by Dr. Paul Jehle, Plymouth Rock Foundation
When the Pilgrims and Native Americans had their three day Feast, probably in October of
1621, there were approximately 140 people, yet only four adult Pilgrim women were still alive
after the first winter to host the meal! Over 90 men, with Massasoit, chief of the Womponoags,
joined the feast and brought much of the food. It was a Thanksgiving meal that included fowl,
deer, sea bass, wild turkeys and maybe even popcorn!
Of course, Plymouth is not the first place, nor are the Pilgrims the first people, who gave
thanks on these shores. St. Augustine claims it fifty years before the Pilgrims, and Berkeley
Hundred plantation says it had a Thanksgiving day two years before the Pilgrims arrived. Of
course, the Wompanoags themselves gave thanks to the Great Spirit for hundreds of years
before the Pilgrims or any European ever arrived.
What makes Thanksgiving in Plymouth unique, however, were its roots in English history
and that it was held in harmony with the natives. Prayers of thanksgiving were offered for a
good harvest. The Pilgrim Thanksgiving of 1621 was patterned after the harvest festival in
England. It was a time of giving thanks to God, with the Native Americans, and included a
feast for three days along with athletic games and contests. We are truly the first place where
Thanksgiving was held with these characteristics. Edward Winslow’s description is as follows.
Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might, after
a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four
in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a
week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians
coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king, Massasoit, with some ninety
men, whom for three days we entertained and 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.”
