In the United States and Canada it is usually prepared for Thanksgiving,[3] Christmas,[citation needed] and other occasions when pumpkin is in season.

[6] They are considerably smaller than the typically larger varieties used to carve jack o'lanterns, contain significantly less pulp, and have a less stringy texture.

The pumpkin was an early export to France; from there it was introduced to Tudor England, and the flesh of the "pompion" was quickly accepted as pie filling.

[12] During the seventeenth century, pumpkin pie recipes could be found in English cookbooks, such as Hannah Woolley's The Gentlewoman's Companion (1675).

[4] An early appearance of a more modern, custard-like pumpkin pie was in American Cookery, a cookbook published in 1796.

It was not until the early nineteenth century that recipes appeared in Canadian cookbooks,[17] or that pumpkin pie became a common addition to the Thanksgiving dinner.

[21] Today, throughout much of Canada and the United States, it is traditional to serve pumpkin pie after Thanksgiving dinner.

on Thanksday, when from East and from West, From North and from South comes the pilgrim and guest; When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board The old broken links of affection restored; When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more, And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before; What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye,

Thy form shall fill a noble niche in memory's chamber whilst I pitch my tent beside the river which rolls on through Kingston town.