The First Thanksgiving
Togetherness: A fundamental part of the first Thanksgiving.
The idea of community was essential to the settling of early America. The colonists formed their community amongst the existing Native American communities. The first year passed very quickly in this manner, but it was a difficult year for the colonists and they had other communities to thank for their survival. The Native Americans had become their friends and they taught the colonists how to farm, hunt, and live off the land.
The spring and summer seasons passed in the colony. The corn had grown well. There was plenty for all to eat. Homes were being built and many were completed. Sickness was mostly gone. The Native Americans and the colonists became friends and most importantly, they had done what they set out to do — they relocated to a place to live where they could establish their community as they wanted. Through faith, community, and spirit, everything they needed was essentially provided. And so the colonists decided to set aside a special time to give thanks for all they accomplished.
The colonists who survived the first year invited their Native American friends and held the first Thanksgiving in October 1621. It lasted three days and everyone in Plymouth took part. In 1789, George Washington, the first President of the United States, decided we needed to have a national day of thanks for the blessings given to the colonists. While we did not start using the word Thanksgiving to explain this event until the 1800s, this celebration marked a great time of giving thanks. In 1941, the United States Congress decided Thanksgiving should be officially celebrated on the last Thursday in November of each year.
The first Thanksgiving was, in part, a sign of a new peace between the colonists and Native Americans. Through the years, scholarly understanding of the history of Thanksgiving has evolved alongside the traditions and foods that grace the holiday table.
The colonists’ faith in their newly established community was definitely tested each and every day.
The colonist Thanksgiving table looked a little different than it might today. Culinary historians think the menu featured venison (or deer), wild-caught turkey, corn, as well as other dishes including artichokes, garlic, concord grapes, cabbage, walnuts, chestnuts, and pumpkins. Feasts of ‘giving thanks’ have taken place in America for hundreds of years. All ‘thanks’ to the earliest American settlers and natives.
Let’s reflect on Thanksgiving quickly.
- Where do you think certain Thanksgiving traditions come from?
- What do you do on Thanksgiving?
- What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition?
- Is this tradition similar to something the Pilgrims or Native Americans would have done at their Thanksgiving?
“Neither the Pilgrims nor the Indians knew what they had begun. The Pilgrims called the celebration a Harvest Feast. The Indians thought of it as a Green Corn Dance. It was both and more than both. It was the first Thanksgiving.”
– Jean Craighead George
