The real first Thanksgiving
I know we are mostly familiar with the traditional story of the first Thanksgiving on record, but did you know that the story you are probably most familiar with is not the very first Thanksgiving? Isn’t it wonderful that the Founders of this great Country actually were so thankful that there was another day of Thanksgiving before the pilgrims had their first celebration?
Here’s the story you are probably most familiar with (From Pilgrim Hall Museum)
What has come down in American tradition as the “First Thanksgiving” was actually a harvest festival. In the spring of 1621, the colonists planted their first crops in Patuxet’s abandoned fields. While they had limited success with wheat and barley, their corn crop proved very successful, thanks to Squanto [Tisquantum] who taught them how to plant corn in hills, using fish as a fertilizer.
In October of 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated their first harvest with feasting and games, as was the custom in England, as well as prayer. The celebration served to boost the morale of the 50 remaining colonists and also to impress their allies. Among the Native People attending were Massasoit and 90 Wampanoag men. For more about the “First Thanksgiving,” click HERE.
Now read what some proud Virginians have to say about the claim that the pilgrims are the ones who celebrated the very first Thanksgiving:
Let Virginia promote the real first Thanksgiving
November 18, 2007 12:36 am
CHARLOTTESVILLE–Could Virginia’s Thanksgiving be the gift that keeps on giving? Yes. Maybe in more ways than one.
Never inclined to hide its history under a basket, Virginia completed this year a successful and rewarding commemoration
of its origins 400 years ago at Jamestown. We received front-page coverage, not only in national publications, but also throughout the world. Why? Because there are so many aspects of Virginia’s history–many uplifting and inspiring, others problematic and regrettable–that invite re-examination, discussion, and debate.
In other words, within Virginia’s long history–brave and fateful, good or bad–there are lessons for modern America about how we came to be and the consequences of historic choices. Virginia’s story offers insight and better understanding into our national narrative.
Yet one key feature of Virginia’s historic development–an early and important chapter–remains, if not neglected, insufficiently recognized.
I refer to the first Thanksgiving held in America. It took place on what is now the site of Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County. This giving of thanks took place on Dec. 4, 1619–or, as another way of looking at it, precisely one year and 17 days before the Pilgrims landed in New England, and 12 years after Jamestown’s founding.
The Pilgrims–more accurately, their latter-day marketers–would leave you with a different perception. In their telling, the runner-up gets top billing.
It is not supposition that brings one to the above conclusion.
On Nov. 9, 1962, Virginia state Sen. John Wicker sent a telegram to President John F. Kennedy, taking issue with the previous year’s Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation. Wicker claimed he already had proved to the governor of Massachusetts the validity of Virginia’s claim to the first Thanksgiving by the simple expedient of hauling out the records.
Read the rest of the story HERE
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