How Thanksgiving Works

By: Allison Klein  | 

thanksgiving meal







Thanksgiving Customs in Other Cultures

Ceres, Roman goddess
The Roman goddess Ceres rides a chariot. Hulton Archive/Getty Images











History of Thanksgiving

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Pilgrims celebrate the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images

­Modern Thanksgiving has its direct origins in American history. In 1609, a group of Puritans fleeing religious persecution in England moved to Holland. They ­lived in Holland for a number of years until a group of English investors -- the Merchant Adventurers -- financed a trip for more than 100 passengers to the New World.

­On Sept. 6, 1620, they set sail on a ship called the Mayflower, leaving from England and arriving in the New World after 65 days. They settled in a town called Plymouth in what is now Massachusetts. The Pilgrims' first winter was so harsh that fewer than 50 of the group survived the season.


On March 16, 1621, an Abnaki Indian named Samoset entered the Plymouth settlement. He welcomed the Pilgrims in English, and the next day returned with another American Indian named Squanto, who spoke English well. With Squanto's help, the Pilgrims were able to survive in the New World. He taught them how to get sap out of the maple trees, how to avoid plants that were poisonous and how to plant corn and other crops.

­The harvest was very successful, due in large part to help from the American Indians. The Pilgrims had enough food for the winter and had learned how to survive in the New World. Plymouth Colony's Governor, William Bradford, decided to throw a celebratory feast and invited the colony's American Indian neighbors to take part. The American Indians brought food as well, and the celebration lasted for three days.

Historians believe that this celebration took place sometime in the fall. And although there are very few clues to reconstruct the feast, some scholars believe that food items, like venison and fish, were the main sources of protein, rather than turkey. It's also thought that the food preparation would have been greatly influenced by American Indian traditions since the Puritans had been instructed by American Indians on how to cultivate and cook items [source: Bergland].

Many view the first Thanksgiving as an example of the possibility of great respect and cooperation between two different cultures. But others see it as a symbol of the colonists' eventual persecution of the American Indians. Sadly, the friendly spirit of the first Thanksgiving and the 50-year period of peace that followed is one exception in a long history of bloodshed between Native American tribes and European settlers.

In 1970, some American Indians began observing a Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving Day to remember the violence and discrimination suffered by their ancestors. The Day of Mourning is observed by gathering at the top of "Coles Hill," which overlooks Plymouth Rock.


Thanksgiving Day

Plimoth Plantation
'Servant Dorothy,' played by Kathleen Wall, bastes a goose while 'Mistress Mary Brewster,' played by Lisa Walbridge, plucks the feathers from a duck in preparation for the Thanksgiving feast at Plimoth Plantation Pam Berry/The Boston Globe via Getty Images


­It wasn't until several years later, after enduring a monthslong drought, that Thanksgiving was celebrated in earnest. In response to the hot, dry summer months, the governor called for a fast. Soon afterward, rain revived the shriveled crops, and the Puritans celebrated.


The custom of marking good fortune with a day of gratitude quickly caught on throughout New England. In the early days of the United States, the new nation's leaders began proclaiming country-wide thanksgiving celebrations. In the American Revolution, for example, the Continental Congress called for a day of thanksgiving to mark the U.S. victory at the Battle of Saratoga. Then in 1789, President George Washington called for a day of thanksgiving in recognition of the U.S. Constitution's ratification [source: Nelte].

In 1817, New York state officially adopted a yearly Thanksgiving day, and some other states followed suit. Most celebrated the day in November, and a few observed it in December. In the mid-1800s, a magazine editor named Sarah Josepha Hale mounted a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln did just that, proclaiming that Thanksgiving would be the last day in November. In this case, Lincoln was mainly out to boost the Union army's morale.

­After the Civil War, Congress made Thanksgiving a national holiday. Initially, many Southerners saw this as the Northerners forcing their particular traditions on the whole country. But eventually, the holiday caught on everywhere.

­In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up one week, to appease businesses that wanted a longer Christmas shopping season. Much of the nation balked at the change, and many kept on celebrating Thanksgiving on the last Thursday, as before. Some opponents even called Roosevelt's new Thanksgiving day "Franksgiving" [source: Meeks]. In 1941, Roosevelt signed a bill to officially make Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November. This means Thanksgiving is the last Thursday of the month some years and the second to last in other years.


Thanksgiving Turkey

Obama, Thanksgiving turkey
President Barack Obama pardons his last Thanksgiving turkey in 2016. Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

­The m­ost significant symbols of Thanksgiving are the foods Americans eat for Thanksgiving dinner. On a broad level, these foods celebrate traditional agriculture life. Most of the traditional Thanksgiving dishes are fairly simple foods that are native to North America.

­Most Americans associate Thanksgiving with turkey. This connection goes back to the prevalence of wild turkey in the New World. At the time of the first Thanksgiving, Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford commented on "the great store of wild turkeys" -- even though it's thought that venison and fish were the center of the celebration [source: Bergland]. Turkey is such an important part of Thanksgiving that more than 90 percent of Americans eat it on Thanksgiving [source: Scripps Howard News Service].


After turkey, the most significant dish on the table is corn. This abundant crop was an important staple to the Pilgrims, and, with the help of the American Indians, was cultivated to help ensure that there would be enough food for the winter.

Cranberries were probably on the first Thanksgiving table. The American Indians taught the Pilgrims to make a cranberry sauce called "ibimi," which means "bitter berry." When the colonists saw the berry, they renamed it "crane-berry," because its flowers resembled the long-necked bird called the crane [source:U.S. Department of State].


Thanksgiving Traditions

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Originally Published: Nov 7, 2007

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  • United States Census Bureau. Nov. 23, 2006.