lesson in geography. How many American States and Canadian Provinces border on the Great Lakes. If you have a look a the map above, you’ll see that south of the border it’s seven states (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota) and up in Canada it’s one province (Ontario). The driving distance from Niagara Falls, Ontario to Miami Beach, Florida is about 1,450 miles and the driving distance from Niagara Falls, Ontario to Fort Severn, Ontario is about 1,100 miles. Going south you would travel through New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Heading north you would travel through Ontario … and … uh, no, that’s it, just Ontario. The longest distance North to South (on land) in Canada is 2,900 miles. Know what it is in the United States ? 1,650 miles. So guess who’s the little brother … really. Another little tidbit that will have you scrambling google maps is that the southern most point in Canada is further south than the northern most point of California. Cool huh? … or is that “Cool eh?
If you fancy some more interesting info about (or is that “aboot”) Canada, you can check out Natural Resources Canada.
