“As Philbrick notes, the colonists didn’t call the event Thanksgiving, a term that to them would have meant strictly a day of religious devotion and prayer. (Two years later, Bradford did proclaim “a day of thanksgiveing” to pray in thanks after rains ended a ruinous summer drought that had nearly destroyed their crops.) Instead, the historian says, it more closely resembled a traditional English harvest festival, a secular sort of celebration that dated back to medieval villages’ custom of eating, drinking and playing games after the crops were in.”
“…for three days we entertained and feasted.”
Edward Winslow was among the group of Pilgrims present at the first Thanksgiving. He describes the scene:
“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week.
At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, and many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”
References: Edward Winslow’s account appears in: Heath, Dwight, A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth: Mourt’s Relation (1963); EyeWitness to America (1997); Morrison, Samuel Eliot, Builders of the Bay Colony (1930).
So the Pilgrims didn’t invite the Wampanoags to sit down and eat turkey and drink some beer?
“[laughs] Ah, no. Well, let’s put it this way. People did eat together [but not in what is portrayed as “the first Thanksgiving]. It was our homeland and our territory and we walked all through their villages all the time. The differences in how they behaved, how they ate, how they prepared things was a lot for both cultures to work with each other. But in those days, it was sort of like today when you go out on a boat in the open sea and you see another boat and everyone is waving and very friendly—it’s because they’re vulnerable and need to rely on each other if something happens. In those days, the English really needed to rely on us and, yes, they were polite as best they could be, but they regarded us as savages nonetheless.”
Ramona Peters, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officer
“Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the popular women’s magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book, a real trendsetter for running a household, was a leading voice in establishing Thanksgiving as an annual event. Beginning in 1827, Hale petitioned 13 presidents, the last of whom was Abraham Lincoln. She pitched her idea to President Lincoln as a way to unite the country in the midst of the Civil War, and, in 1863, he made Thanksgiving a national holiday.”
“Those days were finally consolidated with Lincoln, who proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November in 1863 in large part thanks to an aggressive campaign by magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale.
This is the proclamation which set the precedent for America’s national day of Thanksgiving.
The November proclamations continued annually, with governors issuing their own proclamations naming the day the president had set.
“That worked fine until 1939, when Roosevelt decided to change the date,” Kirkpatrick said.
Roosevelt wanted Thanksgiving to come sooner in the hopes of driving up consumer spending during the Great Depression by extending the time between the holiday and Christmas. States disagreed and issued different dates.
As a result of the disagreement, Congress finally enacted legislation in 1941, which Roosevelt signed into law, making Thanksgiving fall on the fourth Thursday of November.”
“It’s been taught that the Pilgrims came because they were seeking religious freedom, but that’s not entirely true, Mr. Loewen said.
The Pilgrims had religious freedom in Holland, where they first arrived in the early 17th century. Like those who settled Jamestown, Va., in 1607, the Pilgrims came to North America to make money, Mr. Loewen said.
“They were also coming here in order to establish a religious theocracy, which they did,” he said. “That’s not exactly the same as coming here for religious freedom. It’s kind of coming here against religious freedom.”
Also, the Pilgrims never called themselves Pilgrims. They were separatists, Mr. Loewen said. The term Pilgrims didn’t surface until around 1880.”
“Throughout her campaign, Hale printed Thanksgiving recipes and menus in Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also published close to a dozen cookbooks. “She is really planting this idea in the heads of lots of women that this is something they should want to do,” says Wall. “So when there finally is a national day of Thanksgiving, there is a whole body of women who are ready for it, who know what to do because she told them. A lot of the food that we think of—roast turkey with sage dressing, creamed onions, mashed turnips, even some of the mashed potato dishes, which were kind of exotic then—are there.”
WASHINGTON—Noting that the nation’s long wait is now at an end, sources confirmed Thursday that the Thanksgiving holiday will grant millions of Americans the rare chance to eat incredibly large amounts of food while watching football games. “This kind of day doesn’t come around too often, so I’m excited to finally be able to sit back with family and friends over some delicious food and watch football for the entire afternoon,” said 34-year-old Arnold Dawson of Henrico, VA, echoing a sentiment held by Americans across the country who have come to cherish the lone day of the year when they can simply gorge themselves on enormous meals in front of a television showing nine hours of uninterrupted NFL coverage. “I mean, when else can you curl up in your living room with second or third helpings of food and watch a 12:30 p.m. game, a 4:30 p.m. game, and then an 8:30 p.m. game? It makes me wish Thanksgiving was every week.” Reports also confirmed that, by the end of the evening, the populace will already be excitedly thinking ahead to New Year’s Day, which will afford them an equally rare opportunity to shovel food into their mouths, watch a half-dozen college football games, and eventually pass out on the couch.