Thanksgiving is a holiday enjoyed by most people in the United States and is often considered the first big holiday of the season. To most people the meaning of Thanksgiving usually includes feasting, four-day weekends, football games, floats, family reunions, or a forerunner to Christmas festivities. But the first Thanksgiving celebration was a little different than that.
The first Thanksgiving was neither a feast or a holiday but simply a small gathering. Following the Mayflower’s arrival at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620, the Pilgrims suffered the loss of 46 of their original 102 colonists. With the help of 91 Indians, the remaining Pilgrims survived the bitter winter. The following year yielded a bountiful harvest in 1621. In celebration, a traditional English harvest festival, lasting three days brought the Pilgrims and natives to unite in a “thanksgiving” observance.
This is how history records the first Thanksgiving, but the meal would not be celebrated again until June of 1676. On June 29 the community of Charlestown, Massachusetts proclaimed a day of thanksgiving for their good fortune. Unfortunately, things had changed with the natives by then and they weren’t included in the celebration. One hundred years later, in October of 1777, all 13 colonies participated in a one-time “thanksgiving” celebration which commemorated the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga.
It wasn’t until 150 years later that Thanksgiving as we celebrate it today was established. George Washington proclaimed it a National holiday in 1789, Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November in 1863, and Congress sanctioned it as a legal holiday in 1941.
Today we use Thanksgiving to celebrate family and friends and the fact that we are all thankful for another year. Let’s not forget that the holiday is supposed to be more about how fortunate we are and less about all the parades and football games.