Plymouth, 1621.
Pilgrims, who had arrived on the Mayflower one year earlier, and a handful of Native Americans from nearby tribes gather to celebrate a successful harvest with an extravagant feast. Three days long, the event includes many of the traditional Thanksgiving foods Americans enjoy today: pies, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and yes, the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving dinner- a delicious turkey. The Pilgrims give thanks to God with this grand gathering and forge alliances with the Native Americans, who go on their merry way as good friends of the colonists. From this day on, Plymouth colonists commemorated Thanksgiving as an annual holiday to express gratitude and enjoy a plentiful dinner. Right? …Right?
Well, not exactly. Embroiled in myth and legend, the true history of thanksgiving yields only a fraction of historical basis commonly believed and taught in history textbooks in the modern era. So what exactly can be affirmed as fact, and what can be disregarded as fiction?
Only two authentic accounts of the first Thanksgiving feast exist: one a letter written by Edward Winslow on December 12th, 1621, and the other an excerpt from William Bradford’s 1651 book, Of Plymouth Plantation. Edward Winslow’s letter describes a three day long feast attended by 90 Wampanoag Native Americans and their chief, Massasoit. The feast, he explains, was ordered by governor William Bradford, who suggested that the colonists of Plymouth “rejoice together after [they] had gathered the fruit of [their] labors” and thank God for His blessings upon the colony. Winslow lists corn, barley, peas, wild fowl, and five deer brought by the Wampanoag tribesmen as the primary components of the menu. Bradford’s account of the feast adds cod, bass, venison, and wild turkey to the list. From both of these sources, historians conclude that the celebration occurred sometime between September and November and that it only occurred once in the Plymouth colony. Additionally, no historian has found mention of how or why the Native Americans took part in the feast, though they generally contend that Chief Massasoit attended in order to seek alliance with the Pilgrims for military protection after his tribe had been decimated by European diseases.
Modern-day myths regarding the origins of traditional Thanksgiving dishes can be quickly discarded based upon these two accounts, which both focus primarily on the foods enjoyed at the gathering. William Bradford does mention a bounty of turkeys in his history of the celebration, which explains the adoption of the traditional turkey centerpiece in the modern American Thanksgiving dinner; however, the original meal contained many kinds of meat and wild fowl besides turkey such as goose and duck. The vast majority of Thanksgiving desserts enjoyed today have no historical basis since dairy cattle would not arrive in Plymouth until 1623, and no sugar, butter, spices, or fruit likely remained from the original store of supplies brought on the Mayflower. Not even mashed potatoes would have likely been found at the feast either since potatoes were first introduced in Virginia in the 1620s and would gradually spread to other colonies throughout the next decade. Needless to say, a modern American Thanksgiving spread looks almost completely different than that of the Pilgrims.
Many Americans today also falsely believe the narrative that the Pilgrims continued to celebrate Thanksgiving every year. In truth, the original feast only took place as a one-time event since the Pilgrims merely wanted to engage in a celebration of their first successful harvest. Afterwards, the Plymouth colonists declared various days of thanksgiving to God. President George Washington celebrated a national day of thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November 1789. However, the widely celebrated Thanksgiving of today would not exist until the 1860s. American writer, activist, and poet, Sarah Josepha Hale, wrote in her 1827 novel Northwoods that “Thanksgiving like the Fourth of July should be a national festival observed by all the people … as an exponent of our republican institutions.” She thus began a decades-long campaign of writing to every U.S. president, asking that they declare Thanksgiving a national holiday. Her letters would go unanswered until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln decided that a national Thanksgiving holiday might soothe the tensions between Americans during the Civil War. Thus, what Americans regard today as Thanksgiving officially came into existence as a holiday annually celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, a date fixed by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1939.
Though the truth of the first Thanksgiving feast is often obscured by falsehoods and misinterpretations of historical fact, Americans today can still use the day to spend time with family and give thanks to God for his blessings and gifts just as the Puritan colonists of New England did exactly 400 years ago, even if the Pilgrims did not also enjoy pumpkin pie or marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes.
Works Cited
Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. “History of the First Thanksgiving.” History of Massachusetts Blog, 6 Aug. 2021, https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-first-thanksgiving/.
Conway, Jack. “Harvest Dinner with the Pilgrims in Plymouth.” Jack Conway Blog, 9 Nov. 2012, https://www.jackconway.com/blog/harvest-dinner-with-the-pilgrims-in-plymouth/.
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome. “The First Thanksgiving.” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:First_Thanksgiving.
Lambdin, James Reid. “Sarah Josepha Hale.” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sarah_Hale_portrait.jpg.
“Thanksgiving.” MayflowerHistory.com, http://mayflowerhistory.com/thanksgiving.
Waxman, Olivia B. “How Thanksgiving Became a National Holiday: Holiday Origins.” Time, Time, 23 Nov. 2016, https://time.com/4577082/thanksgiving-holiday-history-origins/.