(Receive our blog posts in your email by clicking here. If the author links in this post are broken, please visit our Free PDF Library and click on the author’s page directly.)
O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever (Ps. 107:1).
Apart from the French Huguenots who celebrated a thanksgiving at Fort Caroline, near modern-day Jacksonville, Florida on June 30, 1564, and the celebration at Jamestown, Virginia on December 4, 1619, what is traditionally referred to as the first American Thanksgiving, observed by the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts, took place in the autumn of 1621, four hundred years ago.
George B. Cheever tells us briefly about this special occasion in The Pilgrim Fathers: or, The Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, New England, in 1620 (1849), pp. 231-232.
We find in this volume the very first instance of the New England thanksgiving. It is referred to by Mr. Winslow in his letter to a friend. It was after the gathering in of the harvest, and a fowling expedition was sent out for the occasion by the Governor, that for their Thanksgiving dinners and for the festivities of the week they might have more dainty and abundant materials than ordinary. That week they exercised in arms, and hospitably feasted King Massasoit and ninety men. The Governor is said by Mr. Winslow to have appointed the game-hunt after harvest, that so the Pilgrims "might after a more special manner rejoice together, after they had gathered the fruit of their labours." This admirable annual New England custom of Thanksgiving dates back therefore to the first year of our Forefathers' arrival.
W. Carlos Martyn also recounts the tale in The Pilgrim Fathers of New England: A History (1867), pp. 132-133, also drawing on Edward Winslow.
"There was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison." The fowlers had been sent out by the governor, "that so they might, after a special manner, rejoice together, since they had gathered the fruit of their labors;" this was the origin and the first celebration of the national festival of New England, the autumnal THANKSGIVING. On that occasion of hilarity they "exercised their arms," and for three days "entertained and feasted" Massasoit and some ninety of his people, who made a contribution of five deer to the festivity. Health was restored; household fires were blazing brightly; and in good heart and hope the lonely but thankful settlers disposed themselves to meet the rigor of another winter.
As we reflect on that moment in church history which illustrates the goodness of God to his people, and the tradition that is known as the American Thanksgiving, and as we count our blessings with gratitude to God, we thank you, dear friends, once again for all of your support for Log College Press. It means a great deal to us. We wish each of a very Happy Thanksgiving, and God’s richest blessings to you and yours.
