It’s quieter. It’s earlier. And it’s locally grown. (Sort of.)

Canada’s Thanksgiving, which takes place on Monday, is little known in the United States, although turkey, stuffing and televised football also dominate the day there. But the holiday’s northern version has its own origins and regional dishes.

Some Canadians argue that their Thanksgiving honors the fateful 1578 voyage of the English explorer Martin Frobisher, who was seeking a Northwest Passage to the Pacific. Separated from his fleet in a July storm, Frobisher and his crew abandoned hope, only to be reunited weeks later north of Labrador. They held a service to give thanks, and tucked into the standard fare on 16th-century English ships: salt beef, ship biscuits and peas, according to Dorothy Duncan, author of the cookbook “Nothing More Comforting: Canada’s Heritage Food.”

Nova Scotia appears to have taken the idea of a harvest festival from the pre-revolutionary American Colonies during the 1750s. Loyalists who went north after the American Revolution also brought the celebration with them.

In 1859, the colony of Canada proclaimed its first day of thanksgiving. Parliament passed legislation in 1957 making Thanksgiving Day an annual holiday, celebrated on the second Monday of October.