Urban destinations a Thanksgiving hallmark

For most, this is a special weekend for families to gather together and express gratitude for the graces received over the past year. It is the weekend when turkey is on the menu and helpings of extra love are passed around the table.

I thought this is the way it passed for most Canadians, but recent information indicates many people take a vacation on the weekend,.

A report just released by Hotwire.com indicated there may be a trend toward taking short excursion trips to popular destinations on Thanksgiving.

Most of these trips would appear to be to urban centres where dining, shopping and entertainment are key.

Those include New York, Las Vegas, Chicago and Boston. Minneapolis also rates high and I suspect those figures are largely comprised of Manitobans who see it as a relatively easy driving destination.

It's our closest major U.S. urban centre and prices during what is essentially a shoulder season can be very attractive.

The Canadian cities that top the Thanksgiving-weekend holiday charts are Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Thanksgiving Day in the United States this year is not until Nov. 22. There is no question the travel patterns south of the border during that time are decidedly different. It is the single-largest travel weekend of the year, and there is no doubt most of it is still about going back to family.

In the U.S., the Christmas holiday period does not see the same enthusiasm to return to their roots as families that have scattered for career opportunities celebrate in their own homes. Canadians still gather for that holiday period more than any other.

At home or away, I hope your year has been such that you can take the time to appreciate the blessings bestowed on you.

Among many other things I have to be thankful for, I always feel privileged for the opportunity I have to spread the word about travel in this column and for the frequent feedback I receive about the information provided.

QUESTION: Why is Thanksgiving Day just a North American holiday?

ANSWER: While the expression Thanksgiving may be primarily used in Canada and the United States, the concept of a harvest-related festival is common.

For obvious reasons, therefore, here and in the United States, the celebration takes place in the fall. It will vary from country to country.

All the way back to the ancient Greeks, a three-day festival to honour Demeter, the goddess of corn and grains, took place every year. Similarly, Egyptians honoured Min, the god of vegetation and fertility. And for more than 3,000 years, families of the Jewish faith have celebrated a harvest festival known as Sukkot. A number of Asian countries celebrate similar occasions in different months.

Many feel we patterned our Thanksgiving, especially with the turkey meal as a symbol, after the original pilgrim Puritans who travelled to the Boston, Mass., region on the Mayflower in the early 1600s.

There is some debate whether Canada's traditions began with Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century, who took to celebrating successful harvests during his time here, or the explorer Martin Frobisher, who celebrated the survival of his expedition to find the Northwest Passage from England through ice and storms.

QUESTION: How did the poor turkey become the dominant dish for Thanksgiving meals?

ANSWER: The first celebration by the Pilgrims may have included turkey, and historians say, it also consisted of other meat, including venison, deer, and goose.

The turkey became a symbol about two centuries after the first Pilgrims gave their thanks. It was not until 1863 when U.S. president Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday, in no small part because of the pressure of writer and editor Sarah Hale, who published recipe books featuring turkey, and related the bird erroneously to those early Pilgrims.

The date was changed several times after Lincoln's proclamation until it was finally settled that it would permanently be on the fourth Thursday in November. One can only assume weekends did not have the same meaning then, or that some foresighted planners surmised an extra long weekend was just what society would need before winter set in.

I have spent a number of vacations in various U.S. cities around their Thanksgiving. Those celebrations seem to be being married to the Black Friday sales that take place around the nation on the day after Thanksgiving.

It is the trigger for the holiday-shopping season and the signal to retailers they are going to have a profitable, or not-so-successful pre-Christmas season.

Forward your travel questions to askjourneys@journeystravel.com . Ron Pradinuk is president of Journeys Travel & Leisure SuperCentre and can be heard Sundays at noon on CJOB. Previous columns and tips can be found on www.journeystravelgear.com or read Ron's travel blog at www.thattravelguy.ca .

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 6, 2012 D6