Today, Thanksgiving is about food and being thankful and shopping for Christmas the next day. The first Thanksgiving was much the same, save for the shopping since TJ Maxx didn’t exist in a teepee in a Native American village down the way. The Wampanoag Indians and Plymouth colonists shared a feast together in 1621 in the first ever recognized celebration of Thanksgiving. The Plymouth colonists, or Pilgrims, traveled on the Mayflower from Britain to live on a land where they could practice religion freely. The journey was treacherous and the first winter was brutal, with only about half the Mayflower’s original amount living to see spring (history.com).

During that spring, the colonists were approached by an Abenaki Indian who could, shockingly, speak English. He, along with Pawtuxet Tribe member Squanto, taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn, catch fish, extract maple, and other essential practices to maintain food needs. In addition, an alliance was formed with the help of the Native Americans between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Tribe that lasted around 50 years. As tradition, the Pilgrims held a celebration after the harvest and invited the tribe to celebrate with them. The 53 remaining colonists and the Native Americans took part in the three day celebration (history.com).

Thanksgiving was officially declared a holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 during the Civil War (pilgrimhall.org). Sadly, this first recognized Thanksgiving is a rare account of settlers and Native Americans interacting in a positive way with one another. Nonetheless, this celebration has come to symbolize gratefulness and family in today’s American society and, although there was a slight disagreement during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt over when Thanksgiving should be held, will continue to happen on the last Thursday of every November (archives.gov).