Thanksgiving Facts

*The Pilgrims' first "Thanksgiving" feast was in 1621. Experts now believe this was just a harvest festival, not a true day of thanksgiving.

*This was not the first celebration of its kind on American soil. In Newfoundland, English settlers held a harvest festival forty-three years earlier. Fourteen years before Plymouth, the Popham colony held one in what is now Maine. December 4th, 1618 the settlement of Berkeley's Hundred in Virginia declared a thanksgiving celebration for the safe arrival of some newcomers.

*Pilgrim Edward Winslow was the only witness to write about the feast. According to him, Chief Massasoit and ninety other Native Americans stayed for three days. They shot five deer for the feast.

*In 1623, Governor William Bradford declared November 29th a day of thanksgiving. This was to celebrate a long rain he felt was brought on by a day of fasting and praying. The colony had been facing hot and dry weather, with dead crops until this rain came. Is this the true Thanksgiving day?

*For unity after the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day for the entire nation.

*William Brewster was one of the Pilgrim Fathers. He was a graduate of Cambridge University and probably the only Pilgrim with a college education. He served as the first preacher in the colony until 1629, when a minister was appointed.

*Miles Standish was not a real Pilgrim at all. He never became a full member of the Pilgrims' church. He was actually hired to go along and train them to defend themselves. He was barely 5 feet 2 inches tall, with boots on. Standish had red hair and a fiery temper.

*The only holiday in memory of the founders of the Plymouth colony is Forefather's Day. It was first celebrated in 1769 and is still observed in Plymouth each December 11th.

*Eighteen Pilgrim women crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower. By spring, only 6 of those 18 were still alive. They were Ellen Billington, Mary Brewster, Katherine Carver, Elizabeth Hopkins, Susannah White and a woman listed as "Mrs. Edward Fuller." Susannah White lived to be 85!

*At early Plymouth the women had no voice at all. Only their husbands voted, signed important papers and made decisions. And only the "Founding Fathers" received credit for the Plymouth colony.

*Of the ninety-nine people who landed at Plymouth, about thirty were children. A number of these children came as servants. These "bound children" were supposed to work for seven years for the family that brought them.

*Pilgrims didn't wear just dark colors. The women and girls' clothing were red, purple, bright blue or green. Men wore colors such as gray, brown or blue. Elder Brewster is mentioned as having a violet cloak, a red cap and green trousers. No mention was ever made of silver buckles.

*It is thought the idea of dull colored clothing came from a list attached to a Pilgrim will that mentioned "one sad colored suit and cloak." At that time sad color meant a deep color, such as forest green, nut brown or mulberry (deep red).

~Symbols of Thanksgiving~

*Indian Corn - The corn the Pilgrims found was buried in the sand on Cape Cod. Some of the corn was saved for planting later. The Pilgrims might not have survived without the Indian corn. The ears of corn were quiet small and knobby with red, black, green, blue and yellow kernels. Most of it was used for making corn bread and corn meal mush. And Indian, Squanto, had to show them how to plant it. In an effort to hide from the Indians how many settlers had died, corn was planted over the first graves.

*Pumpkins - When they dug up the corn, they found dried beans and pumpkin seeds. Squanto had to teach them to plant these also. The Pilgrims never ate pumpkin pie, only meat pies. One thing the settlers really missed was beer with their meals. After they discovered pumpkins, they made beer out of "pumpkins, parsnips and walnut tree chips." Talk about desperation.

*Cranberries - The Cape Cod Indians called the berries Ibimi, this meant bitter berry. The Pilgrims thought the nodding pink blossom of the plant looked like the head of a crane. So crane berry is what they called it. In time, this name gave way to cranberry. The Pilgrims invented cranberry sauce, tarts, and nog. They made jam made with apples and cranberries, sweetened with pumpkin pulp syrup.

*Horn of Plenty - Since ancient times, the horn of plenty has stood as a symbol of the earth's bounty. Overflowing with vegetables, nuts fruits and sometimes flowers, it greatly expresses the harvest theme of Thanksgiving. Cornucopia comes from the Greeks, it is their name for horn of plenty.

Source: Turkeys, Pilgrims and Indian Corn: The Story of the Thanksgiving Symbols by Edna Barth.

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