For thousands of years, people have set aside a day to celebrate the
autumn harvest, giving thanks for a plentiful growing season. Ancient
Hebrews held a special eight-day feast to celebrate their harvest
season. And, people in ancient Greece dedicated a nine-day harvest
festival to Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. Similarly,
pre-Christian Europeans marked a good harvest with a large feast
before crops were gathered and stored for the winter.
Celebrations surrounding the autumn harvest have continued throughout
history, and many modern cultures have set aside a specific day to
give thanks. The date and customs may vary from country to country,
but the desire to take time and reflect on life's blessings remains
the same.
In the United States, this day of thanks is called Thanksgiving. It is
a national holiday observed on the fourth Thursday of November. On
this day, family and friends get together for a feast to celebrate
their good fortune, relax and enjoy one another's company. It is also
the unofficial beginning of the winter holiday season.
The initial "Thanksgiving" feast was held in 1621, was really a
traditional English harvest celebration. The Pilgrims shared it with
the Native Americans because they had taught the colonists to plants
crops and hunt wild game. Without the Native Americans, the Pilgrims
may not have survived the harsh winter and been able to celebrate
their first harvest of plentiful crops in the New World.
At the harvest feast, modern Thanksgiving staples such as pumpkin pie,
cranberry sauce, corn and mashed potatoes were not served. Since
historical evidence shows wild fowl was part of the harvest festival,
it is possible that turkey was part of the Pilgrims' meal.
Historians believe that seafood and wild game were the main dishes at
the autumn celebration since the colonists lived near the Atlantic
Ocean as well as the forest. Seasonal vegetables such as squash may
have been part of the harvest feast, however, vegetable dishes did not
play an important role in people's diet like they do today. Sweet
desserts also did not accompany the meal due to a dwindling, or
nonexistent, supply of sugar. And, without ovens, it was impossible
for the Pilgrims to make breads, pies or cakes.
The colonists' first harvest feast lasted for three days. Food was
served all at once, instead of in courses, so people ate whatever they
pleased in the order that they desired. The more important members at
the feast were given the best pieces of meat, while the rest of the
diners ate whatever was closest to them. Since the Pilgrims didn't use
forks or plates, they ate their meal straight off the table with
spoons, knives or their fingers. They used large napkins to wipe their
hands and also wrapped it around food when it was too hot to hold.
Even though we think of the harvest festival as "the first
Thanksgiving," the colonists did not use a name for their autumn
celebration. The occasion was not called "Thanksgiving" because the
word had a completely different meaning to the Pilgrims. To them, a
day of "thanksgiving" was actually a religious holiday set aside for
giving thanks to God. As a result, the Pilgrims would never have given
such a religious name to a secular day marked by feasting, dancing,
singing, and playing games.
Instead their harvest celebration was simply identified by the season
and the activities involved. It wasn't until the nineteenth century
that the feast we know today acquired the name "Thanksgiving."
Since the autumn harvest usually occurred sometime between late
September and the middle of October, the colonists' harvest festival
wasn't celebrated in November, like it is today. For hundreds of
years, people simply celebrated the harvest whenever nature was ready.
In 1863, President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November as
Thanksgiving Day. However, since he did not establish it as a national
holiday each state had the right to decide when it would celebrate
Thanksgiving. It wasn't until 1941 that Thanksgiving was declared a
national holiday, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.