We often think of the gratefulness of the pilgrims in 1621 as sparking our Thanksgiving holiday.
But there is more to the story.
In that year, the pilgrims, who had made a 66-day journey from England, celebrated with a three-day feast, attended by members of the local indigenous people. The Pilgrims wrote that the celebration that year was to give thanks to God for leading them to a place where they had “all things in good plenty.”
But they had also lived through great tragedy.
Of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower, only 57 survived the first winter of 1620-21. Life was very difficult in that first year, but with the help of a local tribesman Squanto, they learned how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants.
Thanksgiving made official
For more that two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. But it was not until 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of the Civil War, proclaimed Thanksgiving as an annual national holiday.
President Lincoln started the annual celebration with a proclamation after the pivotal Union victory at Gettysburg.
In that official act of Oct. 3, 1863, Lincoln wrote,
“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens … to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
Difficult Beginnings
Thus, our holiday of Thanksgiving was begun, and eventually made official, soon after two very difficult experiences: first, the deaths of many pilgrims in our new land, and second, the strife of the Civil War.