This quick guide to Thanksgiving Day history and facts is sure to help everyone enjoy the Holiday with a better appreciation for the meaning behind it.
Thanksgiving Day History
In September 1620 a group of Puritans who were fleeing religous persecution in England, set sail on the Mayflower for the New World. The trip took 65 days -- Can you imagine?? They landed on Plymouth Rock, and settled in a town called Plymouth, which is now Massachusetts. --If you ever have the opportunity to visit Massachusetts, take your kids. It's soooo interesting.
The Plymouth Pilgrims dined with the Wampanoag Indians for the First Thanksgiving to celebrate the harvest. The Wampanoag helped the Pilgrims survive those first years by teaching them how to cultivate the land; and how to survive in their new home.
No one knows the exact date the first Thanksgiving dinner happened, but we do know that it occurred between September 21 and November 9, 1621.
The First Thanksgiving lasted for three days. According to a letter written by Edward Winslow, who actually attended the feast, wild turkeys, waterfowl, corn, barley, and venison were served.
52 Pilgrims and aproximately 52 Native Americans attended that first Thanksgiving feast. The Wampanoag chief Massasoit and many from his tribe were invited by Governor William Bradford for helping the Pilgrims to survive and for teaching them how to cultivate the land. Squanto, who was also there, was the Pilgrims translator.
In 1863 the National Day of Thanksgiving was declared. Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb", was a strong advocate of getting Thanksgiving recognized as a national holiday.
In 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the last Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day as a way to make the Christmas shopping season longer and stimulate the economy. Before that President's would declare an annual proclamation as to what day everyone would celebrate Thanksgiving.
Want even more Thanksgiving facts? Pick from these books full of Thanksgiving day history. We own the first two. My kids love the Magic Treehouse series of books.
