The History Of Thanksgiving

By Eleana Donaldson

Thanksgiving is known as a time for friends, food, and family reunions. The way we celebrate Thanksgiving today is very different from the event all of this originates from.

“The First Thanksgiving” took place in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621, but it was celebrated in October, not November. There wasn’t a set day that Thanksgiving was celebrated in the U.S. until 1863. It was during the Civil War that President Abraham Lincoln recognized Thanksgiving as a federal holiday and set it to be celebrated on the last Thursday of every November.

In a letter from Edward Winslow, one of the colonizers of Plymouth, he described the first thanksgiving,

“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors… At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, and many of the natives coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others.”

As for the way we celebrate Thanksgiving today, things are very different. The “menu” for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner alone differs immensely from the original feast. The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag most likely would’ve had a main course of venison as well as seafood like lobster and bass because it was available to them in the area. The feast was meant to celebrate the settler’s first successful harvest in the new land as well as thank the native people for all their help in learning about this new place. As for today, Thanksgiving is celebrated with football, turkey, and the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The first Thanksgiving parade took place in 1924 and ran a route about 6 miles long. Since then it has been expanded greatly. Last year, the spectacle drew more than 23.6 million at-home viewers as well as millions of in-person spectators.

There are many countries around the world besides the U.S. that have holidays very similar to the American thanksgiving. In Germany, they have Erntedankfest which is celebrated on the last Sunday of October, a harvest festival intended to celebrate a good year and good fortune for the future. In Japan, they have Kinrō Kansha no Hi, which is celebrated every year on November 23. Originally, it was celebrated as a harvest festival but presently the holiday is centered around everyone’s hard work from the past year.