Ask any school kid and they’ll tell you The First Thanksgiving was a meal shared between Pilgrim settlers and Indians (or Native Americans depending on just how old the school kid you ask is) to celebrate the harvest in 1621.  Well, they might fudge the dates a little but that’s okay because most everything they’re going to tell you is wrong.  Indeed, Thanksgiving, at least in historical terms, is a very misunderstood and highly mythologized holiday in America.  Most Americans have an idea in their heads the kernel of which was created in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln made the day official—200 years after the first alleged meal.

So what is the true history of Thanksgiving and where did our traditions come from?

The Birth of Thanksgiving Day

Firsthand accounts of The First Thanksgiving show that it did take place in 1621 (though the next wouldn’t happen until two years later) and most likely consisted of cod and bass, waterfowl, wild turkey, venison, and Indian Corn (that Squanto, an English-speaking native of the Wampanoag tribe, had helped them learn to cultivate).  The native Wampanoag “Indian” tribe did attend with their “king” Massasoit leading an honor guard of about 90 men and women.

The three-day feast was a celebration of survival and plenty after a hard scrabble year of living off rations brought from England and bartering with the local tribe for enough food to live on.  As the colonies grew though, their own harvest was often enough to sustain them and these feasts became an irregular though constant fall staple among pre-Union colonist.

From that first year (1621) the celebration was observed sporadically by various groups for various reasons. Interestingly, each Thanksgiving Day was held on a different day as set forth by the political and religious leaders of the time.

Indeed, while Lincoln (and every president after him) had annually declared the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving, in 1939 Franklin Roosevelt declared that fifth and last Thursday of the month Thanksgiving.  That didn’t appeal to many, including Fred Lazarus Jr. (founder of the Federated Department stores which would later become Macy’s) who pressured Roosevelt to push the holiday back a week in order to expand the shopping season.  And so the Christmas Holiday Shopping season began.

After some political squabbling in which Republicans and Democrats were ordered to observed two separate holidays—no kidding—both houses of Congress came together and officially declared the last Thursday of November to be the official day thenceforth.

Origins of the Thanksgiving Menu

As mentioned above, the first thanksgiving meal was based on food staples that Pilgrim settlers had stockpiled in abundance.  There was a lot of fish and shellfish, wild game (including turkeys) and vegetables “borrowed” from native tribes.  However, venison also featured prominently as Chief Massasoit gifted the Pilgrim leader with deer at the beginning of the festivities.  More “modern” Thanksgiving staples wouldn’t be introduced until much later.

Turkey—of course—dates back to that first holiday, but the commercially raised birds are a far cry from their wild ancestors.  But the bird itself has come to symbolize the day and nothing gets family and guests in the holiday mood faster than seeing a piping hot golden brown bird coming out of the kitchen on a platter.  However, historians agree that fish was actually most likely the feature item back in 1621.

Stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, fall vegetables like squash, and pumpkin have all worked their way onto the collective dining table over the years with a few local and regional alterations thrown in for good measure.  Most all of these foods are native to the Americas though it’s not likely that many would have been found on that First Thanksgiving menu.  For instance, there wouldn’t have been any cranberry sauce because Americans didn’t start boiling the tart fruit with sugar for some time to come.

Indeed, even those staples that were served would have been unrecognizable to a modern diner.  Corn was prepared much differently back them.  It would have been removed from the ear, made into meal, and served as a mushy slurry.  And the turkey?  It was most likely boiled then roasted or—even worse—roasted then boiled!

Potatoes, though they began in South America and travelled to Europe, wouldn’t have been eaten because they weren’t yet popular as a staple.  In fact, they remained a rarity (at least the mashed kind) on American tables for roughly 200 more years.  However, other root and tuber plants would likely have been consumed including Indian turnips.

Pumpkins, though available, wouldn’t have been baked into pies—no flour and very little sugar were to be had.  Instead, they were hollowed out and filled with milk and honey and spices (though probably not at The First Thanksgiving) then roasted to form a sort of pumpkin custard in the flesh.

Nuts may have been another “First” that have stuck around, though they’re now generally observed as “holiday season” foods not simply Thanksgiving treats.  Indeed, the Wampanoag tribe regularly harvested and consumed bountiful amounts of the hearty and healthful nuts including chestnuts, walnuts, and beechnuts.

Interestingly, many of the dishes (or variations of them) that we think of as traditional—including mashed potatoes—come from cookbooks and propaganda pamphlets created during the Lincoln era.  Sarah Joesepha Hale was a vocal proponent of female domesticity and, among others, was instrumental in urging President Lincoln to make thanksgiving and official holiday.  As such, she put together numerous cookbooks, pamphlets, and tracts aimed at women filled with these recipes—recipes that, at the time, were sort of “exotic” and exciting.

Making a Holiday Personal

Regardless the history of the Thanksgiving meal, it’s clear that it’s still evolving over time.  There are many regional and local alternatives feature prominently on our tables every November with family favorites edging out traditional offerings across the board.  Maybe Grandma’s lemon meringue pie is the coveted dessert instead of pumpkin.  Maybe the turkey is grilled or deep fried instead of roasted.  Maybe the stuffing is made with cornbread rather than day old Wonderbread.  It doesn’t matter.  One truth remains:  Thanksgiving is still a day for family to get together, celebrate, and give thanks.