History Is Served

Plimoth Plantation Restages The Original Thanksgiving Feast

November 20, 1996|By Sheryl Julian, The Boston Globe.

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Gov. William Bradford positions himself in the middle of Nye Barn at Plimoth Plantation. Outside, winds howl and rain beats in near-horizontal sheets against the muddy paths as he welcomes guests to the re-creation of the 1621 harvest feast--the only one attended by both Pilgrims and natives and known later as the first Thanksgiving.

At 35 the governor, played by Christopher Hall, seems young to be running Plimoth Plantation. He seats himself at the head table on a "great chair," which is slightly more elevated than the three-legged chairs on which sit the church elder William Brewster and his wife, Mistress Mary Brewster.

Bradford holds forth in front of a table full of English linens; handblown glasses; pewter cups, plates and chargers; and pottery bowls. The servants and children bring the food--fowl from the Pilgrims and deer from the natives--and curtsy or bow to the head of the table first. As the platters go around, to both costumed Pilgrims and contemporary guests, Mistress Brewster (Lisa Walbridge) pulls off a piece of rabbit with her hand. Delighted with the array, she announces, "Some number of goodly meats, from king's meat to that which we feed our dogs. We are doubtful we shall eat this way again for a year."

Living history

Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum, is peopled by costumed "interpreters" who speak early 17th Century dialect and portray colonists who really lived in Plimoth. Working from documented biographical information, the interpreters have a sound feel for daily life in the new colony, and an ability to make educated guesses about anything not chronicled. As they interact with visitors, they chat about fleeing to Holland for religious refuge, crossing the sea for 66 days, leaving older children at home, and the terrible failures that ensued when they planted England's finest seeds in New England's unreceptive soil.

The first Thanksgiving was not held in a barn, of course, but outside, and neither were its participants as sweet-smelling as Gov. Bradford and Mistress Brewster. Nor is the real meal recorded anywhere. This re-creation menu has been cooked up (literally) by historians, headed by Kathleen Curtin, Plimoth's foodways manager.

English harvest traditions

What historians actually have access to is skimpy. There are two brief descriptions written by Pilgrims, and there are various chronicles of English life before the crossing. English harvest feasts were commonplace in the early 17th Century.

The 1621 feast, which included 50 Europeans (all who remained of the 100 who had landed) and 90 native guests, lasted for three days. "The event occurred between Sept. 21 and Nov. 11, 1621," writes James Baker, Plimoth vice president of research, "with the most likely time being around Michaelmas (Sept. 29), the traditional time."

Plimoth's re-creation feast boasts geese roasted before open fires of pine wood, rabbit (called "coney") fricasseed with herbs, plenty of lobsters, a savory Indian corn pudding and a sweetened corn pudding with "whorlberries" (a wild berry), roast venison with mustard sauce, boiled turkey "with a bellyful of herbs," a brace of ducks, a dish of fruit and Dutch cheese (carried on the ship), a whole cod "seethed," or boiled, with onions and vinegar, and finally, stewed pumpkin ("pompion" to the Pilgrims).

What, no beer?

What the original feast did not include were three ingredients that the English considered necessary to any meal. "Not a drop of beer, scarce butter, no bread," explains Mistress Brewster.

That first Thanksgiving meal was cooked by the four married women who survived the first winter, along with daughters and both male and female servants. "The whole town had to be pulled together," says Plimoth's Curtin. "Don't forget, there were 90 guests."

Fish was plentiful. Cod became the common food most people ate, and though lobsters were just beginning to become known on English tables, the Pilgrims found them in great quantity in the new land.

Five deer presented to the Pilgrims by King Massasoit and his men were stewed or roasted over open fires, turned frequently, then presented with mustard sauce. "Venison is cold and dry by its nature," Mistress Brewster reminds a visitor, "and mustard is hot and dry. The sauce has a goodly amount of vinegar." She dips the venison in the sauce, she explains, to balance the humors, or the disposition.

One-time guests

Though 90 natives attended the original feast, Linda Coombs, director of the Wampanoag Indian Program at Plimoth, says that Native Americans mourn on Thanksgiving Day.

"The fact is, Native Americans have paid and still pay a heavy price so that others can pursue the American dream," she says. According to Native American custom, Coombs says, there have always been thanksgivings for crops, and celebrations for green corn, the harvest and planting.

Coombs and other Native Americans maintain that Massasoit attended the first feast because of politics or protocol. Though the Europeans tried to establish an annual event, the Wampanoags had their own traditional ways of giving thanks and never joined in the feasting again.