Plimoth Plantation attempts to replicate the original Plymouth Colony settlement established by the English colonists in the 17th century, and makes educated guesses about what else might have been on the first Thanksgiving table. Other foods that would have been available at that time of year include Jerusalem artichokes, wild onions, garlic, watercress, cranberries, Concord grapes and native nuts, including walnuts and chestnuts.
Although Americans now celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November, historians can't pinpoint the exact date of the very first Thanksgiving.
It wasn't until , during the Civil War, that Thanksgiving became a national holiday. President Abraham Lincoln furthered an idealistic Thanksgiving narrative for strategic reasons.
During the Civil War, a lot of families actually split down the middle, brothers against brothers. Today, Native Americans commemorate Thanksgiving in different ways. Some consider it a day of mourning given the rapid colonization and displacement of their people. Others gather with their families, but the Pilgrims aren't on their minds. Applewood Books.
Cambridge, But the centuries that followed were not exactly peace-filled when it came to relations between the Indigenous tribes and colonists of North America. As time went on, various days of thanksgiving were called for—sometimes for less-than peaceful reasons, like the safe return of colonists who massacred an Indigenous village just 16 years after that initial celebration described above—but the story we were taught as schoolchildren of the annual peaceful breaking of bread between colonists and Indigenous tribes didn't come around until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Americans began to call for a stronger national identity, a task made easier with a wholesome story to celebrate.
The holiday grew to embody the morals that Americans wanted to uphold and promote through an annual meal of gratefulness and plenty. So what did this rag-tag kitchen crew cook up during those fateful three days? From the journal entries of both Winslow and Gov. William Bradford, we can gather that there was a lot of fowl, but whether or not there was actually a turkey on the first Thanksgiving is unknown. Food historians say that it likely was a lot of duck, geese, swan, chicken, and pigeon, which they would put on a spit and roast over the fire.
We know that the Wampanoag brought venison and likely items from their harvest, which included things like nuts, beans, pumpkins, and squash. The Pilgrims had been shown how to grow corn by the Wampanoag, so there was lots of corn as well as cornmeal for things like porridge. Included in the event was a feast, supplied with game by the Spaniards and with fish by the natives of the region. A mass was said by the Franciscan missionaries traveling with the expedition.
Some historians call this one of the truly important dates in the history of the continent, marking the beginning of Spanish colonization in the American Southwest. A member of the expedition wrote of the original celebration, "We built a great bonfire and roasted the meat and fish, and then all sat down to a repast the like of which we had never enjoyed before.
We were happy that our trials were over; as happy as were the passengers in the Ark when they saw the dove returning with the olive branch in his beak, bringing tidings that the deluge had subsided.
As one historian noted, when Jamestown and Plymouth were established early in the 17th century, they were English attempts to gain a foothold in the New World. Sheldon Hall, president of the El Paso Mission Trail Association that sponsored the modern celebration, also said that the first drama presented in North America was part of the celebration. The play, written by a Capt.
Farfan of the expedition, was produced by the soldiers and depicted the conversion of the Indians to Christianity. The Celebration More than costumed participants re-enacted the celebration in the re-creation performed at the Chamizal National Memorial, a few miles from where the original observance took place. About 50 people also attended a reunion of the descendants of the members of the expedition. The celebration is not an attempt to wrest the Thanksgiving tradition from New England.
Ricardo Marti-Fluxa, Spain's consul general in Houston, attended the event and said, "We don't want to fight against any tradition. But we feel it was a deprivation not to acknowledge the full history of the United States of America. The First Thanksgiving With El Paso's entry into the Thanksgiving sweepstakes, Texas now has two observances in what's becoming a crowded field of locales vying for attention as the site of the first Thanksgiving. The second Texas claim was an event held earliest of all those claiming primacy.
Fray Juan Padilla said a mass at this observance. Lincoln complied, and the turkey lived. This tradition dates to , when the team took on the undefeated, defending World Champion Chicago Bears of George Halas. Despite losing the inaugural game, since then the Lions have played football every Thanksgiving except between and To read more American history, click here.
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