Today, us Canucks have the holiday that Americans have to wait several weeks for. That’s because of Martin Frobisher’s celebration on Baffin Island in 1578, which was before the American pilgrims’ feast in 1621. Or maybe not.

Turns out Canadian Protestants swiped it, but everything worked out fine:

To Protestant clergymen, the early history of Thanksgiving is, perhaps, a tragedy, since they lost control over the holiday. From another perspective, it is a story of triumph. Catholics, workers, ethnic minorities and other groups excluded from the clergy’s notions of Thanksgiving and Canadian identity democratized the holiday and adopted their own holiday practices, asserting that they, too, had something to contribute to Canadian society and culture.

Meanwhile, certain other Canadian clergymen are setting themselves up for the same defeat:

The Khalid Bin Al-Walid Mosque says to “avoid participating” in dinners, parties or greetings on Thanksgiving because it is a kuffaar, or non-Muslim, celebration.

No turkey at our place this weekend. It was halal chicken all round. Wicked good too.

Lots of beer in Kitchener-Waterloo, all for a good cause. Positively balmy in Toronto. Mad Ahmedinejad offers us roughly 5.5 million Jews as a Thanksgiving Day present (Or is he talking to Alaska? The guy needs a map), Canada offers Afghanistan some Thanksgiving Day help with sods and rinds to cover their flakes and the world keeps turning round and round.