Black clothing, gold buckles, and pious people.  Does that ring a bell?  What about headresses, planting fish with seed corn, and clothing made from tanned hides.  Throw in a turkey and you have the first Thanksgiving.  Or do you?

This year in our family I decided to go beyond the typical elementary pageant presented by schools all over the country during November.  Think back.  Did you play the part of a Pilgrim or an Indian?  What else do you remember about the Thanksgiving celebration?  Is it even true?

It is a great question.  My children found it fascinating.  What was the first Thanksgiving celebration like?  Unfortunately we do not have a magic tree house or a time machine in which we can travel back in time to see for ourselves, but we can gather information and sort through it.  I was quite surprised by some of the information that I learned.

For starters, the first recorded Thanksgiving celebration was not in 1621.  It was not even with the Pilgrims.  It occurred at Palo Duro Canyon, which is in present-day Texas, with Francisco Coronado in the year 1541.  Coronado was a Spanish conquistador sent to explore the unknown lands (to the Europeans).  He is most well-known for searching for the Seven Cities of Gold.  The little known fact about Coronado is that eighty years before the Pilgrims feasted with the Wampanoag Indians he and his men hosted the first recorded day of thanksgiving in North America. 

It seems that many early settlers and expeditions held similar days of thanksgiving because there are several recorded incidents.  French colonists at St. Augustine, Florida held a celebration with the purpose of giving thanks in 1564.  Juan Onate and his men in 1598 near current day El Paso, Texas.  Later in the early 1600s, many of the first settlers on the east coast set aside days of thanksgiving, like the Jamestown settlers. 

 The fact is that many days of thanksgiving were celebrated long before the Pilgrims boarded the Mayflower and Speedwell to sail across the Atlantic Ocean in 1620.  A fact that completely astounded me.  And as a Texan, I could not help but take pride in the fact that two of the earliest recorded days occurred in my state.

It is really no surprise to me that the explorers and settlers that came to our wild and unfamiliar land saw the need to set aside a day to give thanks to God.  They were met with unbelievable obstacles.  Disease, starvation, weather, etc. combined to create a recipe for disaster.  For many of the brave people that sailed across the ocean to come to these shores, they did not live to see it for very long.  It was a hard life.  I think it was harder than they ever imagined it could be.

So why is our Thanksgiving Day inspired by the Pilgrims?  Well the Pilgrims continued to set aside a day to give thanks and feast in the fall.  They also set aside a day of prayer and fasting in the spring, but the idea of fasting is apparently not as popular as feasting since we do not have that holiday.  This idea spread to neighboring colonies.

After we became an indepedent nation, many presidents starting with George Washington called for a day of thanksgiving.  Throughout the history of the United States, we have celebrated Thanksgiving.  However, it was not until 1941 that Congress permanently established our national holiday on the fourth Thursday of November. 

One of my favorite websites for historical information is Wall Builders by David Barton.  Their subtitle states, “Presenting America’s forgotten history and heroes with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage.”  You can read the article that caught my eye,”Celebrating Thanksgiving in America.”  Also you can easily find historical proclamations, letters, and speeches with an easy search of the site. 

One thing I found was that the Library of Congress has published a Thanksgiving timeline that your family will enjoy.  Check out those links to see that I am not making up information.   

Let me leave you with the words of George Washington.  This is the opening of his Proclamation on October 3, 1789.  To read the Proclamation in its entirety, click here.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

I hope you pass this information on to your family and friends.  As I prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving next week, it will mean so much more to me than a one time event shared between two groups of people.  Thanksgiving is more than Pilgrims, Indians, and eating turkey.  It is much bigger than any one group or celebration.

Tags: Coronado, David Barton, first thanksgiving, George Washington, Pilgrims and Indians, Wall Builders

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