It took two hundred years after the pilgrims first celebrated Thanksgiving in 1621 before it became an annual holiday in the U.S.
It was Sarah Hale, the author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” who convinced Abraham Lincoln to create the annual celebration in 1863.
Canada went along in 1879, but because of a shorter growing season changed the date in 1957 from the end of November to the second Monday in October.
That’s why Thanksgiving is celebrated six and a half weeks earlier in Canada than in the United States.
