When we talk about the occasion of thanksgiving, our faces are lit up with joy and happiness for the celebrations that it involves. But in all this, we often tend to forget the ?First Thanksgiving? which is of prime importance. Although history as a subject has never been interesting, but there are some historical facts that keep you glued not allowing you to even take a break. One such, is the history behind the First thanksgiving.



The festival of thanksgiving has brought with it a fair share of myths. Very few people have the exact informations on the occasion and very few know about the facts related to it.

As far as history goes ...

In the fall of 1621, 90 Wampanoag Indians and 52 English colonists gathered for a three-day harvest feast, but going by the American belief, their first Thanksgiving was a feast that took place on a date they were unsure about, may be sometime in the autumn of 1621, at Plymouth Plantation, Massachusetts.

The empty fields of Patuxet is where the colonists planted their first crops. They had planted the corn crop, as plantation of wheat and barley did not show the expected results.

In the year 1620, a group of people led by the separatists from the Church of England, were on their way to Virginia .They landed up at a place, which we today know as Plymouth due to some uncertain reasons. The autumn of 1621, saw the celebration of a three-day harvest feast with the native Wampanoag people, without whom surviving the winter of 1620 would have been difficult.

The feast was never observed as Thanksgiving celebration till the year 1623, rather it was a religious observance, than a mere feast.

The thanksgiving feast is mostly held between Sep 21st and 11th November.

The Wampanoag, led by Chief Massasoit, made a major contribution of 5 deers to the feast.

The thanksgiving menu was devoid of items like cranberry sauce, potatoes - white or sweet - and pies.

Squanto, a member of the the Patuxet tribe was the middleman between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag, because of his familiarity with the language English as he had earlier associated with several explorers.

The occasion of thanksgiving included not just the lavish feast but recreation and entertainment too.

Knowing the First thanksgiving in details includes, just two surviving descriptions. Colonist Edward Winslow's letter is the first one where he makes a mention of some of the food and activities related to it and the second description was in a book written by William Bradford 20 years later. For over a 100 years the account remained missing.

With the passing of time the religious day of thanksgiving gradually evolved into a yearly Thanksgiving, held on the fourth Thursday of November,as per custom. With a growth in America and the shifting of New Englanders to new states, the custom of an annual Thanksgiving Day took root throughout the country. They celebrated abundance, family and national unity.

It was only in the year 1863 that Abraham Lincoln declared the Thanksgiving as an annual holiday.

Although it started off with a mere feast, it is celebrated as a mammoth occasion in most parts of the globe, in a style very different from the others, but with a purpose so very similar.