Thanksgiving is one of the most cherished holidays typically celebrated with loved ones. The holiday consists of delicious meals and giving thanks to people who are special around you. Every year, on the last Thursday of November, people come together in the United States to celebrate Thanksgiving. However, how did this tradition come about? Thanksgiving is a national holiday to honor the early settlers, as well as the Native Americans who united together to have a memorable feast. Many people may think Thanksgiving is just a holiday to eat delicious foods and say what you are thankful for at the dinner table, but in reality, it is so much more than that.
To commerce, way before settlers came to the United States on the East Coast, the land was already taken over by Native American tribes. The area where the first Thanksgiving occurred is now known as Southeastern Massachusetts and Eastern Rhode Island. These locations had been the home to the Wampanoag people for more than 12,000 years. Many other European settlers had visited these locations before the coming of the Mayflower in 1620. The Native Americans knew the land decently well. They fished, hunted, and harvested for thousands of generations to come.
In addition, the people who made up the Plymouth Colony were English Protestants—otherwise known as Puritans—who wanted to escape the church of England. The Puritans initially moved to Holland, but after twelve years of financial issues, the Puritan people received funds from English merchants to set sail. They would sail across the Atlantic Ocean in 1620 to settle in a “New World.” The Mayflower carried one hundred and two men, women, and children. The ship had traveled for sixty-six days and was supposed to land where New York City is now located. However, very windy circumstances forced the settlers to cut their trip short and settle at the modern place known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Moreover, as winter approached, the settlers gathered tools, even the Wampanoags’ supplies. Then one day, Samoset, a member of the Patuxet people and the Tisquantum people known as Squanto, visited the settlers. Squanto was also a Wampanoag who had familiarized with other settlers and understood English well. Squanto was very helpful to the settlers and the natives; in March 1621, they all joined as one force to protect each other from other settlers and tribes.
Suddenly, as time passed, in the autumn, four settlers were sent to hunt for food to harvest the celebration of the first Thanksgiving. Native Americans realized that the English were only hunting for the harvest celebration. A leader named Massaosit sent some of his people to hunt deer for the feast for just about three days. Everyone ate together, and the meal consisted of many foods, including deer, shellfish, roasted meat, and corn, which is typically a little different from a Thanksgiving feast today. The people also celebrated with games, danced, and sang! Prayers and thanks were most likely offered in the first Thanksgiving harvest of 1621. However, the first recorded religious Thanksgiving in Plymouth happened two years later, in 1623. On this Thanksgiving, colonists thanked God for miracle rain after a two-month drought.
Ultimately, the peace of the Native Americans and settlers lasted only a generation. But the peace made with your family on Thanksgiving should last a lifetime. Thanksgiving is a holiday of coming together, just like the settlers and Natives did. It is about celebrating all that is to be thankful for and cherish time with friends and family. Every Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity to give thanks, get together with loved ones, and remind them what Thanksgiving is truly about.