Did the Pilgrims Really Invent
Thanksgiving?
Victor
Morales November 25,
2015 VOA
This week,
Americans celebrate one of the country's oldest and most cherished
traditions – Thanksgiving. VOA Senior Analyst Victor Morales
examines the history of this quintessential American holiday and
what it means in the 21st century.
Four
centuries ago, bands of dissenters set sail from England to the New
World in search of religious freedom. One group of Protestant
worshipers arrived in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts in
late-1620.
They
suffered great hardships during their first winter in
America. Nearly half of them starved or froze to death.
But with help from the Native Americans, the Pilgrim colonists
learned what foods to eat and how to build homes to withstand the
elements.
Thanksgiving
Confusion
That
first "thanksgiving" was a harvest festival in the autumn of 1621 –
less than a year after the colonists arrived. It's thought
that some 50 Pilgrims and 90 Indians attended the celebration, and
ate many of the same foods Americans now consider traditional
Thanksgiving fare – including native vegetables and roasted
turkey.
But
for the colonists, that first celebration was more secular than it
was religious. For the most part, the three-day event was one
of feasting and games. And it was never
repeated.
A
party to give special thanks to God would have been unthinkable for
the strictly religious colonists, or Puritans, as they were often
called, who focused their energies on the Christian Sabbath, not on
“man-made” days of worship. In fact, the first thanksgiving
observance to be declared by the Pilgrims occurred in the summer of
1623 to give specific thanks to God for ending a drought, and it
was a relatively somber event.
Pilgrims picked
as 'original Americans'
So
what accounts for the Thanksgiving confusion?
"We
need a history that's going to represent the righteousness of the
American way,” said historian John Kemp, colonial training
specialist atPlimoth
Plantation in
Plymouth, Massachusetts. Intellectuals of the
mid-to-late 19th and early 20th centuries “picked out the Pilgrims
because they seemed a little more 'American' than anyone
else. And they seemed better than others,” said Kemp.
“If you look at Jamestown [Virginia], which, in fact, was the first
English colony – well, those guys had slaves. And in the
Victorian period [beginning in the mid-1800s], the slave states in
the U.S. were seceding [from the Union just prior to the Civil War]
and stirring-up nasty things. So you didn't want your
'original' Americans to be Jamestown settlers.
"And
then when you looked at New England, the people up in Boston had
persecuted Quakers and actually put some of them to death and
burned people they accused of being witches. The Plymouth
people had never done that. Therefore, people such as Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, Daniel Webster, people who were writing
school books, and artists, but mainly people in the Boston area – a
lot of historians at that time had a Harvard University pedigree –
built-up this whole notion that America came from the Mayflower
[the Pilgrim's ship] and the Pilgrims," Kemp said.
The meaning of
Thanksgiving
The
Victorian image of Thanksgiving served not only as a mirror on the
nation's past, but also as a window through which Americans viewed
their destiny. But many historians are quick to point out
that by the end of the 19th century, most of America's Indians had
been forced to live on reservations, and that religious tolerance
and racial equality were still decades away.
And
critics argue that today, Thanksgiving often means little more than
watching football games, over eating and the beginning of the
Christmas shopping season.
Boston-based
historian and cultural education consultant Solomon Davidoff, whose
Jewish ancestors emigrated to the United States from Eastern
Europe, said Thanksgiving, nonetheless, remains an important part
of American culture.
"If
you look at the influx of immigrants to the U.S., especially in the
late-1800s and early-1900s, when Thanksgiving as a national holiday
was really getting its start – along with July 4th [U.S.
Independence Day] – it was seen as the quintessential American
holiday,” said Davidoff.
“So
definitely, you can see that there is more of an observance of
Thanksgiving in being a day for those who have emigrated to the
United States to give particular thanks for the United States'
existence," he said. "When I was a child, I had friends who
wondered, 'Do you celebrate Thanksgiving?' And we would say,
'Yes,' because we are Americans and we have pride in this country
and in what this country is and in what this country has done for
us."
Special meaning
for immigrants
Because
Thanksgiving was first observed by immigrants, I wanted to get a
better idea of what it means to people from other lands who have
settled in America. I asked some of my colleagues here at the
Voice of America what Thanksgiving means to them.
“I
come from a Buddhist tradition. We don't have 'God' and we
don't have 'God' to thank,” said Nittaya Maphungphong of VOA’s Thai
Service. “But having been in this country for so long,
Thanksgiving gives me a chance to pause and reflect and to be
really thankful for all of the things that I have right now – my
friends, my job, my family, my dogs. What else can I
say?" said Maphungphong.
“To
me, Thanksgiving is the first opportunity to celebrate family and
friends outside of religion,” said Maria de los Angeles Franco of
VOA’s Spanish Branch. “It is a chance to say 'thank you' to
them for their existence, for what they do for you, and for what
they mean to you," said Franco.
As
for me, Thanksgiving has several meanings. I take pause to
thank God for my family and friends, and for all that I have
received during the past year. But I also remember the
Pilgrims who had the courage to come to this land to practice their
faith freely, and the millions of people from all over the world
who have come to the United States since that time and made our
nation strong.
Like
most people born here in the United States, my ancestors are from
somewhere else – in my case, from Europe and Latin America.
And today, I'm thankful that I can wish all of you the peace,
prosperity and freedom that this Thanksgiving Day has come to
represent for so many Americans.