Thanksgiving Thursday - All About the FIRST Thanksgiving!

T H A N K S G I V I N G  T H U R S D A Y S - For 150 years, Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving as a federal holiday.  Let us never forget the sentiments of the Pilgrims and their first blessed feast nearly four centuries past.

Years Ago ...

President Abraham Lincoln declared a national holiday to commemorate the first Thanksgiving celebration, feted by the Pilgrims in 1621.  

This group of English emigrants had survived a treacherous Atlantic crossing and were starting a new life in a strange, new world.  

They had much to celebrate on this first holiday, and partook in three days of feasts with a group of Native Americans in the Plymouth area, the Wampanoag.

Source: Smithsonian.com (link)

Like most things or events nearly 400 years old, this holiday has greatly evolved over the years.  Even though I knew it must be different today from back then, I was greatly surprised to see just how different the menu has become!

Source: About.com (link)

So I pored through internet pages to try to paint an accurate picture of what would have made up this very special meal.  Unfortunately, nothing can be pegged down for sure, and it seems like we know more about what was not served than what was.  

But what's a little challenge to investigators such like us?  Here's what I have found ...


GIVE ME THE FACTS ~

• Dear Diary

What we know today about the first Thanksgiving is based on the memoirs written by two colonists.

• The first – Edward Winslow’s letter to a friend, dated December 1621.
• The second – Governor William Bradford's descriptions about the first autumn of the Pilgrims, written several years after the fact.

• When in Rome

Like every school-aged child has been taught, the first Thanksgiving was the reaction to the hard times the Pilgrims felt on their trip across the Atlantic, their adjustment to their new home, and a celebration of a successful harvest.  However, for the Wampanoag Indians, with whom the pilgrims shared this three-day feast, a sincere thanksgiving for one’s blessings was an every day occurrence.

"We as native people [traditionally] have thanksgivings as a daily, ongoing thing," says Linda Coombs, associate director of the Wampanoag program at Plimoth Plantation. "Every time anybody went hunting or fishing or picked a plant, they would offer a prayer or acknowledgment."

(direct quote from Christian Science Monitor (link) )

ERASE FROM YOUR IMAGINATION ~

Potatoes of any kind, prepared in any fashion - Although potatoes are native to the Americas, the colonists would not have had a crop of white or sweet potatoes available to them.  Seriously, mind blowing!

Pumpkin pie - While our ancestors might have eaten pumpkins and other squashes native to New England, they might not have had the other ingredients needed for today’s staple – butter (from a cow – where would Bessie have come from) and wheat flour (would have required a mill).  The final nail in the pumpkin pie’s coffin – they would have need an oven to bake it in. Again, not happening.

IT'S POSSIBLE THEY ATE THE FOLLOWING ... BUT IT'S ALSO POSSIBLE THEY DID NOT ~

Turkey - Believe it or not, we do not know if the pilgrims and Native Americans ate the “traditional” bird in 1621!  The earlier account mentions that hunters brought back “fowl,” however that could have meant simply duck or geese.

Stuffing – Not mentioned specifically, however both the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims were known to have occasionally stuffed other food, like herbs, onions, or oats (a tradition from the English) into their birds and fish.

Tubers - The Native Americans did commonly eat such tubers as Jerusalem artichokes and Indian turnips.  At least they had something close(ish) to potatoes.

THE STARS OF THE FEAST ~

Source: National Geographic (link)

Lobster

Mussels

Clams

Eels

Fowl – mostlikely ducks and geese, perhaps swan and turrkey

Venison

Source: National Geographic (link)

SUMPTUOUS SIDE DISHES ~

Cranberries - Forget sweet cranberry sauce!  The berries would have been served without the added sugar that we are used to today.  How many puckered faces can you imagine lining that table – cranberries sure are tart!

Grapes – both white and red

Plums – both black and red

Flint corn

Pumpkin 

Source: Almanac.com (link)

For old time's sake, CLICK HERE for a great video for making roasted pumpkin from the Hostess with the Mostest, Martha Stewart :)



Feel free to share anything you wish to share in the comments below!  You can always reach me at fourscorerebecca@gmail.com.

Until next time,

Rebecca

Resources:  Christian Science Monitor, NPR.org, Smithsonian Mag, Plimoth.org