| The first Thanksgiving Dinner occurred in Plymouth Colony, New England, now Massachusetts, in October, 1621. The survivors of the 100 men, women and children who had landed there in December of 1620 declared a holiday to commemorate their common survival and their success at raising various crops: corn, beans, squash and pumpkins. These crops would ensure survival for another winter. The Thanksgiving Feast then, as today, gives thanks to God for His many blessings. The Pilgrim Father Edward Winslow described the feast in this way in a letter to a friend in England: "Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor (Bradford) sent four men on fowling (hunting) that we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors. The four in one day killed as much fowl as served the Company almost a week. At which time we, among other recreations, exercised our arms (in competitions)... and of the many (Wampoanoag) Indians coming among us... their greatest king, Massasoit with some 90 men (attended) with whom for three days... we feasted. And they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our Governor and upon the Captain and others..." Tradition says that the feasting included: venison stew cooked over an outdoor fire, spit roasted wild turkeys stuffed with corn bread, oysters baked in their shells, sweet corn baked in its husk, pumpkin baked in a bag and flavored with maple syrup, cranberries, squash and succotash - a combination of corn and beans. Popped popcorn was served by the Chief's brother Quadequina, something which the colonists had not tasted before. President Abraham Lincoln issued the first Proclamation of Thanksgiving Day in 1864. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the fourth Thursday of November Thanksgiving Day - a National Holiday. |
