The History of Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving

             Although the rituals and traditions of Thanksgiving have changed over the years, the holiday’s core values of food, community, and gratitude have remained constant the whole time. From “the First Thanksgiving” back in 1621 with the Pilgrims and Indians, to modern day thanksgiving meals, people have gathered around a table with their families and communities in order to show their thankfulness for what they have. It is a holiday that serves as a reminder to put aside differences and conflicts, and come together with an attitude of gratitude and love.

It is widely thought that the rituals of Thanksgiving are directly derived from the original Thanksgiving meal between the Pilgrims and Natives, but that train of thought is untrue for many of the practices that are performed. The Pilgrims did arrive in North America in 1620 and had a feast the next year in 1621, but they weren’t trying to create a new holiday. The feast was really an event spanning three days that celebrated their recent successful harvest. As far as the Indians being present, there were members of the Wampanoag tribe in attendance, but many think that those people weren’t even really invited, but rather simply farmed in close proximity to the Pilgrims and were celebrating the harvest with them. This practice of making a huge feast after a successful harvest was nothing new to either group of people. Natives and other cultures alike had been doing this for years, so to call it the first of its kind is mostly inaccurate. It is true however that this event was unique in the fact that it brought two distinct cultures together in a celebration filled with food, games, and prayer. Although the general public thinks of this feast when talking about the holiday’s origins, the event wasn’t called Thanksgiving until the 1830’s when New Englanders decided that it was fitting, and even then the holiday wasn’t official until Lincoln issued an official proclamation in 1863.

Another huge impact on Thanksgiving has been the evolution of which foods are served on that special day. One big reason for the variation in Thanksgiving meals is due to the vast number of different cultures, religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds. People from different parts of the world have different popular dishes within their cultures, and although some of the holiday’s food is kept constant, each different culture adds their own familiar dish to the table. Another major factor for these differences has been the effect of Marketers. Marketers have created ideals for the so-called traditional Thanksgiving meal, and have kept up their tactics over the years in order to increase their business. Some of the foods that are the most intricate parts of the Thanksgiving meal in many people’s minds are really just a result of Marketers promoting them and using false advertising to sell the public on their brand. A few of the main examples include turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. There is no evidence that turkey was one of the foods eaten by the Pilgrims and Indians, only enough evidence to conclude that they had some sort of wild fowl. Yet these Marketers sold the idea of turkey as the main dish of Thanksgiving in order to promote tools like roasters, ranges, pop-up thermometers, and oven-cooking bags. As far as Cranberries and pumpkin pie, these items were probably never seen at the First Thanksgiving, and are only around today because of Marketers promoting their name brand foods to the public.

Thanksgiving has changed so much over the years, that it even used to include another popular holiday that we celebrate today. What is now known as Halloween, involving kids dressing up in nice, new, fun costumes and going trick-or-treating, used to be called Thanksgiving Masking or Ragamuffin Day. This occurred on the same day as the Thanksgiving meal, and was very popular among poor children in New York City. These children would go out wearing costumes and masks, and go door to door asking for fruit, candy, pennies, and nickels. The most popular costumes were ones of beggar’s rags or little boys in girls clothes, but others included masks of birds and animals, political figures, and exaggerated faces of people of other nationalities. This holiday was a fun day for children to go out and cause trouble, but even the adults liked the day and were very generous with their giving away of candy and change. However, some people began to think that it was too immature and should not be on the same day as the national day of thanks, so it was eventually moved to a different date and evolved to become what is now known as Halloween.

National days of thanks have been declared by government officials for years in order to celebrate military victories or national accomplishments. It has been used to reward citizens and soldiers for their hard work and achievements. Many leaders have used these days to celebrate, but all the past days of thanks have been random dates that were only issued when the government officials felt it reasonable to have one. However, after Lincoln issued the proclamation that made Thanksgiving an official holiday, it became a set date on the final Thursday of November. Since then, it has become of greater importance than ever before, with people all over the country and even world celebrating the common principles of having a thankful, appreciative attitude. Though every individual celebrates Thanksgiving for different reasons, the core set of intrinsic values of food, community, and gratitude have stood the test of time and are still very relevant today.

New York Times: Everything You Learned About Thanksgiving is Wrong
History.com: Abraham Lincoln and the "Mother of Thanksgiving"
Smithsonian: The Invisible Way That Marketers Set the Menu for Your Thanksgiving Feast
Huffington Post: A Forgotten Thanksgiving Custom
The Atlantic: Thanksgiving Used to Look a Lot More Like Halloween, Except More Racist
Pilgrim Hall Museum: Primary Sources For "The First Thanksgiving" at Plymouth