US Thanksgiving 2026 is on Thursday, November 26, 2026 and Canadian Thanksgiving is on Monday, October 12, 2026. The US date is 137 days away. Black Friday follows on November 27.
Two Thanksgivings live in North America. Canada's comes first, on the second Monday of October, when harvest actually lands in the northern climate. The US follows six weeks later on the fourth Thursday of November. Both are federal holidays and both mean a long weekend.
How many days until Thanksgiving 2026?
The counter above tracks the US date, Thursday, November 26, 2026. It updates every second in your own timezone. If you're planning around the Canadian date, set your own counter to October 12 with one tap.
Because US Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday, Friday and the weekend that follows become the busiest travel and shopping stretch of the year. Black Friday runs from midnight into the following weekend, and Cyber Monday closes it out on November 30.
Why the US and Canada dates differ
Canada's shorter growing season pushes harvest earlier. That's why the Canadian holiday was fixed on the second Monday of October, long before the US settled its own date.
US Thanksgiving moved around for decades before Congress fixed it on the fourth Thursday of November in 1941. Franklin Roosevelt had briefly moved it earlier to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, which was controversial enough to force a permanent legal fix.
The history of the day
The origin story most people know, the 1621 harvest feast between the Plymouth Colony and the Wampanoag, is real but simplified. Days of thanksgiving were common across colonial America and were declared by state and church for years. It was Lincoln, in 1863, who made a national Thanksgiving day a fixed annual habit.
Canada's official Thanksgiving was set by Parliament in 1957 on the second Monday of October, though days of thanks had been declared informally since 1879. Both traditions share the same core: a shared meal at the end of harvest.
Restaurant or retail?
A big live Thanksgiving counter on the front-of-house screen builds anticipation for the busiest food-and-shopping week of the year.
Related dates in late 2026
Thanksgiving is really the trigger for a run of dates. Here's the whole stretch worth counting to:
| Occasion | Date | Days away |
|---|---|---|
| Canadian Thanksgiving | Mon, Oct 12, 2026 | 92days |
| US Thanksgiving Day | Thu, Nov 26, 2026 | 137days |
| Black Friday | Fri, Nov 27, 2026 | 138days |
| Cyber Monday | Mon, Nov 30, 2026 | 141days |
Display your Thanksgiving countdown anywhere
A live counter tells everyone in the room how close the big day is without anyone having to check their phone.
- Restaurant or catering: a "days until Thanksgiving service" board that runs unattended for the whole month of November.
- Retail window: a big number visible from the street, switching to Black Friday the moment Thanksgiving passes.
- Family kitchen: a tablet counting the household down to dinner time on the day itself.
One shareable link, no app to install. When Thanksgiving passes, point the same board at Christmas and the counter keeps running through December.