It is Indigenous Peoples Day in the United States. It's Thanksgiving in Canada: NPR

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Hey, Steve, you know, it's even quieter down here in the studio than usual because it's Columbus Day or Indigenous People's Day. You know, President Biden issued a proclamation several years ago that this day can be celebrated as both. But did you know that it's Thanksgiving for our neighbors to the north?

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

I heard that and I'm sure our Canadian colleagues would take every opportunity to make sure we know. They celebrate before America celebrates its Thanksgiving because, we are told, the long winter in the north means harvest time is earlier.

MARTIN: But I see that like other holidays, the meaning has changed over time.

PETER STEVENS: Historically it was a big religious occasion.

MARTIN: A religious occasion, says Peter Stevens, a Canadian historian at Humber College in Toronto.

STEVENS: Everyone went to church and listened to these sermons that weren't your typical church sermon, but were half religion and half nation building.

MARTIN: Images of harvest have historically been used as symbols of national wealth. But it won't surprise you to learn that the indigenous peoples whose lands were stolen were not mentioned in these Canadian sermons.

KEVIN WHITE: The stories of how Thanksgiving began between settlers and Indigenous peoples are as unclear here in Canada as they are in the United States.

INSKEEP: Kevin White is an Indigenous scholar at the University of Toronto and a member of the Mohawk Nation. And he says the native peoples taught the settlers how to hunt, fish and farm.

WHITE: The newcomers were not prepared for this new world. And the native people helped them and showed them that they were safe to eat. These are not suitable for consumption. There are many layers.

INSKEEP: White says Indigenous communities across North America have a tradition of thanksgiving that dates back to before contact with settlers.

WHITE: For example, as Mohawks, Senecas and Haudenosaunee – or Iroquois – we have a Thanksgiving address that we give basically every day, but in which we acknowledge the entire natural world and its abundance, which provides for our existence and for that , what we call a good mind contented mind.

MARTIN: Today, Canadians as a nation have different Thanksgiving traditions than those in the United States. According to Peter Stevens, instead of watching American football, Canadians like to think about fall leaves.

STEVENS: You drive and see the autumn leaves. And maybe stop at a winery and then stop by to try the local pastries, some butter tarts and the like.

INSKEEP: Canadians apparently love butter cake. Think pecan pie without pecans or Nanaimo bars.

STEVENS: So you have kind of a base that has some chocolate and coconut in it. And then the middle layer is a creamy yellow color that is quite sweet. And then there's a kind of chocolate layer on top.

INSKEEP: I didn't see the coconut coming, Michel, but I did see some of the classic Thanksgiving turkey dinner that Canadians really enjoy. It comes with mashed potatoes, gravy, beans and the like.

MARTIN: Well, there's always room for more chocolate, right?

INSKEEP: (Laughter) There's always room for more chocolate.

MARTIN: Always room for more chocolate.

INSKEEP: I like the description of being half religious and half nation building. In America, of course, it's half about religion, half about nation-building, half about football and half about advertising.

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