October 2023 issue online

5
THE EDITOR’S PAGE
by Linda Green
THANKSGIVING
October brings us cool (and sometimes rainy) days
as fall is in full swing. We do have the Thanksgiving
weekend to look forward to!
Here are some interesting facts about our
Thanksgiving celebration.
• The first Thanksgiving Day after Confederation
was on April 15, 1872, to give thanks for the
recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward
VII) from a serious illness.
• From 1879 to 1920, Thanksgiving Day was
celebrated annually in October or November, to
celebrate “the blessings of an abundant harvest.”
• From 1921 to 1930, Thanksgiving was combined
with Armistice Day (now Remembrance Day),
which was observed on the Monday of the week of
November 11.
• Thanksgiving has taken place on the second
Monday in October since 1931, except for 1935,
when that date conflicted with a general election.
• Many traditional Thanksgiving foods -- such as
turkey, squash and corn -- are native to the Americas,
in keeping with the theme of celebrating the harvest.
• While turkeys have nothing to do with the country
Turkey, their name does -- settlers called the birds
turkeys because of their similarity to a European
bird, the African Helmeted Guinea Fowl, which was
known as the turkey-cock since it was believed to
have come to Europe via Turkey.
• There are 80 cranberry farms in B.C. with many
berries destined for the Thanksgiving table, and
while it is doubtful cranberries were served at the
first Thanksgiving meals, the indigenous people used
them for cooking and dyeing and introduced them to
the settlers.
• While pumpkins are a staple of many Canadian
Thanksgiving meals as well, they also originated
with indigenous people and
it is not known if they were
present at the first
Thanksgiving meals.
However, there are recipes
for pumpkin pie that date
back to the 1650s.
Special Printing For Members
Do you have a need for printing (i.e., bookmarks, booklets, calendars,
dinner menus/programs, club bylaws, annual reports), large or small
quantities, black & white print (10¢ per page) or colour (30¢ per page)?
If so, please contact Carol Croft or Linda Green, either in the Sentinel
office (we’re not here all the time, though) or by email at sentinel@gwsaguelph.ca,
or leave a message at the front desk. You must be a GWSA
member to take advantage of this.
We will try to accommodate you with your project as much as we can.
DONATIONS
To donate easily, with a credit
card, visit our website
www.gwsa-guelph.ca and click
on the ‘Donate’ button or call:
519-823-1291
October 6, 2023, is the deadline for
submissions for the
November 2023 Sentinel.
Email submissions to: sentinel@gwsa-guelph.ca
or drop yours off at the Evergreen Front Desk.
Distribution of the November issue
is on October 26, 2023.
Editor is not responsible for quality of submitted photos
(but we’ll do our best).
The Sentinel - October 2023