Before the 3 a.m. Black Friday frenzy, New York City’s Macy’s Day Parade or leftover turkey-dressing-cranberry sauce sandwiches, America’s busiest holiday was once a three-day feast for 53 English colonists and 98 Wampanoag Native Americans to celebrate the first successful corn harvest — a much-needed time of recreation after the disease-ridden winter of 1620 wiped out half of the 103 original sojourners.
The plague’s suddenness and sorrow is evident in Governor William Bradford’s account:
“Whilst they were busy about their seed, their Governor (Mr. John Carver) came out of the field very sick, it being a hot day; he complained greatly of his head, and lay down, and within a few hours his senses failed, so as he never spake more till he died, which was within a few days after.”
Definitely a far cry from the abundant harvest scenes immortalized in children’s books and oil paintings.
Bradford, who had been elected on the Mayflower, then decided to send emissaries to Wampanoag leader Massasoit, who would teach the Pilgrims how to yield crops from and preserve the success of the sickly Pilgrim community.
“They brought word that the Narragansett (Native Americans) lived but on the other side of that great bay, and were a strong people, and many in number, living compact together, and had not been at all touched with this wasting plague,” Bradford wrote upon the emissaries’ return.
The Pilgrim-Native American alliance that stemmed from this encounter resulted in what is known today as the first Thanksgiving.
Even though 88 percent of Americans will consume turkey this Thursday, according to the History Channel, the historic struggle and hard-won joy behind Turkey Day is often kicked to curb in place of discounted TVs, department store clearance aisles and a few deep-fried birds for the most adventurous foodies.
To clear up any myths or tall tales surrounding that first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Mass., here are a few facts to clear things up:
Thanksgiving Fact vs. Fiction
1.) There wasn’t even any turkey present at the first Thanksgiving. – Fact
From journal entries written by Pilgrim record-keeper Edward Winslow, historians know that Governor Bradford sent four men on a “fowling mission” to harvest food for the impending feast. Wild turkeys and other types of game were common food for the settlers and Native Americans, but turkey would not have been the centerpiece of the meal. Culinary historians speculate that the Pilgrim and Wampanoag would have preferred roasted duck, geese and swans.
Due to the colony’s proximity to the cape, lobster, clams and mussels were served at the first Thanksgiving alongside traditional side dishes like cranberries and corn.
The Native Americans, according to Winslow’s documents, brought five deer to the party and these were likely roasted over a spit to create a venison-like stew.
2.) George Washington officially made Thanksgiving a national holiday during his presidency. – Fiction.
Washington did declare the first annual Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 26th, 1789. But it didn’t become an annual tradition in the States until Sarah Josepha Hale, author of the nursery rhyme ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ began a 30 letter campaign for a national day of thanks after reading diary entries from the English Pilgrims. She even printed recipes for stuffing and pumpkin pie, later influencing the traditional Thanksgiving meal most Americans are familiar with today.
In the midst of the American Civil War, Hale appealed to President Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Recognizing that such a holiday could unify a divided nation, Lincoln declared on Oct. 3, 1863 that every state would celebrate Thanksgiving on the final Thursday of November.
3.) Thanksgiving was pushed up a week to extend the holiday season for retailers during the Great Depression. – Fact.
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week to give retailers more business during the Christmas shopping season to boost the floundering economy. These extended shopping days would give rise to what became known as Black Friday and the most profitable days for business owners.
Some were disturbed by the new “Franksgiving” and refused celebrate earlier than Lincoln’s original date. Congress settled the dispute in 1941 by declaring on the Thanksgiving holiday as the final Thursday in November.
4.) Each year, the White House selects a turkey to be eaten at the President’s Thanksgiving feast. – Fiction.
George H.W. Bush started a tradition in 1989 that each president would “pardon” a turkey. Though past presidents like Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy sustained the tradition of “reprieving” a turkey, Bush officiated the ceremony by sending one or two turkeys back to a farm to retire — rather than end up as a centerpiece for the President’s Thanksgiving dinner.
For more facts and figures on the first Thanksgiving, visit the History Channel’s website here.
