America’s Thanksgiving holiday is currently one of the nation’s most anticipated and beloved days, celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday in November. Family, friends, food and football have come to symbolize Thanksgiving. Unlike Christmas and Halloween, when we get things like presents and candy, Thanksgiving urges all of us to be grateful for things we have.
What are your family’s favorite Thanksgiving dishes? Have you ever taken a picture or recorded the recipe and uploaded it to the internet? If so, you’re doing family history, which, by definition, is an awesome thing to do. Before you dig into turkey and pumpkin pie, take a moment to learn about true stories about Thanksgiving!
MYTH # 1: Pilgrims Held the First Thanksgiving
It’s fictional to believe that the Pilgrims held the first Thanksgiving ceremony. In the American educational system, children’s literature shows that Thanksgiving as a subject cannot be explored without mentioning Indians and Pilgrims.
However, this isn’t true because Thanksgiving was first celebrated by other native communities without even inviting the Indians. The first real Thanksgiving ceremony was held in the St. Augustine area before 1600. Each community had its own way of celebrating or thanking their maker. History attributes Thanksgiving to Indians, which isn’t true. When other communities arrived in the US safely, they organized for various parties to thank their God for leading them wisely.
MYTH # 2: Pilgrims Lived in Log Cabins
No Pilgrim ever lived in a log cabin. The log cabin did not appear in America until late in the 17th century, when it was introduced by Germans and Swedes. The term “log cabin” cannot be found in print until the 1770s. Log cabins were virtually unknown in England at the time the Pilgrims arrived in America. So, what kind of dwellings did the Pilgrims inhabit? If you visit Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims lived in wood clapboard houses made from sawed lumber.
MYTH # 3: Pilgrims Ate Turkey
There’s a popular myth that Pilgrims ate turkey during the Thanksgiving ceremony. This isn’t true because turkey was not readily available in society. There is no evidence that turkey was served. Pilgrims didn’t have apples, pears or potatoes either because these were foreign foods. They also didn’t have pumpkin pie or any pie for that matter. So, to the question “What did the Pilgrims eat for Thanksgiving?” the answer is likely venison, seafood, and the vegetables that they harvested — carrots, beans, spinach, and lettuce.
