First Thanksgiving
The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth (Detail)
Jennie A. Brownscombe, 1914
" Our harvest being gotten in, our governour sent foure men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoyce together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labours..."
–Edward Winslow
The Pilgrims wanted to celebrate their harvest according to English custom with a festival of food and revelry. To prepare for the feast, the men hunted wild game birds. Many Natives joined the Pilgrims, including Massasoit and ninety of his men, who contributed the venison of five deer. Besides the wild game, the menu included cod and bass and the harvested wheat, corn, and barley. Shellfish, native nuts, groundnuts, and berries were plentiful. In addition, the colonists had probably brought seeds to plant English herbs and vegetables, such as parsley, onions, carrots, and turnips. With no oven, no flour, and a likely depleted sugar supply, the feast would not have included baked desserts.
The feast was not one big sit-down meal, as we know Thanksgiving today. Massasoit and his men had walked over forty miles to reach the colony and would not have left after a single meal. Instead, the Pilgrims and Natives feasted for three whole days. Between meals, they amused themselves with "recreations" that probably included games and displays of strength and skill. They also demonstrated their weapons skills with muskets and bows and arrows. Thus the Pilgrims celebrated their good health and the fortune of enough food to carry them through the approaching winter.
The First Thanksgiving–1621
by Karen Rinaldo, 1995
DID YOU KNOW?
The Pilgrims did not have forks. They ate with spoons, knives, their fingers, and large napkins draped over their shoulders to wipe their hands.
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Tableware was scarce, meaning plates and drinking cups were often shared by multiple people at the table.
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The largest meal of the day, called dinner or "noon-meat," was eaten at noon. Supper was a light evening meal, while breakfast typically consisted of the previous day's leftovers.
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While the Pilgrims followed a set eating schedule, the Wampanoags ate whenever they were hungry from communal pots of food that simmered all day long.
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Centuries later, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln officially proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.
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