The History of Thanksgiving

Written by: Anna Pafenberg

A lot of us associate Thanksgiving and the holiday season with turkey, pie, and many other delicious foods all eaten in the spirit of thankfulness. However, Thanksgiving actually originated from the British settlers in New England!

The first Thanksgiving was started by the Puritans, who were a religious group in Plymouth, Massachusetts. When they sailed there in 1620 on the Mayflower, they didn’t expect life to be so hard. The winters in New England were long and very cold. The soil there was also rocky and hard to plant food in. Thankfully for the settlers, the Wampanoag tribe had been on this land for thousands of years and knew everything from farming to fishing. A Wampanoag man named Tisquantum, more commonly known as Squanto knew English and helped the colonists to grow food like corn, beans, and squash.

The first Thanksgiving, very different from the one that we know, involved a harvest celebration between the Native Americans and English settlers. When the Natives heard about their feast, they brought food and joined in on the celebration. They ate deer, not turkey. They also ate shellfish and corn. 

The first national Thanksgiving holiday in American history was in 1863 thanks to President Lincoln. This holiday was in November for ‘general blessings’. In 1789, George Washington had a Thanksgiving and urged Americans to express what they were grateful for after the Revolutionary War. In 1817, New York became the first state to have a Thanksgiving holiday.

Now, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of every year. Canadians celebrate on the second Monday of October because they have an earlier harvest season than us due to the cold. That day is also when Americans celebrate Columbus day and Canadians celebrate indigenous people’s day. Now, Thanksgiving also involves the Macy’s Day Parade in New York City and a large football game. Both of these events are just another way that people are brought together on Thanksgiving. People travel all around the country to see and spend time with their families around a Thanksgiving feast. 

Nowadays, we eat a large turkey as the center of most meals. Some people also eat ham! Common side dishes include mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce. People also make a lot of pies like pumpkin pie and apple pie.

Sadly, only a generation of Wampanoag and American settlers got along peacefully. Now, Native Americans use this day as a day of remembrance for the suffering that the Native Americans went through due to the American colonists.

All and all, the start of the holiday of gratitude is thanks to the traditions started by American settlers and the people of the Wampanoag tribe in New England. This feast led way to many more where families and friends can surround the dinner table and express their gratitude and celebration in late November.