Here in the U.S., Thanksgiving is one of the calendar’s most cherished celebrations. After all, how can you not love a holiday dedicated to practicing gratitude while gathering with family and friends over a delicious stuffed bird with all the trimmings? There’s no doubt we Americans know how to do up Turkey Day right, but—as with a few other countries around the globe—our neighbors to the north also commemorate the harvest and honor life’s blessings with their own holiday. It differs from our festivities in a few important ways, which is why Country Living is here to answer a few all-important questions about Canadian Thanksgiving traditions. We’ll start with the biggie: when is Canadian Thanksgiving, anyway?

Unlike Thanksgiving, which always falls on the fourth Thursday of November no matter the date, Canada’s version occurs on the second Monday in October—which is October 9 in 2023. That’s about six weeks before Thanksgiving, although Canadian Thanksgiving coincidentally coincides with Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day here in the States. According to Newsweek, Canadians may have decided to hold their holiday before we do simply because their harvest occurs earlier, due to their frostier climate.

That’s not to say that Canadian Thanksgiving necessarily traces its roots to a feast honoring the bounty of the land. While Canada’s Indigenous Peoples have long held such events, the holiday is traditionally said to have gotten its start in 1578, when English explorer Martin Frobisher gathered his men together for a meal that included salt beef, biscuits and mushy peas. The occasion, which occurred in what is now Nunavut more than 40 years before the pilgrims tucked into their Plymouth Rock potluck, was to thank God for keeping them safe during their exploration of the daunting Eastern Arctic.

It would be a chunk of time before Thanksgiving caught on in Canada, though. For the next few centuries, it was observed only haphazardly until 1859, when Protestant clergy petitioned for a national holiday to give thanks to God. Canadian Thanksgiving became an annual event two decades later, but bounced around the calendar, moving from April to November. Finally in 1957, thanks to a government decree, it found a permanent home in the month of October. Along the way, Canadian Thanksgiving also evolved into a more secular holiday, much like its American counterpart—and there are a few other similarities between their customs and ours worth noting.

What are some Canadian Thanksgiving traditions?

Just like us, Canadians love them some turkey with all the fixings at Thanksgiving. That includes autumnal-themed goodies like yams, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, and squash. (Canadian bacon usually makes an appearance in at least a couple of those side dishes.) You’ll also most likely find pumpkin pie on Canadian Thanksgiving tables, though it may be more heavily spiced than the American kind, with seasonings such as ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove taking center stage.

Other common dessert options rely on one of the country’s most iconic food products for flavor: maple-walnut layer cake and maple butter tart, the latter particularly popular in Ontario. In British Columbia, Nanaimo bars—a no-bake chocolate ganache treat with a wafer, nut and coconut crumb base and custard icing in the middle—is a favorite.

Speaking of regional delights, should you ever find yourself in Newfoundland for Canadian Thanksgiving, you might end up dining on what’s called a Jiggs dinner. Named for the lead character of the long-running comic strip “Bringing up Father” (who loved corned beef and cabbage), the boiled dish is made with salted beef, cabbage, turnips and other veggies. Or, you may be served game meats, salmon, ham or even tourtière, a savory pie stuffed with meat and potatoes for your main course—all are also commonly dished out in homes across the Great White North.

Along with enjoying some of the same Thanksgiving menu choices as we do, our Canadian friends are likewise able to indulge in one of the holiday’s greatest pleasures: sleeping off the inevitable food coma in front of some pigskin play. Televised nationally, the Thanksgiving Day Classic, a Canadian Football League double-header, is just as beloved up north as our own Turkey Day NFL matchups are down here. And speaking of small screen diversions, the annual Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade is also broadcast, although it can’t compare in size or spectacle to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

But while dozing in front of the tube on Canadian Thanksgiving is a must for many families, it turns out there just aren’t that many hard and fast rules about how—and when—to actually celebrate it.

What is the rule for Thanksgiving in Canada?

In general, Thanksgiving is a much more relaxed affair across the border than it is here. Far-flung relatives don’t really travel cross-country to be with their families for it. Heck, even table decorations tend to be a little more low-key. In fact, many Canadians choose to serve the Thanksgiving meal on the weekend, since the big day falls on a Monday, with work awaiting on Tuesday. Instead of spending the time indoors, some Canadians may skip the feast entirely, instead taking a hike beneath the brilliant fall foliage so they enjoy the last gasp of mild weather before winter arrives.

While Canadian Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in most of the country, with federal employees given the day off and banks and post offices shuttered, in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island the holiday is optional. Meanwhile, in Quebec, where Canadian Thanksgiving is also known as Action de grâce, it’s only nominally acknowledged. Of course, the lack of uniform participation in Canadian Thanksgiving isn’t the only thing that distinguishes it from our celebration…

What is the difference between Canadian Thanksgiving and U.S. Thanksgiving?

The biggest difference between American and Canadian Thanksgiving may be simply what happens the day after it, or, more specifically, what doesn’t. In the U.S., Black Friday is traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year, with consumers flooding stores, often before dawn, to take advantage of drastically reduced prices on everything from TVs to designer handbags, gaming systems, and a whole lot more. Americans do love to tick names off their Christmas gift lists before December rolls around (though plenty of us have been known to wait until the last-possible minute).

But in Canada, October is apparently way too early to be snapping up presents to put under the tree, because post-Thanksgiving shopping is not a thing there, at all. Of course, Canadians also have to work the day after the holiday, so it wouldn’t make much sense for merchants to offer deep discounts then. Instead, as in Great Britain, most big sales in Canada happen on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. Which, now that we think about it, doesn’t seem like the worst idea, since that means Canadians can give their full attention to the holiday’s most important tradition—noshing on all those yummy leftovers.