![\"\"](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/6\/6e\/The_First_Thanksgiving_cph.3g04961.jpg\")
The First Thanksgiving 1621, oil on canvas by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899). The painting shows common misconceptions about the event that persist to modern times: Pilgrims did not wear such outfits, and the Wampanoag are dressed in the style of Native Americans from the Great Plains.<\/p><\/div>\n
This feast lasted three days, and it was attended by 90\u00a0Native Americans\u00a0(as accounted by attendee\u00a0Edward Winslow)\u00a0and 53 Pilgrims.<\/p>\n
William Bradford, in\u00a0Of Plymouth Plantation<\/i>:<\/p>\n
They <\/i>began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and <\/i>dwellings <\/i>against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all <\/i>things <\/i>in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were <\/i>exercised <\/i>in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, <\/i>of <\/i>which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now <\/i>began <\/i>to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound <\/i>\u00a0 when <\/i>they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl <\/i>there <\/i>was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. <\/i>Besides<\/i>, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, <\/i>Indian <\/i>corn to the proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their <\/i>plenty <\/i>here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n
Edward Winslow, in\u00a0Mourt’s<\/i> Relation<\/i>:<\/p>\n
Our <\/i>harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king\u00a0Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.<\/i><\/p>\n
Curious about other Thanksgiving traditions? Check out the library’s holdings to get a sense for how the holiday has changed over time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies … Continue reading