Thanksgiving is a time to gather with loved ones and appreciate the good things in our lives.
While most of us know this tradition connects back to the Pilgrims, not everyone knows the whole story behind it.
If you’ve ever wondered who the Pilgrims were, why they traveled so far, and what they were thankful for, you’re not alone.
Join us as we look back at who the Pilgrims were and how the first Thanksgiving came to be.
Who were the Pilgrims, and why did they come to America?
To understand their story, we need to go back to 16th-century England, long before the Pilgrims set sail.
In 1534, King Henry VIII separated from the Roman Catholic Church, created the Church of England, and made himself the head.
Some of his subjects felt this new church wasn’t different enough from Catholicism and wanted a simpler, more “pure” form of worship. A more radical group formed, seeking to create an entirely separate church.
These believers became known as the Separatists, and they were taking a huge risk. At the time, English law required everyone to belong to the Church of England.
Facing discrimination in England, the Separatists fled to the Netherlands between 1607 and 1608.
They settled in the city of Leiden, where they lived for 12 years before deciding to move again, this time to America.
On September 6, 1620, 102 English passengers set sail on the Mayflower. Not all were Separatists; many made the journey for economic opportunity.
They originally planned to settle near the Hudson River in present-day New York, but rough seas forced them to anchor in New England 405 years ago on November 11, 1620.
The settlers who arrived on the Mayflower and later held the first Thanksgiving are now known as the Pilgrims.
How did the Pilgrims get their name?
The word “pilgrim” usually refers to someone who travels to a holy or religious site.
While the Plymouth settlers didn’t travel to New England for a formal religious site, their journey was rooted in faith as they were fleeing religious persecution.
Interestingly, no one called them “pilgrims” at the time. Among the Mayflower passengers, Separatists were known as “saints,” while the others were called “strangers.”
William Bradford later referred to the group as “pilgrimes” in his writings, describing their departure from Leiden as a kind of pilgrimage.
His manuscript spread slowly, and the term didn’t become widely used until the early 1800s.
Why did the Pilgrims celebrate the first Thanksgiving?
The Pilgrims had a difficult first year after their 66-day voyage. They chose an abandoned Wampanoag village called Patuxet, left empty after an epidemic, but couldn’t move in right away because they needed to build homes.
While the homes were under construction, they lived aboard the ship, leaving them exposed to cold conditions and disease.
During the first winter, nearly half the settlers perished, leaving only about 52 survivors by spring.
About four months after arriving, the Pilgrims met members of the Wampanoag. In March 1621, they formed a peace agreement with Massasoit, the leader of the Pokanoket Wampanoag.
As part of this new alliance, a Wampanoag man named Squanto (Tisquantum) helped teach them how to grow corn and acted as a translator and guide.
In the fall of 1621, the settlers harvested their crops and prepared a feast. When the Wampanoag heard celebratory shots, they came to investigate and were welcomed to join the festivities.
Massasoit sent men to hunt deer, and about 90 Wampanoag joined the feast. This gathering is remembered as the first Thanksgiving, though it wasn’t intended to be an annual event.
It wasn’t until 1863 that Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday during the Civil War.
What did the Pilgrims eat at the first Thanksgiving feast?
If you visited the first Thanksgiving, you’d likely be surprised by the menu.
First of all, there was no roasted turkey. And you can forget about all the sides that typically go with it, too, like stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and mashed potatoes with gravy.
Instead, the feast included freshly hunted deer from the Wampanoag, along with wild fowl, seafood such as cod and bass, cornbread, and porridge.
In the end, the Pilgrims were a group of English Separatists and fellow travelers seeking a new home where they could live according to their beliefs.
They gave thanks in 1621 for surviving a brutal winter, harvesting their first crops, and forming a crucial alliance with the Wampanoag people.
That moment of relief and gratitude became the foundation of one of the USA’s most important holidays.