The History of Thanksgiving

What comes into your mind when you think of Thanksgiving? Most people think of the traditional turkey with stuffing all of the trimmings. Others think about getting together with friends and family and many associate Thanksgiving with watching football. But what is the purpose of Thanksgiving. Why do we celebrate this holiday? Well this blog will give you a brief history of thanksgiving. Get ready to feel full with lots of information.
In 1620, the Mayflower left Plymouth, England with 120 passengers. They wanted to come to the new world for religious freedom. It was a 66 day journey and they arrived at Massachusetts Bay and became known as Pilgrims. Many of the colonists remained on the ship and suffered diseases such as scurvy and only have of them lived to see the next spring.
The survivors met a nice Indian named Squanto. He taught them how to grow corn, catch fish, extract sap from maple trees and avoid poisonous plants. In November, they had a successful harvest. Governor William Bradford decided to organize a feast which would be a celebration of the pilgrim’s first successful harvest. This became known as Thanksgiving but the term was not used by the pilgrims. In fact, their feast did not have many of traditional foods that we have today. Historians think they might have eaten deer at the feast and food made with traditional Indian seasonings. They also did not have any cakes or pies because they did not have an oven and their sugar supply had dwindled.
. New York was one of the first states to observe Thanksgiving before it became a national holiday. There was actually a campaign called “Mary had a little lamb” which was launched to encourage the government to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Thanksgiving did not become a national holiday until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln established a proclamation during the Civil War.
So now as you go back for that second helping of turkey and pie. Think of the pilgrims who did not have turkey or pie and made your Thanksgiving possible. For more information, visit http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving
Happy Turkey Day!!!