Thanksgiving, explained

A Thanksgiving meal was celebrated in Virginia in 1619

Although the Pilgrims' meal with the Wampanoag is often cited as "the first Thanksgiving," historians note a meal intended to mark "a day of thanksgiving to Almighty god" was celebrated by early settlers three years earlier. President John F. Kennedy acknowledged the day in his 1963 Thanksgiving proclamation.

Read the only surviving eyewitness account of the first Thanksgiving

Edward Winslow’s short 1621 letter offers the only firsthand account of the first Thanksgiving, describing celebratory gunfire that drew Wampanoag leader Massasoit and 90 men—initially fearing conflict—before the gathering turned into shared feasting.

The first Thanksgiving meal likely featured a venison stew called sobaheg

Agricultural knowledge was vital to the Pilgrims’ survival in a new, unknown land. Explore how to make sobaheg, a Wampanoag venison stew that would likely have been served at the first meal between the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims.

Many myths continue to circulate about the first Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving myth didn’t really start in 1621, argues historian David Silverman in this interview with Smithsonian. Rather, it took hold over 200 years later. During the Civil War, Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln as a way to promote national unity. The tidy story of friendship between Native Americans and colonists was used to quell racial tensions of the late 19th century.

Explore early Thanksgiving documents, from recipes to early proclamations

History buffs will love this trove of original documents related to the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving, including 18th-century recipes, one of Sarah Josepha Hale’s appeals to President Lincoln to establish the national holiday, and a copy of Abraham Lincoln’s original 1863 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. You can also find illustrations and photos of historical Thanksgiving celebrations over the years.

The agricultural history of the pumpkin

Pumpkin pie holds a special place in Thanksgiving traditions, but its journey from everyday produce to a seasonal treat spans over 10,000 years. Trace the history of this oversized fruit with this fascinating dive. Pumpkins belong to the species...

Squanto was a tragic character in the original Thanksgiving story

Tisquantum (also known as Squanto) played a crucial role in the survival of the Pilgrims. As an English speaker, Squanto assisted the Pilgrims in gathering food and communicating with other Native peoples. However, his story also involved being sold into slavery by an English sea captain and returning home to find his tribe decimated by disease during the Great Dying. Tisquantum met his end not long after that first Thanksgiving, with historians speculating he died either by disease or assassination.

The 1621 Pilgrim-Wampanoag peace treaty was the first of its kind

The Wampanoag people, weakened by disease, were at risk of being forcefully subsumed by the neighboring Narragansett tribe. Recognizing an opportunity, the Wampanoag offered the settlers necessary survival skills in exchange for protection through the settlers’ firearms. The treaty remained in place for more than 40 years.

A map of Wampanoag territory in the 17th century

Around the time of the first Thanksgiving, the Wampanoag lived in a broad swath of New England, including Cape Cod and the islands ringing it. This map shows the historic territory of the tribe, complete with the native and contemporary names of towns and villages.

President Abraham Lincoln was inspired by a novel to create the holiday

A writer and abolitionist from New Hampshire, Sarah Josepha Hale was instrumental in cementing many of the Thanksgiving traditions we celebrate today. Her 1852 novel "Northwood, a Tale of New England," described a feast with a roasted turkey, stuffing, plum pudding, and pumpkin pie. She wrote dozens of editorials and letters to politicians campaigning for the day to become a national holiday. In 1863 she was finally successful in convincing President Lincoln to make it official.

Thanksgiving's connection to football began in 1876

It all started with a match between Princeton and Yale in 1876, attended by fewer than 1,000 fans. That competition spawned an annual tradition attracting millions of viewers across college and professional teams.

Turkey likely wasn't served at the first Thanksgiving

There is no record of turkey on that first table, though one account vaguely refers to "fowl." The meal mostly consisted of seafood and venison.

Turkey likely wasn't served at the first Thanksgiving

There is no record of turkey on that first table, though one account vaguely refers to "fowl." The meal mostly consisted of seafood and venison.

The Wampanoag collaborated with the Pilgrims in order to survive

Decades of violence and disease brought by European settlers had devastated local tribes. Up to 75% of the Wampanoag people had been eliminated, leading them to sign the peace treaty to preserve those who remained.

The efforts to save the wild turkey

An essential character in American tradition, the wild turkey is more than just the meat you eat on Thanksgiving. Listen to this four-part miniseries to learn what they symbolize, the long-lasting efforts to preserve this bird, and why their conservation matters.

Reexamine the Thanksgiving story through this interactive game

This interactive experience casts you as a high school journalist uncovering how the Thanksgiving narrative has become simplified. Through animations, maps, primary sources, expert interviews, and text-message riddles, the game turns historical investigation into an engaging, hands-on mystery.

The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in 1924

It was originally intended to promote Macy’s upcoming holiday sales. Although it took place on Thanksgiving Day, the parade was initially called the Macy’s Christmas Parade—the name didn’t change until 1927.

The Wampanoag Nation inhabited the northeastern coast of North America for 12,000 years before European contact killed an estimated two-thirds of their population in a single generation.

Every Thanksgiving, Americans eat over 40 million turkeys

That's 50% of all whole turkeys sold in the US in a given year. (Most of the remaining 50% are purchased for Christmas.)

Oral history and artifacts suggest the Wampanoag inhabited the area for 12,000 years

By 1621, Native Americans had been interacting with European explorers along the coasts for hundreds of years. European adventurers, including Giovanni da Verrazzano, mapped the coastline as early as 1524, as this timeline from the National Museum of the American Indian explains.

Spanish colonists celebrated alongside the Seloy tribe in Florida in 1565

Long before the 1621 meal between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and 800 Spanish settlers founded the city of St. Augustine in Spanish la Florida. They celebrated the founding with a Mass of Thanksgiving with the Indigenous Seloy tribe.

A dive into some of the country's stranger Thanksgivings

How did a raccoon intended for the Thanksgiving dinner table end up a beloved presidential pet? History teacher Sharon McMahon's podcast "Here's Where It Gets Interesting" takes an episode to delve into some of the more unusual Thanksgivings at the White House, including the Great Cranberry Scare of 1959 and the story of Calvin Coolidge and his "first raccoon," Rebecca.

The annual 'turkey pardon' officially began in 1989

President George HW Bush oversaw the first official pardon, but the tradition began years before that. This short video from PBS News explores the history of presidential pardons for the lucky birds. There’s no “fowl” language, but there are plenty of puns!

Cow tongue was once a Thanksgiving delicacy

Cow feet and tongue were sometimes included in mincemeat pies—a popular 18th-century dish. Josefa Hale, who inspired Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a holiday, said they were “indispensable; but [hoped] this rich, expensive, and exceedingly unhealthy diet will be used very sparingly...”

See Harvard’s early history through Indigenous voices

Founded in 1636, Harvard University grew alongside English colonization in Wampanoag lands. In this online exhibit, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology highlights Indigenous voices, interpreting objects such as eel traps and grass baskets.

Halloween originated with the Celtic festival of Samhain

Halloween, a holiday primarily popular in the US and Canada, originated 2,000 years ago with the Celtic people. The Celts interpreted this transition as when ghosts returned to the land of the living, leading to rituals like feasts, bonfires, and wearing costumes made of animal body parts on Oct. 31.

FDR changed the date of Thanksgiving, then changed it back

In the waning years of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attempted to move Thanksgiving up by a week, giving merchants a longer holiday shopping season. After pushback from lawmakers, he reversed course in 1941, permanently fixing the date of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.

Americans consume 8.3 billion calories of turkey on Thanksgiving

Individuals consume an average of 3,150 to 4,500 calories at the meal, which takes the average male 10 hours to burn off.

An estimated 40,000 Wampanoag populated 67 villages in the 1600s

For more than 10,000 years, native Wampanoag people have lived in and around Rhode Island and Massachusetts, especially in the islands known today as Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Roughly 5,000 dwell in the area today, after their numbers declined amid European migration.

The Wrights descended from English-born migrants to Boston in the 1630s

Samuel Wright was a Puritan who arrived in Massachusetts just two decades after the Pilgrims. His great-great-grandson Daniel Wright, born in Connecticut in 1757, fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, seeing action at the Battle of Saratoga.

In 1639, Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony banned toasting

Like the Anglo-Saxons and the ancient Greeks before them, the American colonists tended to party when they got to toasting. That led to a 1639 law banning the practice, which they viewed as excessive and superstitious. Alcohol remained legal, but the hope was that banning toasting might reduce excessive drinking.

In 1939, an industry group asked Franklin Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving

Specifically, the Retail Dry Goods Association warned Franklin Roosevelt that if the holiday season didn’t begin until after Americans celebrated Thanksgiving on the traditional final Thursday in November, retail sales would tank. In 1941 Congress passed a law that made Thanksgiving the fourth rather than the last Thursday in November.

Anglo-Saxons toasted the new year

The lord of a manor toasted his subjects at the start of a new year with the Old English phrase “waes hael,” which roughly translates to “be well.” “Wassailing” involved traveling from house to house, singing songs, and continuing to drink, a practice that eventually influenced caroling.

Learn how the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade comes together each year

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is essentially a huge theatrical production spanning several long blocks in New York City rather than a stage. Naturally, organizing it is a complicated process. This podcast episode explains how the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade comes together each year.

Roger Williams founded the first American colony without an established church

Banished from Massachusetts in 1636 for preaching religious dissent, Williams founded Providence, Rhode Island—one of the earliest governments in the Western world to guarantee broad religious liberty. His phrase "wall of separation" between church and state directly influenced Jefferson and the Constitution's framers.

A timeline of colonial settlement

An overview of early American settlement, beginning with the London Company's expedition to Virginia. Source includes a number of citations for further reading.

From seed to pumpkin, a 3-minute time-lapse

Pumpkins are atypically enormous winter squashes, meaning they are harvested in the fall and then remain edible throughout winter. See how it all happens with this mesmerizing, music-backed time-lapse showcasing a pumpkin's 120-day journey from...

Leaving cookies for Santa became popular in America during the Great Depression.

Americans celebrated the end of the Revolutionary War with nationwide toasts

In 1783, citizens celebrated the signing of the Preliminary Articles of Peace with nationwide parties. Across the new country, many made 13 toasts to the 13 states. They also drank to George Washington. One poet in Boston wrote, “Health to his honor I’d freely drink, Had I a glass of wine; And whosoever with me shall think, May mix their toast with mine.”

King Philip's War devastated Native resistance in colonial New England.

Hanukkah wasn’t always a major Jewish holiday

In the 1800s, Jewish immigrants to the United States began searching for ways to maintain their cultural identity in an overwhelmingly Christian environment. Because Hanukkah often falls around the same time as Christmas, Jewish congregations began adapting Christmastime traditions like gift giving to their own holiday.

The Easter Bunny traces to German folklore, not ancient paganism

The rabbit's connection to Easter is well-documented from the 17th century onward, but the deeper origins remain unclear (particularly why a mammal that does not lay eggs became the egg-loving holiday's secular mascot). German immigrants brought the tradition in the 1700s, introducing the mythical egg-laying rabbit known as the "Osterhase," whose nests became the Easter basket.

The Archaic period marked Native Americans' shift from big-game hunting to foraging

Beginning around 8000 B.C.E., Indigenous peoples began relying on diverse food sources—including wild game, plants, seeds, and fish—and moved away from large-mammal hunting. Archaeological findings from this era suggest some communities began cultivating crops and establishing irrigation systems, indicating a shift toward less-nomadic lifestyles.

Native Americans developed pottery and religion, and experienced population growth during the Woodland period

Between 500 B.C.E. and 1100 C.E., Indigenous peoples produced pottery and practiced animism, a spiritual worldview in which animals, plants, and natural forces are believed to possess sacred power. They moved seasonally to make the most of available resources.

The first Boston Marathon was held the next year

In 1897, the manager of the US Olympic team organized the first Boston Marathon, which featured a field of 15 runners. The race took place on Patriots Day, a holiday commemorating the first battles of the American Revolution.

The Founding Fathers were divided in their reactions to the Boston Tea Party.

Santa Claus is the result of centuries of evolving traditions

Originating from Saint Nicholas, a 4th-century bishop celebrated for his generosity, Santa's story merged with European folk legends like Sinterklaas and Father Christmas. By the 1800s, American culture redefined him, thanks to Clement Clarke Moore’s poem "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and Thomas Nast’s illustrations.

The story of pizza in the United States

Pizza is a big deal in the US, and it has many proud regional iterations. From Chicago deep dish to New York thin crust, this video takes a slice out of US history to focus on this beloved entree. Begin with the documented first incidence of pizza in the US—believed to be by Gennaro Lombardi—and end with how old Pizza Huts are being converted around the country.

The common 'Three Sisters' mound-planting system used by natives

In the 17th century, Native Americans cultivated a three-plant combination of corn, beans, and squash—a symbiotic tradition dating back hundreds of years. The corn allowed the beans to climb, the beans fertilized the plants by extracting nitrogen from the air, and the squash leaves protected the soil and preserved moisture. Learn more about the tradition here.

Spanish conquistadors encountered barbecue in the 16th century and called it 'barbacoa.'