Happy Thanksgiving! (and some history)

[oldiesman]

Dear Patriot,

 

President George Washington declared the first Thanksgiving under the U.S. Constitution in 1789, setting the date for November 26th.[1] [2] [3] However, numerous earlier instances of thanksgiving celebrations and feasts occurred in North America, predating Washington's proclamation by many decades and even centuries.

According to www.iAsk.Ai - Ask AI:

The concept of "days of thanksgiving" has existed for thousands of years, long before European colonization of North America, often involving giving thanks to deities.[4] [5] These early observances were typically religious in nature, sometimes involving fasting, and were called for by magistrates, churches, or heads of households for various reasons, such as expressing gratitude for divine aid or military victories.[5] [6]

Here's a chronological overview of earlier documented thanksgiving occurrences:

• 1541 (Palo Duro Canyon, Texas): Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his 1,500 men observed a feast of prayer and thanksgiving led by Padre Fray Juan de Padilla. This event predates the Plymouth Thanksgiving by 79 years.[7]
• 1565 (St. Augustine, Florida): Spanish settlers, led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving upon landing and shared a meal with the native Seloy tribe. While a significant early event, it did not become the origin of the national annual tradition.[4] [8]
• 1578 (Nunavut, Canada): English explorer Sir Martin Frobisher and his crew held a thanksgiving service upon safely landing in what is now Newfoundland, Canada, after their quest for the Northwest Passage.[4] [8]
• 1598 (Near San Elizario, Texas): Juan de Oñate, a Spanish dignitary, ordered a feast of thanksgiving after his party of 500 soldiers, women, and children survived a harrowing journey across the Chihuahua Desert to the Rio Grande.[7]
• 1607 (Jamestown, Virginia): English colonists in Jamestown held thanksgiving services for their safe arrival and again three years later when a supply ship arrived after a harsh winter.[4] [8]
• 1607 (Fort St. George, Maine): English colonists at Fort St. George held a harvest feast and prayer meeting with the Abenaki Indians.[7]
• 1610 (Jamestown, Virginia): The first permanent settlement of Jamestown held a thanksgiving.[4]
• 1619 (Berkeley Hundred, Virginia): On December 4, 38 English settlers celebrated a thanksgiving immediately upon landing, as their London Company charter specifically required "that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God." This celebration has been commemorated annually at Berkeley Plantation since the mid-20th century.[4] [6]
• 1621 (Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts): The Pilgrims, having brought in a good harvest with the assistance of the Wampanoag, celebrated for three days in the autumn. This event, often popularized as the "first Thanksgiving," was more accurately a harvest celebration, featuring feasting, games, and a demonstration of arms. Accounts from William Bradford and Edward Winslow describe a meal that included fowl (including wild turkeys), venison, fish, eels, shellfish, and a Wampanoag dish called nasaump. The Wampanoag leader Massasoit and 90 of his men joined the celebration, contributing five deer to the meal.[4] [5] [9] [10]

These earlier events demonstrate that while the 1621 Plymouth harvest celebration is widely recognized, it was one of many thanksgiving observances that occurred in North America, reflecting both European religious traditions and harvest festivals, as well as interactions with Indigenous peoples.[4] [5] [8] The modern national holiday, however, largely evolved from the New England Thanksgiving traditions and was significantly influenced by Sarah Josepha Hale's advocacy and President Abraham Lincoln's proclamation in 1863.[4] [5] [6] [11]     

---

Authoritative Sources

1. Thanksgiving (United States). Wikipedia↩
2. 2 Thanksgivings? It's happened. Here's why we now celebrate on 4th Thursday of November. news-journalonline.com↩
3. The Long History of the Thanksgiving Holiday in the U.S. reprosenthal.com↩
4. Thanksgiving: Historical Perspectives. National Archives↩
5. Thanksgiving History. The Mayflower Society↩
6. A History of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History↩
7. Thanksgiving Timeline. History.com↩
8. The Real History of Thanksgiving. Library of Congress Blogs↩
9. The First Thanksgiving. Plimoth Patuxet Museums↩
10. The True Story of Thanksgiving. National Museum of the American Indian↩
11. Sarah Josepha Hale. National Women's History Museum↩

 

[waysider]

Thanks! 

[WordWolf]

For those of you not US citizens, happy Thursday. 

[Twinky]

Do US citizens customarily celebrate Harvest Festival?  Would be approximately equivalent to Sukkot/Feast of Ingathering in OT.  A celebration of the end of harvest and the year's fruitfulness, and preparation for the longer hungrier winter months.

(I know US "thanksgiving" as now practised has a bit of a different history, but even from WW's opening post, it appears that that thanksgiving was based on harvest festival)

[oldiesman]

39 minutes ago, Twinky said:

Do US citizens customarily celebrate Harvest Festival?  Would be approximately equivalent to Sukkot/Feast of Ingathering in OT.  A celebration of the end of harvest and the year's fruitfulness, and preparation for the longer hungrier winter months.

(I know US "thanksgiving" as now practised has a bit of a different history, but even from WW's opening post, it appears that that thanksgiving was based on harvest festival)

I think U.S. only celebrates Thanksgiving as a national holiday so those who wish to use that day as equivalent to Sukkot/Feast day probably do that...