The First Thanksgiving

Our image of the first American Thanksgiving celebration is not exactly as it happened. Yes, the Pilgrims and the Indians did eat together in 1621 and give thanks, but it did not happen the way we all learned in school.

First, it did not even likely happen in November. More likely it occurred in late September or October. In fact, some historians wonder if it was held in the Spring. However, it was more likely a Harvest Festival. Harvest Festivals had been held for generations by the English as well as by the Native Americans. There is also some evidense that other settlers in America had already held Harvest Festivals. This was, however, the first combined English/Native Harvest Festival.

As to the menu, it did not consist of turkey, stuffing, mashed potato, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. These were the foods available:

Fish: cod, bass, hering, eel.


Seafood: clams, lobster, mussels, and perhaps oysters.


Wild birds: mostly goose and duck, although possibly wild turkey, partridge and eagle.


Venison (deer).

Vegetables: Lots of corn (they had a great crop, although they used most of it to make cornmeal), squash, pumpkin, and some peas (although reports were that the peas grew poorly that year).

Fruits: raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, plums, grapes, cherries.

Other foods: eggs, onions, walnuts, chestnuts, Holland cheese, maple syrup.


The reason that Thanksgiving is celebrated in late October actually can be credited to Abraham Lincoln, who declared the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. (It was later changed to the fourth Thursday by Franklin D. Roosevelt.) Lincoln probably was trying to coincide the date with the anniversary of the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts, which was November 21, 1620.


So, if you really want to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, you should have it most likely in early October. The menu should look something like this: lobster, clams, venison, wild duck, squash, lots of berries, and plenty of eels. Yum!