Turkey, stuffing and pie, oh my! Today, Thanksgiving is a day that we spend with our families, eating way too much turkey, stuffing and pie. It’s a day for watching football and planning our shopping strategy for Black Friday. As we spend the morning preparing our feast and give thanks, lets take a look back at what the first Thanksgiving celebration looked like in 1621 – it might even surprise you!
Turkey was not on the menu.
The first Thanksgiving did not include the beloved turkey of modern Thanksgiving dinners. Instead, it is believed the pilgrims feasted on things such as lobster, rabbit, chicken, fish, squash, beans, chestnuts, hickory nuts, onions, leeks, dried fruits, maple syrup and honey, radishes, cabbage, carrots, eggs, and goat cheese.
The pilgrims did not use forks.
At the time, forks had not been invented. Instead the pilgrims ate with spoons, knives, and their fingers. It wasn’t until a decade later that forks were introduced and not until the 18th century that they began to catch on.
The first Thanksgiving celebration wasn’t an actual “Thanksgiving” celebration.
What has become to be known as the first Thanksgiving was actually a feast to celebrate the end of the harvest season. The harvest festival lasted three days. The idea of a national Thanksgiving began to gain traction in the 18th & 19th centuries
Pilgrims didn’t wear silver buckles on their hats or shoes.
One myth surrounding the pilgrims is the way they dressed. Believe it or not, the settlers didn't have silver buckles on their shoes or hats. At that time, buckles were expensive and not in fashion. In addition, they didn’t wear plain, black clothing. Their attire was actually bright and cheerful – which was the fashion at the time. They only wore predominately black and gray clothing on Sundays.
Over the centuries, Thanksgiving has certainly evolved but one thing remains the same. We use this day to reflect on the things we are thankful for. What are you most thankful for this holiday season?
FAQs
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 over a three day harvest festival. It included 50 Pilgrims, 90 Wampanoag Indians, and lasted three days. It is believed by historians that only five women were present. Turkey wasn't on the menu at the first Thanksgiving.
What are 5 interesting facts about the first Thanksgiving? ›
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 over a three day harvest festival. It included 50 Pilgrims, 90 Wampanoag Indians, and lasted three days. It is believed by historians that only five women were present. Turkey wasn't on the menu at the first Thanksgiving.
What was missing from the first Thanksgiving? ›
It is also worth noting what was not present at the first Thanksgiving feast. There were no cloudlike heaps of mashed potatoes, since white potatoes had not yet crossed over from South America. There was no gravy either, since the colonists didn't yet have mills to produce flour.
What is special about Thanksgiving? ›
The national holiday began as a celebration of the harvest and other blessings, per the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Thanksgiving, however, has since moved away from its Puritan roots and has become a day to "symbolize intercultural peace, America's opportunity for newcomers, and the sanctity of home and family."
Why was the first Thanksgiving celebrated? ›
The Pilgrims stepped off the Mayflower searching for religious freedom. The Native people they encountered welcomed them and helped them survive. To celebrate their friendship, they sat down together to a Thanksgiving feast. This is the traditional tale of the First Thanksgiving.
What are 4 facts about Thanksgiving? ›
25 Fun Thanksgiving Facts You'll Want to Tell Everyone You Know
- The first Turkey Trot dates back to the 1890s. ...
- Thanksgiving was originally celebrated in mid-October. ...
- Pumpkin pie isn't actually Thanksgiving's favorite pie. ...
- Female turkeys don't gobble. ...
- The first Thanksgiving was actually a three-day festival.
While turkey may have been present (wild turkeys were common to the colonial area), no documentary evidence exists that turkey itself was served. If it was, it likely wasn't the main meat source.
Why do we eat turkey and not chicken on Thanksgiving? ›
While live cows and hens were useful as long as they were producing milk and eggs, respectively, turkeys were generally raised only for their meat and thus could be readily killed. Third, a single turkey was usually big enough to feed a family.
How long did the first Thanksgiving last? ›
This feast lasted three days and was attended by 90 Native American Wampanoag people and 53 survivors of the Mayflower (Pilgrims).
What is the true story behind Thanksgiving? ›
As the story goes, friendly Native Americans taught the struggling colonists how to survive in what the Europeans called the New World. Then everyone got together to celebrate with a feast in 1621. Thanksgiving 2022 would mark the 401st anniversary of that "first" American Thanksgiving.
In the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, the game brought in hordes of people, most of whom arrived on Friday. This caused a major headache for the police, who had to deal with all kinds of mischief and mayhem. It was such a pain, they began referring to the day as Black Friday.
Why is Thanksgiving so famous? ›
Thanksgiving Day, annual national holiday in the United States and Canada celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past year. Americans generally believe that their Thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people.
Who were the two people who attended the first Thanksgiving? ›
Answer and Explanation: Massasoit (chief of the Wampanoags) and William Bradford (governor of the Plymouth colony) were two people who attended the first Thanksgiving.
Why is Thanksgiving always on a Thursday? ›
Among the Puritan colonists, Thursday may have been tradition to distance the event from the Sabbath day. Thursday was also a typical day for lectures in New England, which may have contributed to the reason Thanksgiving is a Thursday.
What is the real story behind Thanksgiving? ›
In 1621, the Plymouth colonists from England and the Native American Wampanoag people shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states.
Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving? ›
While turkey wasn't likely present in 1621, annual autumnal harvest dinners continued as turkey gained popularity as a source of protein. Indigenous to the area and plentiful, turkeys were larger than chickens, ducks, and geese, making them economical to serve to a crowd.
What food was eaten at the first Thanksgiving? ›
But according to the two only remaining historical records of the first Thanksgiving menu, that meal consisted of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, cod, bass, and flint, and a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.
