The Surprising Truth About the First Thanksgiving: When Did It Really Happen? This year, Thanksgiving occurs on Thursday, Nov. 28. As in years past, most Americans will gather with loved ones to count life’s blessings and enjoy a meal together in honor of the annual holiday.
If you are like most people, then you likely know that Thanksgiving is a commemoration of the feast that took place between the Pilgrims and Native Americans back in the 1600s.
But how much do you really know about the event that would establish one of the most beloved rituals in American history? And have you ever wondered, “When was the first Thanksgiving?”
To better understand how this celebrated holiday came to be, TODAY.com spoke to Melanie Kirkpatrick, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and author of the book “Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience.”
Help has arrived with Kirkpatrick; we have all the facts on when that first thanksgiving feast was held, who attended, why it was a necessary and interesting fact, and even a few that might surprise you: Take that first Thanksgiving of 1621, for instance. It probably was not the first Pilgrim Thanksgiving at all but part of a series of feasts.
You’ll also discover the history of how the day became recognized on the the fourth Thursday in November and which U.S. president decided it should be.
Whether Turkey Day is your favorite holiday of the year or you’re simply interested in Thanksgiving trivia facts, here’s what to know about the origins of this time-honored tradition.
When was the first Thanksgiving?
In September of 1620, a group of around 100 people boarded the Mayflower and set sail for America. In search of religious freedom, the passengers made a harrowing two-month trek across the Atlantic, arriving in Cape Cod Boy in November.
After scouting out Provincetown and deeming it too difficult to settle, the Pilgrims, as they would become known, moved on to nearby Plymouth, Massachusetts, where they decided to stay.
This first year did not go lightly for these new colonists. New England winter did not favor them too well, since nearly half the number of original settlers died sometime within months of their arrival.
However, by fall, the surviving Pilgrims were celebrating a successful harvest, again in large part due to the help of the Wampanoag, the Native community indigenous to the settlers’ new home.
In 1621, to commemorate the occasion, a three-day feast was held. But it wasn’t called “Thanksgiving” — not in 1621, at least.
“For the Pilgrims, the first day that they designated as a ‘thanksgiving’ was in July of 1623, when they called the thanksgiving in thanks for a rainfall that had saved their harvest,” Kirkpatrick says.
Plus, since the Pilgrims were deeply religious, it’s probable that they held many Thanksgivings. “The Pilgrims gave thanks at every meal,” Kirkpatrick says. “Gratitude was very much a part of their Christian tradition.”
Still, that first feast is what is most commonly identified as the first Thanksgiving, even if, technically, the event wouldn’t be termed as such until a few years after the fact.
Perhaps more interesting is that while it’s assumed that the first extended gathering between the Native People (then called the Indians) and the settlers took place in November, that’s never been confirmed.
Instead, says Kirkpatrick, it took place at the end of harvest. “That could have been at the end of summer, it could have been at the beginning of fall, which would be September. But it probably wasn’t as late as November,” she says.
Who was at the first Thanksgiving?
Just like in the folklore, that first feast was attended by the Pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag tribe.
Since most of the early Pilgrims perished during their first year in the New World, Kirkpatrick estimates that fewer than 50 members of the settler families—men, women and children—attended the three-day soiree.
Edward Winslow and William Bradford were two leaders among the political leaders of the Pilgrims. From these two Pilgrim authors’ accounts, about 90 members of the Wampanoag tribe were invited and attended this party—and, interestingly enough, none were women.
As written in the memories of Winslow and Branford, they claim, ‘Ninety Indian Braves (attended),'” which means they would have all been men, says Kirkpatrick.
What was served at the first Thanksgiving?
For most of us, the modern Thanksgiving menu includes turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, among other staples.
But what was served at that very first feast?
“It’s really important to acknowledge the contributions, the generosity, of the Wampanoag who were present. As one of the writings says, they brought with them five deer and that would have been enough to feed everybody for a few days,” Kirkpatrick says.
The visitors who joined for that very first Thanksgiving also feasted on the fowl, which also included various birds such as ducks and geese. According to the writings by Bradford, there was “a great store of wild turkeys,” served during the feast. So indeed, there was turkey served at the first Thanksgiving.
According to Kirkpatrick, other foods likely included Indian corn, fish and lobster. As far as cranberries go, she says that the Native Americans often used the fruit in their cooking, making it quite possible that they, too, were part of the banquet.
Citing no record of imbriants being served at the feast, she says that it’s unclear if the Pilgrims brought wine or ale with them on the voyage from England and even if they did, chances are pretty good there wouldn’t be any left by the fall of 1621. “I don’t think they had any objection to alcohol, but I don’t think they had it,” says Kirkpatrick. “I’d be surprised if they did.”
We commemorate the fourth Thursday of November during the United States’ Thanksgiving holiday.
For some reason, though, a formal declaration was not awarded to the holiday until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November as a “Day of Thanksgiving”.
The proclamation came at the request of Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the magazine “Godey’s Lady’s Book”, widely read at the time.
According to Kirkpatrick, Hale wrote many letters to governors and U.S. presidents advocating for Thanksgiving to be a holiday. However, it was Lincoln who made her wish come true in the midst of the Civil War.
However, Thanksgiving was still being celebrated on different days by different states before President Franklin D. Roosevelt threw his hat into the ring, declaring his own day of Thanksgiving in 1938.
In an effort to help the Depression-era economy, Roosevelt decreed that the holiday would be moved up from the last week in November to the third week to allow more time for holiday shopping.
“It did not work, but it stirred a firestorm of criticism which, for a few years, half the states declared they were going to commemorate on the date Roosevelt announced, and the other half of the states declared that they would commemorate on what they considered was the traditional day of Thanksgiving—the last Thursday of the month,” states Kirkpatrick.
It wasn’t until 1941, when Congress passed a law establishing Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November, that the way we have traditionally observed Thanksgiving was finalized.
