It's Thanksgiving Day which has a long tradition in the United States.
One thing many might not know is that the first Holiday Feast might've not actually been between the Pilgrims of Massachusetts and local Indians, but might've actually taken place in Virginia.
Of course the Virginian Thanksgiving was more of a religious prayer of thankfulness as opposed to a feast.
As Clifford Dowdy noted in his book, The Great Plantation, the men were rowed ashore, placed their personal luggage on the hard ground, gazed at the woods enclosing them and listened to the complete silence. Then, at a command from Captain Woodlief, with which they were profoundly stirred to comply, the homesick men knelt on the dried grass to pray.
As instructed by the London Company, Woodlief prayed: “We ordaine that this day of our ships arrival, at the place assigned for plantacon, in the land of Virginia, shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.”
You see, the Berkeley Company had given a very specific list of ten instructions to the settlers when they departed England. The very first instruction was upon landing that they give a prayer of Thanksgiving for their safe voyage and to do so annually and perpetually thereafter.
America’s first official English speaking Thanksgiving had just occurred, one year and 17 days before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts and almost 2 years before the pilgrims held a 3 day Harvest Feast with their Native American friends, which is commonly thought today to be the first Thanksgiving.
What wasn't different was that the locals had generally good relations with natives for the first two years of the plantations existence... until one wintry day on March 22nd, 1622.
The colonists, feeling good about the religious season, were happy to include their Indian friends in their good fellowship. That morning the Indians milled with the colonists, made friendly small talk, and without warning, snatched up the colonist’s muskets that were set against the wall, took their carving knives, staves, hatchets and any other implement they could find that could inflict harm and then attacked. Eleven colonists were killed that day at Berkeley, many were wounded and others got away. It is said that George Thorpe, who had befriended the Indians, was the first killed and that his body was badly mutilated. Later, it was learned that other groups of Indians had done precisely the same thing, at that exact hour, at other plantations in Virginia. Indian Chief Opechancanough led the massive uprising for 140 miles on either side of the James River. This was known as the Massacre of 1622 and abruptly ended the settlement of Berkeley and the annual celebration of Thanksgiving there, at least until 1958.
Oh well...
As for the Pilgrims Thanksgiving...
historyofmassachusetts.org
Fifty three surviving colonists of the Mayflower (of the original 102) as well as 90 local Wampanoag Indians (including Squanto, the English speaking Native who was crucial to the survival of America's first colony in that area) attended the THREE DAY feast. The first Thanksgiving was a sausage fest, in that only four women and twenty two male pilgrims were in attendance along with an assortment of rugrats and of the ninty natives in attendence, it's believed all were male warriors.
As for what was served... no one knows for sure. It wasn't written about in any of the surviving accounts. It seems almost certain that potatoes weren't served, nor pies due to lack of butter and flour and canned pumpkin filling, and even if they had cranberries, they would've used them as a food sweetener or for color as opposed to as a sauce. However water fowl, deer, grapes, berries, corn as well as seafood such as crabs and mussels would've likely been served as those were common foods eaten by the Pilgrims at the time. Maybe that included a wild turkey or a few.
Thanksgiving however didn't become a national US Holiday until Abraham Lincoln, apparently not having anything better to do, supported legislation to make it official in 1863.
For a Conservative Religious Jews take on the first Thanksgiving...
And it becoming a National Holiday in 1863.
One thing many might not know is that the first Holiday Feast might've not actually been between the Pilgrims of Massachusetts and local Indians, but might've actually taken place in Virginia.
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Of course the Virginian Thanksgiving was more of a religious prayer of thankfulness as opposed to a feast.
As Clifford Dowdy noted in his book, The Great Plantation, the men were rowed ashore, placed their personal luggage on the hard ground, gazed at the woods enclosing them and listened to the complete silence. Then, at a command from Captain Woodlief, with which they were profoundly stirred to comply, the homesick men knelt on the dried grass to pray.
As instructed by the London Company, Woodlief prayed: “We ordaine that this day of our ships arrival, at the place assigned for plantacon, in the land of Virginia, shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.”
You see, the Berkeley Company had given a very specific list of ten instructions to the settlers when they departed England. The very first instruction was upon landing that they give a prayer of Thanksgiving for their safe voyage and to do so annually and perpetually thereafter.
America’s first official English speaking Thanksgiving had just occurred, one year and 17 days before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts and almost 2 years before the pilgrims held a 3 day Harvest Feast with their Native American friends, which is commonly thought today to be the first Thanksgiving.
What wasn't different was that the locals had generally good relations with natives for the first two years of the plantations existence... until one wintry day on March 22nd, 1622.
The colonists, feeling good about the religious season, were happy to include their Indian friends in their good fellowship. That morning the Indians milled with the colonists, made friendly small talk, and without warning, snatched up the colonist’s muskets that were set against the wall, took their carving knives, staves, hatchets and any other implement they could find that could inflict harm and then attacked. Eleven colonists were killed that day at Berkeley, many were wounded and others got away. It is said that George Thorpe, who had befriended the Indians, was the first killed and that his body was badly mutilated. Later, it was learned that other groups of Indians had done precisely the same thing, at that exact hour, at other plantations in Virginia. Indian Chief Opechancanough led the massive uprising for 140 miles on either side of the James River. This was known as the Massacre of 1622 and abruptly ended the settlement of Berkeley and the annual celebration of Thanksgiving there, at least until 1958.
Oh well...
As for the Pilgrims Thanksgiving...
History of the First Thanksgiving - History of Massachusetts Blog
The first Thanksgiving was a harvest celebration held by the pilgrims of Plymouth colony in the 17th century. Many myths surround the first Thanksgiving. Very little is actually known about the event because only two firsthand accounts of the feast were ever written. The first account is William...
historyofmassachusetts.org
Fifty three surviving colonists of the Mayflower (of the original 102) as well as 90 local Wampanoag Indians (including Squanto, the English speaking Native who was crucial to the survival of America's first colony in that area) attended the THREE DAY feast. The first Thanksgiving was a sausage fest, in that only four women and twenty two male pilgrims were in attendance along with an assortment of rugrats and of the ninty natives in attendence, it's believed all were male warriors.
As for what was served... no one knows for sure. It wasn't written about in any of the surviving accounts. It seems almost certain that potatoes weren't served, nor pies due to lack of butter and flour and canned pumpkin filling, and even if they had cranberries, they would've used them as a food sweetener or for color as opposed to as a sauce. However water fowl, deer, grapes, berries, corn as well as seafood such as crabs and mussels would've likely been served as those were common foods eaten by the Pilgrims at the time. Maybe that included a wild turkey or a few.
Thanksgiving however didn't become a national US Holiday until Abraham Lincoln, apparently not having anything better to do, supported legislation to make it official in 1863.
For a Conservative Religious Jews take on the first Thanksgiving...
And it becoming a National Holiday in 1863.
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