The first Thanksgiving harvest celebration took place with the Pilgrims and the Native American Indians. It was a celebration of peace and harmony to celebrate and give thanks for the bounteous harvest of the season. The harvest meal has become a symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans. The history of Thanksgiving is rich with tradition and culture.
As the Pilgrims traveled on the Mayflower looking for a place to settle, their thoughts were hopeful. When they arrived in Plymouth in 1620 nearly half of them had stayed behind and through the following winter many died of freezing temperatures and starvation. Somehow the Pilgrims were saved by a group of Native American Indians who befriended them and helped them harvest the crops and survive the winter. They taught them techniques to cultivate the corns and grow native vegetables and how to store them for the hard days. When the winter came again the Pilgrims felt very thankful for the much needed help. It was because of these acts of kindness that Governor William Bradford ordered a day of fasting and prayer; November 29th was proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving.
Food
Historians have recorded other ceremonies of thanks among European settlers. Although we celebrate specifically the Pilgrims and the Indians, there are others before this time that celebrated to give thanks. No matter where the celebration was or when it occurred the celebration of thanks held great importance over time. The Thanksgiving feast has survived centuries of people throughout the entire world, including the United States. Friends and family have gathered from all over the world to eat enormous amounts of food in a thanksgiving meal.
Although there is no way of knowing exactly what the Pilgrims and Indians ate, it is guessed that there was much wild fowl, venison, berries and some dried fruit. Turkey is the main course that is eaten in the United States and some believe that turkey was also eaten at the first thanksgiving feast. Wild fowl however referred to much more than just turkey; in fact turkey was a general term for any type of wild fowl. Pumpkin pie is another modern day favorite but historians believed that the Pilgrims and Indians weren’t gobbling that up either. Though they did probably have a pumpkin dish that was sweetened with syrup or maple sugar, pastries and danishes were not customary back then, not to mention the shortages of flour and sugar. Some other types of food found at the first thanksgiving harvest would have been lobster, seal, and even swans.
The Pilgrims did not use forks to eat; they used only spoons, knives, and their fingers. They used large napkins to wipe their faces and hands. Salt and pepper, something that is familiar to modern day thanksgiving feasts would probably have been used also. A person’s social standing often determined what he or she ate. The best food was placed next to the most important people; everyone else just ate what was closest them, not sampling a bit of everything. Different types of food were placed on the table at the same time and people ate the food in the order they chose to.
Today we continue to celebrate Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November with a bountiful feast to give thanks for all that we have been given.
More posts like this one in Celebrations.