The First Thanksgiving

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING at PLYMOUTH

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth by Brownscombe

"Our harvest being gotten in , our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice togehter."

Edward Winslow

In early autumn of 1621, the 53 surviving Pilgrims celebrated their successful harvest, as was the English custom. During this time, "many of the Indians coming... amongst the rest their great king Massasoit, with some ninety men."

That 1621 celebration is remembered as the "First Thanksgiving in Plymouth." For more about the "First Thanksgiving," click HERE.

Detail from Brownscombe's
First Thanksgiving at Plymouth

The Pilgrims did not call this harvest festival a "Thanksgiving," although they did give thanks to God. To them, a Day of Thanksgiving was purely religious. The first recorded religious Day of Thanksgiving was held in 1623 in response to a providential rainfall.

LATER SIGNIFICANCE OF THANKSGIVING

"The Pilgrim Fathers incorporated ay early thanksgiving day among [their] moral influences... it blessed and beautified he homes it reached."

Sarah Josepha Hale, 1865

"Thanksgiving is celebrated at the expense of Native Peoples who had to give up their lands and culture for America to become what it is today."

Linda Coombs, Aquinnah Wampanoag, 1997

The religious day of thanksgiving and the harvest festival evolved into a single event: a yearly Thanksgiving, proclaimed by individual governors for a Thursday in November. The custom of an annual Thanksgiving celebrating abundance and family spread across America.

Some presidents proclaimed Thanksgivings, others did not. Abraham Lincoln began the tradition of an annual national Thanksgiving in 1863.

Thanksgiving is an enduring symbol from which millions of immigrants have learned "Americanism." While not all Native Peoples celebrate the day, the story of the Pilgrims and Wampanoag sharing a harvest celebration remains an inspiration to many.

For more about the evolution and significance of the modern Thanksgiving, click here.