Thanksgiving or Thanksgivings?
November 24, 2025
There have been harvest holidays in many countries around the world with deep roots in history, Germany for instance every first Sunday of October, our neighbor Canada every second Sunday of October, and many more.
But our American Thanksgiving every fourth Thursday in November is unique in its origins and traditions. Or is it?
Would you believe there are other countries around the world who celebrate with us every year around the same November calendar day? Our Pilgrims birthed something with international reach.
Allow us to share chronologically others sharing our day with us.
American whalers used Norfolk Island, an Australian protectorate between Australia and New Zealand, as a home base for fishing the South Pacific during the 1800s.
Our whalers shared Thanksgiving with the local islanders, and Norfolkers have continued to share Thanksgiving with one another after they left to this day.
Liberia, for those geographically challenged, is a country on the West Coast of Africa founded by American slaves returning to their homeland.
Thanksgiving has been an official national holiday since 1883. There has been a bit of controversy over the holiday in recent years, as a portion of the populace, native Liberians, feel the holiday is an imposition from the African American settlers of the country.
Thanksgiving became an official holiday in Japan during American occupation after World War II.
While no longer an official holiday, Thanksgiving is still widely recognized across Japan.
Don’t count on turkey though. A more cost-effective substitute where there aren’t that many turkeys is seafood.
Ron was on a business trip in Tokyo over Thanksgiving many years ago.
He and his fellow business travelers were excited to see a sign board in their hotel lobby advertising Thanksgiving dinner.
Everyone was salivating as they sat down to dine. But then disappointment followed. The turkey portion was somewhere in size between a quarter and a 50-cent piece. A little dollop had to do us. At least the pumpkin pie was a healthy slice.
Thanksgiving became a national holiday in Brazil in 1949 after the Brazilian Ambassador to the United States returned home to rave about this great holiday Americans had where everyone ate themselves silly.
With such a premise for the holiday, wondering if the Brazilian President who proclaimed the Brazilian Thanksgiving was a heavy man who liked to eat.
Which brings us to Turkey. No, there are no turkeys in Turkey, and there is no Thanksgiving-type celebration.
Türkiye, the official name of the country, means the Land of the Turks, Turkic people who ruled the area for centuries.
In a historic irony, Americans named turkeys after the Ottoman region of Türkiye because of a mix-up with a similar-looking bird, the guinea fowl, which was imported to Europe via trade routes from Africa through Türkiye.
When explorers brought back the true American turkey to Europe, Europeans saw it resembled the guinea fowl and mistakenly called the new bird a “turkey”.
On balance, Thanksgiving is a pretty good holiday for those of us around the world who give thanks on that day.
In America, we eat a lot, averaging 2,000+ calories of intake, some of us much more. But by and large its more healthy eating than the processed foods most of us consume on regular days.
Be thankful for a processed foods-free day. Enjoy every bite of your preservative-free Costco pumpkin pie.
Let’s Say It Altogether…Gratitude
We Know It’s Coming
It happens every year right after the end-of-year holidays…New Year’s resolutions.
And every January we get our biggest-month-of-the-year new customer orders.
We’re here if any resolutions of you or your family/friends fall in our bailiwick.
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.”
– Melody Beattie