The Native Americans actualy didn't wear woven blankets on their shoulders and large, feathered headdresses, even though some artworks portray this. Their attire was actually bright and cheerful (with no shoe buckles!). Puritans are often thought of having silver buckles on their shoes and wearing somber, black clothing. On this occasion, the colonists gave thanks to God for rain after a two-month drought. They played ball games, sang, and danced.Īlthough prayers and thanks were probably offered at the 1621 harvest gathering, the first recorded religious Thanksgiving Day in Plymouth happened two years later in 1623. The meal consisted of deer, corn, shellfish, and roasted meat, different from today's traditional Thanksgiving feast. Massasoit sent some of his own men to hunt deer for the feast and for three days, the English and native men, women, and children ate together. Soon after their visit, the Native Americans realized that the English were only hunting for the harvest celebration. Massasoit visited the English settlement with 90 of his men to see if the war rumor was true. The Wampanoag heard gunshots and alerted their leader, Massasoit, who thought the English might be preparing for war. One day that fall, four settlers were sent to hunt for food for a harvest celebration. After several meetings, a formal agreement was made between the settlers and the native people, and in March 1621, they joined together to protect each other from other tribes. Squanto helped the settlers grow corn and use fish to fertilize their fields. Squanto was a Wampanoag who had experience with other settlers and knew English. One day, Samoset, a leader of the Abenaki people, and Tisquantum (better known as Squanto) visited the settlers. SETTLING AND EXPLORINGĪs the Puritans prepared for winter, they gathered anything they could find, including Wampanoag supplies. But windy conditions forced the group to cut their trip short and settle at what is now Cape Cod, Massachusetts. But after 12 years of financial problems, they received funding from English merchants to sail across the Atlantic Ocean in 1620 to settle in a "New World." Carrying 101 men, women, and children, the Mayflower traveled the ocean for 66 days and was supposed to land where New York City is now located. These "separatists" initially moved to Holland.
The people who comprised the Plymouth Colony were a group of English Protestants called Puritans who wanted to break away from the Church of England. The native people knew the land well and had fished, hunted, and harvested for thousands of generations. The area surrounding the site of the first Thanksgiving, now known as southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island, had been the home of the Wampanoag people for over 12,000 years, and had been visited by other European settlers before the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620. Long before settlers came to the East Coast of the United States, the area was inhabited by many Native American tribes. On the fourth Thursday of November, people in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving, a national holiday honoring the early settlers and Native Americans who came together to have a historic harvest feast.
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