The First Thanksgiving | History | Holidays | Little Fox | Animated Stories for Kids

the

first

thanksgiving

hello i am mary chilton and i am one of the original pilgrims who survived a year of famine to celebrate the

first

thanksgiving

in the new world after arriving in the new world the first thing we had to do it was to write a document that would guide our new society the men met and wrote the mayflower compact each man who had traveled aboard the mayflower signed the agreement on november 21, 1620. shortly after the mayflower compact was signed the men went scouting to find a place where we could build our new homes after several days they returned to the mayflower with some corn they had found we think we will find a place to settle soon they said hopefully we were relieved oh thank the lord we said later After six more weeks of exploration our men sent word that they had found a place to settle the December 31st 1620 was our first chance to see the place we would call home we called it plymouth the weather in january was bad but the men worked hard to cut logs for the settlement first they built a common house to store our tools furniture and supplies then they built houses the work was slow because many people were sick and more than half died in the great disease that winter my family was one of the hardest hit i lost both my father and mother my father was the oldest pilgrim to make the trip to the new world and she died very quickly my mother was a very strong woman but she also died i know in my heart that she died because she wanted me to live she always made sure i ate first she would give me some of her food because there really wasn't enough food for all of us to eat by winter's end more than half of those who had crossed in the mayflower had died but the older women were hardest hit only five of the original 18 married women aboard the mayflower survived even though i was now an orphan with no mother or father the other pilgrims took me in and treated me kindly with so many women dead i found myself busier than ever i had to help to cook and wash clothes for the men and children who had lost their wives and mothers in March 1621 a native american came to our town his name was samoset he entered the town shouting welcome welcome english even though it was a very cold day and windy samosa was naked except for a cloth around his waist and moccasins on his feet the men talked to samuset for a long time samuel said he left the next day after promising to return soon after several days samosa if he returned with another native american who amazed us all with his impeccable english his name was squanto and he said he was the last surviving member of the patuset te squanto stayed with us all spring and summer taught our men to hunt and fish taught the women how to plant and grow corn squash and beans squanto helped us make friends with neighboring tribes with your help we signed a treaty from peace with king massasoit we learned that our seeds of england d didn't grow very well in the new world, but Squanto showed us that if we planted our seeds with herring, they would grow.

Squanto and other Native Americans also helped us with their crops with his help. Our corn, squash and beans did very well that year to celebrate our bountiful harvest we invited the great Masasoid king and his advisers to our village the festivities lasted three days we ate duck turkey deer clams lobster and many kinds of fish there were many berries nuts and various kinds of fruit but the best dish of all was an Indian pudding made from pumpkin and sweetened with syrup from a maple tree. We thank God for the success of our harvest and for the kindness of the Native Americans who taught us the skills we needed to survive.