A long time ago, a group of religious people, the pilgrims, were determined to flee from the religious ruling of the British aristocracy. They sought new lands, many traveled to the Netherlands hoping to escape the prejudices against their practice, but soon decided to travel to what became known as the "New World," America. It was there that they journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean to find a place where they could freely practice their belief, away from British rule and spread what they believed to be the true gospel of Christ. In the year of our Lord, 1621, the pilgrims sat down with the Wampanoag's and feast on the bountiful harvest.
This is the story that so many know and picture, besides from Norman Rockwell's famous Thanksgiving painting, during Thanksgiving. From childhood to adulthood, the story of the pilgrims traveling the ocean on the Mayflower, meeting the Indians who taught them how to farm the land, and then feasting and celebrating the harvest with the Indians. Even though, the story of feasting with the Wampanoag's and learning to farm the land and about corn from the locals is true, there was no pumpkin pie, stuffing, and probably no turkeys at the table. To top it off, it was really a "Harvest Festival" and lasted 3 days.
History of Thanksgiving in America
When the pilgrim's landed in Plymouth, life was not honky dory. They had to learn to farm the lands, determine a system of government, build a community, and figure out how to share the land with the local tribes. One native who helped the pilgrim's tremendously was, Squanto. Squanto could speak fluent English by this point, his native tongue, and some Spanish. The Indians painted by text books are not the uneducated or unknowledgeable people many seem to think. For years Europe had already been sailing these lands, landing in many places, attempting to set up colonies, and one of the main countries exploring the lands was Spain. Many Indians had already mingled, so to speak, with Europeans. Even so, Squanto proved to be a huge help, as did the rest of the natives, to the pilgrims.
The locals taught farming techniques to the pilgrims and then traded fur for corn. Through the trade, the pilgrim's were able to send items back to England. As a way to say "thank you" to the Squanto and the Wampanoag's, for the bountiful harvest which would not have been possible without local help, they had a feast of Thanksgiving during the fall of 1621.
Food at the First Thanksgiving
Now a days, turkey is the centerpiece and pumpkin pie is the end game at most Thanksgiving meals. Back in the pilgrim's day, duck, geese, and venison were the meats, no real indication of turkey at the meal. AS for the pumpkin pie, none. The pumpkins were boiled, maybe with whatever spice or ingredients were available including berries. Pies during this time were usually a meat pie. There was no milk, cider, potato, green beans, but there was corn be it in the form of bread or cooked. There were other available fruits, some greens, fish, and berries.
Thanksgiving Thursday
In 1789, George Washington declared November 26th a day of "thanksgiving," before that to celebrate the victory of Saratoga, a time of thanksgiving and prayer was observed. Even before that, there were proclamations declaring days of thanksgiving observed by states but on different days, but it was not until 1863, that President Lincoln declared the 4th Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving.
One woman who is said to play a huge role in the Thanksgiving holiday is, Sarah Hale. She was a widow in the early 19th century, found a position editing a lady's magazine and urged for equal education, playgrounds, nurseries for women who worked and wrote many works, including, "Mary had a little Lamb." She believed the holiday would aid in the healing of the division of the country and, eventually, so did Lincoln. Even so, it was not until Reconstruction that the holiday did become more national, mainly due to the strained relations of the North and South and for those who did not like Lincoln.
As Thanksgiving progressed, it became the kick off to the holiday season, literally with parades and football. Under F.D.R. the date was changed to be the next to the last Thursday of November in order to create a longer shopping holiday season, but it was moved back two years later to the last Thursday due to National outrage in 1941.
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