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All Things in Good Plenty: The History of the American Thanksgiving Holiday

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In the United States, Thanksgiving is a time for gathering with family and friends, eating large quantities of food, and giving thanks for what is important. There are many other traditions associated with the holiday, such as watching parades and football games.

Although the modern holiday is very different from how the day was originally celebrated, there are plenty of similarities linking our current idea of Thanksgiving to its past. The first Thanksgiving is often considered to be a feast that occurred in the Plymouth Plantation in what is now Massachusetts in 1621. The Pilgrims who settled in the Plymouth Plantation had arrived in their new country from England the previous year. They faced many hardships upon arrival, and about half of the group had died within the first year. However, the Wampanoag Native Americans, led by Squanto, taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn, catch eels, and generally survive in their new home.

Using their new knowledge, the Pilgrims had a successful growing season. Upon harvesting their crops, which would ensure enough food throughout the harsh winter, the Pilgrims held a giant feast. They invited the Wampanoag people to share in the celebration, where they thanked God for allowing them to survive.

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According to food historian Kathleen Curtin, the menu of the first Thanksgiving differed greatly from our modern meals. While they probably did eat turkey, the Pilgrims may have also eaten venison, seal, clams, lobsters, eels, swans, geese, cranes, and even eagles. Though the Pilgrims didn't have pumpkin pie, they probably ate stewed pumpkin.

In the following years, the Thanksgiving celebration only occurred after a good harvest. For years in which the harvest was bad, the Pilgrims would fast rather than feast. By the middle of the 17th century, though, putting aside a day after the harvest to give thanks became commonplace across the American colonies. Through the 18th century, these early Thanksgivings focused more on going to church and praying than celebrating with a large feast. Also, there was no set day for the observance of the holiday. Back then, it would vary by colony and even individual towns.

Abraham Lincoln, in the middle of the Civil War, declared Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863. While Lincoln asserted that the holiday occur on the last Thursday of every November, Franklin Roosevelt, in the 1930s, tried to change it. Roosevelt wanted Thanksgiving to be the next-to-last Thursday of the month, which would allow retailers more time to sell goods before Christmas. Since many people were accustomed to celebrating Thanksgiving on the last Thursday, this idea wasn't that popular. By 1941, a compromise was achieved. Thanksgiving would be held on the fourth Thursday of November, which would be the last Thursday of the month some years, and the next-to-last in other years. Roosevelt signed this into law, thus establishing the current time period of the holiday.

All across the country, Americans spend Thanksgiving eating turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. We no longer look at Thanksgiving as a day of thanking God for a successful harvest, as we now just pick up our food from the grocery store. However, the holiday still maintains its original purpose – spending time with friends and loved ones and being grateful for the important people and things in your life.

Posted by Patrick Hanan on November 12, 2009