Is Thanksgiving celebrated outside the US? Yes — though the American version, with its fourth-Thursday-of-November date and turkey-centered feast, is the most famous. Several other countries have their own Thanksgiving holidays with distinct histories, dates, and traditions. The idea of setting aside a day to give thanks for the harvest is ancient and widespread; what differs is how — and whether — each country turned it into a public holiday.
Canada: The Other Thanksgiving
Canada’s Thanksgiving is the closest parallel to the American holiday — and it comes first. Celebrated on the second Monday of October (October 12 in 2026), it is a statutory holiday across most of the country. Like its southern neighbor’s version, it centers on a harvest feast with turkey, though its historical roots are separate: the Canadian tradition traces to explorer Martin Frobisher’s 1578 celebration in what is now Nunavut, decades before the Pilgrims’ 1621 feast. For Canadians, Thanksgiving weekend is a major travel period, much as it is in the US — just six weeks earlier.
One quirk: in Canada’s Atlantic provinces and Quebec, Thanksgiving’s statutory status varies, so always check the provincial rules. But for most Canadians, the second Monday of October is as firmly a day off as the fourth Thursday of November is for Americans.
Liberia, Grenada, and Norfolk Island
Liberia — founded by freed American slaves — observes Thanksgiving on the first Thursday of November, a direct transplant of the American tradition. Grenada celebrates its own Thanksgiving Day on October 25, but with a completely different meaning: it commemorates the 1983 US-led intervention, a somber national anniversary rather than a harvest festival. Norfolk Island, the tiny Australian external territory, celebrates Thanksgiving on the last Wednesday of November, a custom introduced by visiting American whalers in the 19th century.
These examples show how the holiday traveled: sometimes as cultural inheritance, sometimes as historical accident. Each version adapted to local history while keeping the name.
Harvest Festivals Around the World
Beyond the countries that literally call it “Thanksgiving,” harvest thanksgiving festivals are universal. Germany’s Erntedankfest (usually the first Sunday in October) fills churches with harvest displays. The UK celebrates Harvest Festival in churches and schools each autumn, though it is not a public holiday. Japan’s Labor Thanksgiving Day (November 23) is a national holiday with ancient harvest roots. China’s Mid-Autumn Festival and Korea’s Chuseok are moon- and harvest-centered holidays of enormous cultural importance, each with days off.
So while the turkey-and-fourth-Thursday formula is distinctly American, the impulse behind Thanksgiving — pausing to be grateful for the year’s yield — belongs to the whole world. If you are traveling in October or November, check the local calendar: you may stumble into someone else’s Thanksgiving when you least expect it.
Thanksgiving Travel and Planning Tips
Because the various Thanksgivings fall on different dates, autumn travelers can occasionally catch two of them — Canada’s in mid-October and America’s in late November. If you are flying during either weekend, book early: both are among the busiest travel periods of the year in their respective countries, with airports and highways at peak load. For expatriates missing home, many international communities organize “orphan Thanksgiving” dinners on the nearest weekend, so check local expat groups if you want a taste of the tradition abroad. And if you are doing business across the US-Canada border in October or November, remember that each country’s Thanksgiving shuts down its side in turn — plan cross-border shipments and meetings around both dates, not just your own.