How many of you celebrate Thanksgiving at home? Well, even if you do not celebrate it, we are all looking forward to it because we get a few days off from school. Since Thanksgiving is around the corner, I have decided to tell all of you the history of Thanksgiving, just in case you weren’t listening in elementary school. There might be some facts about Thanksgiving that you might not know of. The day of giving thanks had been celebrated in many different societies around the globe before the term “Thanksgiving” had been coined.
Long ago, the people of Greece had a harvest festival during the fall. Horns were blown to tell the entire village that it was time to celebrate the wonderful harvest they had. Ripe apples, pears, and plums were picked off of trees. The people visited the shrines of Demeter, the goddess of harvest and laid gifs of grains before her.
The Romans also had a day to celebrate their harvest. They celebrated with parades, dancing, sports, and feasting to honor their goddess Ceres, she protected their crops and made them grow well. Another example of people celebrating their harvest was the Feast of Booths. It was celebrated by Jews. During the Feast of Booths, the Jews built little booths from branches and leaves. Inside these booths they placed fruits and vegetables from the field.
It was a way for them to give thanks to the God for their crops. Those were a few examples of different societies being thankful for their harvest. Now I will tell you the history of Thanksgiving, the one that we will celebrate on the Thursday of November 27 th. During the year 1621, Pilgrims arrived to the New World, today it is known as United States of America. They sailed from England to the Americas on a ship known as the Mayflower.
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The Mayflower was a small ship, it was crowded and living conditions on the Mayflower is just horrible. None of us would want to be on this boat for more than ten minutes. So why did the Pilgrims wanted to sail to America in such harsh conditions? The Pilgrims were English citizens, and half of them were Puritans. Puritans are people that demand the right to read the Bible and worship God as they chose.
In England, the law forbade them from practicing their religion. Puritans were thrown in prison and some were even killed for their beliefs. They needed to escape. So they planned on sailing to the Americas.
The plan was executed in September 1620. One hundred and two men, women and children boarded the Mayflower. The voyage was a rough one, it lasted sixty five days. However, they managed and arrived on November. Upon arrival the captain of the boat was the first to set foot on Plymouth. The first step that he set foot on was the Plymouth Rock.
This rock stills exist in Plymouth. Millions of tourist from all over visit Plymouth just to see this rock. It is now surrounded by a fence, and tourists toss coins at it to make a wish similarly like how people throw coins in a fountain. Back to the story, so the Pilgrims arrived to the New World at Plymouth. Upon arrival the land was deserted, the Pilgrims didn’t find any Native Americans.
The Pilgrims didn’t take a second to rest from the long voyage, they began to build houses to shelter themselves from the oncoming winter season. The winter season was fierce. Half of the pilgrims died from the cold. After the winter, two Native Americans from the Wampanoag tribe discovered the presence of the Pilgrims. These two men were named Squanto and Samoset. They were friendly upon contact with the Pilgrims.
Squanto and Samoset both knows how to speak English. Squanto was actually once captured by English trader and was shipped to England where he learned English. He was supposed to be sold as a slave in England, but he managed to escape and return home. Samoset brought their chief Massoit to the Pilgrims were they made a treaty of peace. To help the starving Pilgrims, the Wampanoag people decided to give the Pilgrims corn, beans, and squash seeds for the Pilgrims to plant. The Native American also taught the Pilgrims how to catch herring, eels, lobster, and where to dig for clams.
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The Pilgrims successfully planted their crops and were able to survive. When Fall came around, the Pilgrims decided to celebrate their harvest. They invited the Wampanoags to celebrate with them. Coincidentally, the Wampanoag were also celebrating their harvest. Chief Massoit brought ninety men to Plymouth with five deer for roasting. After the arrival of Chief Massoit and his men, it was time for the feast to begin.
Meat was cooked in big fireplaces or open fires. The Pilgrims served wild turkey, gees, and ducks that they have hunted with their musket. Lobsters were boiled in big iron pots. Oysters and clams roasted in the coals.
Together they ate salads of watercress and leeks. Squash, pumpkins, and dried berries were served as dessert. It wasn’t over when everyone had their share of the food. They played games and had contests.
Young men from both sides participated footraces and wrestling. The men from the Wampanoag tribes shot their bows and arrows while the Pilgrims fired their muskets. After the celebration, the Wampanoag’s returned home and resumed their daily chores. The pilgrims similarly went back to their daily lifestyle. Both sides didn’t realize they had started Thanksgiving for United States of America. Thanksgiving wasn’t celebrated every year in the United States until 1863.
During 1863, the United States was in a Civil War, the nation was divided into two, the North and the South. President Abraham Lincoln declared that the last Thursday of November would be Thanksgiving day, hoping that the holiday would bring a spirit of unity to a nation broken into two. The national holiday is still being celebrated today. Families gather together; grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends to celebrate this holiday. The meal for Thanksgiving is similar for most families across America. Turkey is usually the main course of the meal.
That doesn’t mean everyone in America have to eat turkey for Thanksgiving. For example, I’m Chinese. I have chicken every year for Thanksgiving. Other foods that are usually served on thanksgiving are stuffing and potatoes, yams and squash, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Like the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags, we eat and eat until we can’t take it anymore.
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