Although Congress passed a law in 1941, designating the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day the American holiday dates back to colonial times, following a winter of great hardship. The customary turkey is a reminder of the four wild turkeys served at the Pilgrim’s first Thanksgiving.

James W. Hyland III in his Ideals article, ‘The Original Thanksgiving Meal,’ explains that what we consider traditional foods may not be as traditional as we think. The first Thanksgiving lasted three days and was held in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621. Historians believe it took place in October instead of November. The Governor sent out four men who killed enough fowl to last almost a week. Then some ninety Indians along with Chief Massacoit brought five deer to the celebration. Sporting events were held between meals which were prepared and served outdoors. Their eating utensils were pewter dishes, wooden bowls, knives, and spoons. Forks were not common during the seventeenth century. The fowls served included duck , goose, and turkey. Perhaps the largest single meat dish was venison. Other meats included striped bass, cod, clams, other shellfish, lobster, and eel. The vegetables included beans, pumpkins, squash, turnips, parsnips, barley, onions, leeks, watercress, and roasted Indian corn. The white bread was leftover ship biscuit from the Mayflower. The nutritious dark bread called “Rye and Injun”, was made of cornmeal, barley, and rye flour. A popular misconception was that cranberries were present at the first Thanksgiving. There is no historical evidence that the Pilgrims ever learned to make use of what would later become one of the area’s leading industries. Instead they had the wild fruits that grew in abundance which included plums, and dried berries such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Fruits were served as the primary dessert at the original Thanksgiving along with hasty pudding or Indian pudding made from cornmeal. The Pilgrims stewed their pumpkins and served it as a sauce, not a pie. Their only pies were English-style meat pies, which records show included eel pie. So if you wish to have an original Thanksgiving feast, you can choose from a wide variety of foods.

In 1623, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of fasting and prayer during a period of drought but it was changed to thanksgiving because the rain came during the prayers. It was during the third year of the Civil War on October 3, 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln invited Americans “in every part of the United States” to observe “the last Thursday of November next as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father.“ (Matthew P. Ristuccia, WORLD, ‘Thanksgiving’s forgotten ally,’ November 25, 2006,) Good leaders lead by example and although it was a difficult time to be a leader, President Lincoln found things for which to give thanks. He encouraged people to look beyond the hostilities of war in order to discern, “the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.“

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