History of Thanksgiving

The American holiday, Thanksgiving, has been celebrated since the year 1621. That’s nearly 400 years ago! 

 

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated on November 26, 1621. It started with a group of people, pilgrims, who sailed from Plymouth, England on the Mayflower to come to the new world. The Mayflower carried 102 passengers on its voyage but only 53 survived, due to disease and the cold winters overseas. After 66 days the ship landed at the tip of the  Cape Cod area, but should have landed much farther south, in the mouth of the Hudson River. A month later, they crossed Massachusetts Bay and began establishing their village, Plymouth, named after their town in England. 

 

After the harsh winter in the new land, they were greeted in english by a member of the Abenaki tribe and Squanto, a member of the Patuxet tribe, who was captured by settlers but managed to escape. They showed the malnourished and ill pilgrims how to grow corn, collect sap from trees, catch fish, and to avoid poisonous plants. They made allies with the Wampanoag tribe and learned how to grow more crops and hunt. 

 

After their first successful corn harvest, governor William Bradford the pilgrims hosted the first ever Thanksgiving feast. While we don’t know the exact menu, we do know that it had corn, fruit, and venison (deer meat). Because the pilgrims had no oven or stove on the Mayflower, we think that they used native american techniques to prepare the food. 

 

Two years later the same pilgrims hosted a three day religious fast that became the 2nd Thanksgiving. After the American Revolution, new president George Washington called for the first Thanksgiving proclamation to celebrate the end of the war and the country's independence. In 1817, New York along with several other states officially adopted Thanksgiving as a holiday. Thanksgiving became a national holiday in 1863 and was set to be held on the last Thursday in November. This was changed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who moved the holiday up a week to save retail stores during the Great Depression. This was known as Franksgiving, the public was not in favor of this bill and eventually the president moved Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday in November instead. 

 

Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? 

 

What does your Thanksgiving meal consist of? 

 

What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

 

https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving 

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  • Good topic choice and summary Zoe! The iussue is you didn't reply to any student comments which is worth 30 points.

  • I do celebrate thanksgiving with my great grandma and family. My meal usually consists of turkey, ham, sweet corn, cheesy potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie is my favorite dish but I also like this cake my great grandma makes (it's a close second to pumpkin pie).

  • I do celebrate thanksgiving with my mom's family one year and then the next year with my dad's family. This year I celebrated with my mom's bf's family in Indiana. We had a lot of good food like usual we had Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, and Stuffing, but we also had other things like deviled eggs and this weird pink fluffy stuff. I didn't know what it was called, so I didn't eat it. I think my favorite thanksgiving dish is Mashed Potatoes and deviled eggs.

  • I celebrate thanksgiving with my family. We usually have turkey or ham, stuffing, rolls, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and anything else my family members want to bring. I would say my favorite dish at thanksgiving is mashed potatoes. 

  • Yes, my family celebrates thanksgiving every year. We have the main things that you would at a normal thanksgivng. Mine is probably Greenbean Cassarole.

  • Yes, my family and me celebrate thanksgiving every year and go around saying what we are thankfull for. My thanksgiving meal consists of mashed potatos, corn on the cob, greenbeeen casserole, turky, ham, roles, make and cheese, and pumpkin pie/ chocolate pie. personally I love the roles and corn on the cob out of everything my family makes. 

  • I celebrate Thanksgiving. My meal consists of mashed potatoes, turkey, salad and more things. My favorite Thanksgiving dish is the turkey.

  • Yes I celebrate thanksgiving I love thanksgiving and my meal is usually turket, stuffing, potatoes, and loaded with gravy, my favorite part is defenitly the mash potatoes and gravy.

  • I have a lot of family, so every year I have anywhere from 3-5 thanksgivings. We usually have turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and pumpkin pie for dessert. It just depends on what family celebration I'm going to. I personally enjoy deviled eggs and most of the desserts. 

  • I do celebrate Thanksgiving, but it is mainly just my family. I used to celebrate with cousins and other family members when I was younger, but we don't do that any more. My Thanksgiving meal consists of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, corn, and other stuff. My favorite Thanksgiving dish is probably the turkey because it taste the best.

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