Around the world, various nations celebrate Thanksgiving. If you’re from the United States, you probably know about Thanksgiving – the holiday that falls in November and was first started when colonists joined with Native Americans to celebrate. While this is one of the most well-known Thanksgiving holidays around the world, there are other nations that celebrate Thanksgiving. The nations that celebrate their own versions of Thanksgiving include:
- Australia
- Canada
- Grenada
- Liberia
- Netherlands
- Saint Lucia
- United States
The reasons behind the celebrations are different from country to country. In Australia, Thanksgiving was started after being brought over by whaling ships from America. In Canada, Thanksgiving is held in October and is used to show thankfulness at the end of the harvest season.
Grenada’s Thanksgiving holiday isn’t related at all to thankfulness or harvests. Instead, it is held on October 25, the same day that a U.S. led invasion occurred in 1983.
In Liberia, Thanksgiving started in the 1800s as a celebration of the colonization of freed African Americans. In the Netherlands, Thanksgiving is celebrated in honor of the Pilgrims that lived in the city of Leiden before heading to the New World.
There are other nations that also have festivals and holidays that are similar to Thanksgiving. This includes Ertendankfest in Germany, Labor Thanksgiving Day in Japan, and the Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving in the United Kingdom.