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A Typical Thanksgiving Feast: Turkey, Stuffing, Gravy, Yam, Cranberry, and Pumpkin pie!!
The Origins of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving traditions can be traced back to harvest festivals, when the Pilgrims from England and the Native Americans they encountered gave thanks for a bountiful harvest.
A three-day harvest celebration held in Plymouth Colony (which today forms part of Massachusetts) back in 1621 is considered the first American Thanksgiving.
The Pilgrims first arrived in Plymouth in 1620 but they hadn't brought enough food. Half of the colony died during the winter from 1620 to 1621, as it was too late in the year to plant crops. In the spring of 1621, the colonists were taught how to grow corn and other vegetables by the local Wampanoag Indians, who also showed the Pilgrims how to cook corn as well as cranberries and squash. They were also taught how to master hunting and fishing.
NMAI explains: "When the English decided to establish a colony there in the 1600s, the Wampanoag already had a deep understanding of their environment. They maintained a reciprocal relationship with the world around them. As successful hunters, farmers, and fishermen who shared their foods and techniques, they helped the colonists survive in a strange new place, the museum says.
The First American Thanksgiving. In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims and local Wampanoag Indians gathered for a feast of duck, geese, wild turkeys, fish and shellfish, corn, green vegetables and dried fruits to celebrate the season's abundant harvest. Wampanoag Chief Massasoit and his tribe brought Venison.
The NMAI says: "The first Thanksgiving was just the beginning of a long history of interactions between American Indians and immigrants...the meal that is ingrained in the American consciousness represents much more than a simple harvest celebration. It was a turning point in history."
The first Thanksgiving was followed by an extended period of injustice and conflict between Native Americans and Europeans. Many Native Americans see Thanksgiving as a "National Day of Mourning," the U.S. embassy website says.
The museum explains: "Sharing agricultural knowledge was one aspect of early American Indian efforts to live side by side with Europeans. As relationships with the newcomers grew into competitions for land and resources, the groups were not always successful in their efforts to coexist."
.png) Painting by J.L.M. Ferris depicting first Thanksgiving celebrated by Native Americans & Pilgrims in 1621. Article by Newsweek
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