Thanks Giving

As we gather around the table this Thanksgiving, it’s easy to take for granted the traditions and customs that make this holiday so special. But the history of Thanksgiving runs much deeper than our modern celebrations. From its origins as a feast between the Pilgrims and Native Americans, Thanksgiving has evolved into a holiday that brings families and friends together to give thanks and reflect on the blessings in their lives.

At the start of the 17th century, southern New England was home to a variety of busy communities within several confederations. These were the people of the First Light and they called their home the Dawn Land. Political leaders were known as sachems and had been trading with Europeans for 100 years before the pilgrims. 

Europeans kidnapped locals to sell as slaves. European settlement was impossible at that time due to the already high population of natives. However, in 1616 tradesmen introduced a disease to the Dawn land that wiped out 90% of the population including the Wampanoag. Their head sachem (chief), Massasoit was determined to save their fate, something the pilgrims never expected. 

After the winter of 1620 killed almost half of their people, the Colonists formed a relationship with the neighboring Wampanoag tribe. The Wampanoag taught the colonists how to fish, farm, and hunt as they requested King James to grant them a patent that would give them rights to build a colony although when they got to Cape Cod to search the area, starvation began. The colonists didn’t know how to fish so they stole from graves and houses of the dead caused by the epidemic. The colonists immediately traded the Wamponog declaring they had peaceful intentions which started their peace treaty with the Wampanoag.

By the autumn of 1621, the colonists had collected enough food to feed the community through the upcoming winter. The Wampanoag joined the colonists for a 3-day feast in honor of their success. The feast of course didn’t include some of our Thanksgiving staples, for example, turkey. The 1621 harvest meal was believed to be the First Thanksgiving. 

New England Thanksgiving, however, did not look too similar to the Wampanoag and the colonists. Theirs was a religious holiday that solely focused on the Puritan days of fasting, praying, and giving thanks to god. They celebrated the good harvest, victorious battles, and drought ending.

In 1777, America joined in the celebration for that year to celebrate their victory over the British at Saratoga.

By the mid 19th century, many states celebrated the holiday; however, the holiday lasted many days or even months. 

A magazine editor named Sarah Josepha Hale established a national Thanksgiving holiday; she passionately believed that this holiday would unite the nation headed over the Civil War. She began a one-woman letter-writing campaign urging politicians to create Thanksgiving as a holiday.

President Abraham Lincoln paid off her efforts when he saw the unifying potential of the holiday. In 1863, four months after the victory at Gettysburg he declared the last Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving day.

Today, the 20th century surely did look far different from the first Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was a welcome day of leisure. Parades became a Turkey Day tradition which made department stores see their value as a kickoff to the Christmas shopping season which created Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when stores host a massive deal for the Thanksgiving week and shoppers.