How Did Thanksgiving Start

However, these two colonies, while both being founded by religious dissidents, had a plethora of differences and uniqueness between them. Plymouth came from a group of dissidents known as separatists that wanted to separate church from royal control. These people became known as Pilgrims. Seeking religious freedom, they sailed for 65 days on the Mayflower to form a colony in Virginia. Though their initial destination was Jamestown, the Pilgrims landed way off course and decided to set up a colony there, Plymouth. Like those of Jamestown, the Plymouth inhabitants faced many hardships and much of the population perished. However, while Jamestown survived primarily due to powerful leaders, Plymouth was saved by friendly Natives that shared their knowledge for farming and harvest which led up to a feast that became the first Thanksgiving. Though it did not explode with success, Plymouth fared much better than Jamestown and paved the way for a national

Plymouth’s climate was cold and hard. It had a rocky soil limited for constructing farms, on the other hand Jamestown had warm climate and the soil was perfect for hefty plantations. Jamestown’s goal in the new land was to expand English trade and English goods, however Plymouth’s goal was to have higher religious freedom by moving to a new land. Jamestown’s people didn’t desire to work and had complications due to the fact they had a lack of survival skills, in the other hand Plymouth’s people were cooperative. Both Jamestown and Plymouth came from the Church of England. Jamestown created peace and a forceful Indian Empire with the Indians of Virginia, whereas Plymouth extruded most Indians and some of the remaining Indians assisted the colonists from Plymouth. Plymouth had a day to give thanks known as thanksgiving today, similarly Jamestown also had a day to give thanks also knows as thanksgiving.

Holidays are always celebrated no matter religion, beliefs, or culture. Some are recognized more than others but none two are as highly recognized like the cherished Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays. The pair may seem vastly different, as they are two completely separate occasions, but in actuality they do share very similar attributes. Many of the similarities and differences are about to be explained, so here goes.

William Bradford’s “Of Plymouth Plantation” opened my eyes about Plymouth and Thanksgiving. First of all, there was a part in Bradford’s background that caught my eye: Thanksgiving. I am sure that many of us at some point visualized Thanksgiving as a large feast. However, I found it shocking that his narrative does not emphasize a feast, but rather a document of what it was like in Plymouth and the interactions with the Native Americans. Either way, I still found it interesting how Thanksgiving came to be. It would be nice to read another person’s viewpoint of Thanksgiving and to see if there really was a feast or not.

As the holiday season is coming nearer each day, I found it appropriate to look further into the traditional Thanksgiving topic. I can only describe what my family does, my Puerto Rican and Caucasian family. As far as I can say, we are not necessarily traditional with our celebration of Thanksgiving. So I figured why not use this assignment as a way to further look into the holiday and how it is celebrated across America, this can mean anything from families celebrating it in their homes, to the retail shops of the country selling holiday/seasonal items to go along with the tradition. I would like to examine the traditions of thanksgiving.

When I imagine “The First Thanksgiving”, I think of peace and harmony. Then my History complex comes in, I remember all of the rape, cannibalism, and disease spreading that happened in the years before “The First Thanksgiving” ruin my picture perfect scene. The Pilgrims did not have a farming aspect when they came to The New Colony but with the help of the Native Americans they learned how to survive. When I was younger we always were taught that this time, in history, everyone got along and they were happy. The Pilgrims came to have religious freedom and not to be treated as second class citizens. This is a notable act but they had various pathogens that they were immuned to but the Natives were not. Historians say that the pathogens that

It is mind boggling to know that despite the quest for knowledge and learning the truth behind our history, yet a vast number of people still celebrate thanksgiving. What are we really thankful for?

A prevalent opposing viewpoint is that the first Thanksgiving stemmed from the massacre of Pequot people in 1637, the climax of the Pequot War. While it is true that a day of thanksgiving was noted in the Massachusetts Bay and the Plymouth colonies afterward, it is not accurate to say it was the basis for our modern Thanksgiving. Plymouth was already a village with clear fields and a spring when the Pilgrims found it. This place was lovely, and the reason it was available because every single native person who had been living there was a corpse.

Beyond each man declaring that the 4th Thursday in November be set aside as a day of “Thanksgiving”, Hanson’s address in 1782 specifically alludes to an “Almighty God,” stating that “It being the indispensable duty of all nations, not only to offer up their supplications to Almighty God, the giver of all good, for His gracious assistance in a time of distress, but also in a solemn and public manner…especially for great and signal interpositions of His Providence in their behalf;” (Library of Congress).

I think the reason we focus on Plymoth is because we can romanticize the story of the Pilgrams. Freedom is very important to our citizens, and nothing shows freedom better than people abandoning a controlling government to follow their own beliefs. The story of the first Thanksgiving is the icing on the cake, settlers and Native Americans working together, friendships being built and alliances being made. I understand it wasn’t the picturesque story we were taught, but it is a much better story than what happed in Jamestown.

In the painting "Thanksgiving" by Norman Rockwell the painting shows a happy American family eating a fantastic Thanksgiving meal. The painting also shows the turkey being placed on the table which clearly is the main thing in the painting. The people that are in it like I said is an American family that consists of uncles, aunts, siblings, cousin, etc. The theme of this tells me that Thanksgiving is great time for our family to get together to have a meal and have a proper conversation for what we are thankful for. The smile on this family in the painting clearly shows that it is a joyful time when its Thanksgiving.

While children are growing up in America, they are told several tales of America’s establishment and history. However, these stories are generally not told as they actually happened. An instance of this is the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is explained as this elaborate ceremony where the Pilgrims and Indians gathered in harmony at this large harvest in celebration of their coming together. According to the primary document of William Bradford’s journal, Thanksgiving didn’t pan out quite as it is explained to Americans today. In the film, The Addams Family Values, the Addams children take part in a traditional, yet misconceived celebration of the first Thanksgiving. This

Thanksgiving Holiday means so much to me. I love to celebrate that extended weekend with my family. On the eve of the big day, my cousins and I meet at an elder’s house and then the festivities began. This shared feast started in 1621 with the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians sharing a harvest feast ("Thanksgiving," 2016). A portion of the food can be prepared the day before. We decide who would handle what task and when it time clean up the second generation, always try to make the third generation do it. We then continue to cook and clean and reminisce of our past year. Sometimes we would bring up our childhood pranks and stories of family members that passed and present. On the day of Thanksgiving we finish cooking,

Family unity, religious unity, and national unity are important to the American culture. No other myth tells the story of unity then the myths surrounding the first Thanksgiving. As some have heard in history books or elementary school plays; Thanksgiving was held in Plymouth by the Pilgrims and the Native Americans to give thanks for making it through another year. No one knows actually when the first Thanksgiving took place. Some say Texas some say Virginia.

The truth behind the tradition is surprising. Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims seem to go together, but the truth is, the Pilgrims never held an autumnal Thanksgiving feast. However the Pilgrims did have a feast in 1621, after their first harvest, and it is this feast, which people often refer to as "The First Thanksgiving". This feast was never repeated, though, so it can't be called the beginning of a tradition, nor was it termed by the colonists or "Pilgrims" a Thanksgiving Feast. In fact, a day of thanksgiving was a day of prayer and fasting, and would have been held any time that they felt an extra day of thanks was called for. Nevertheless, the 1621 feast has become a model that we think of for our own