History of Thanksgiving For Kids

Imagine yourself sitting around a big bonfire the year is 16 21 and you have spent the last year traveling from Europe to America on a boat the trip was very hard when your family arrived in the new world you faced a very hard winter you lived on the boat for The winter along with other passengers was very cold and there was not much to eat, but all that has changed while you sit waiting you see that people are cooking a great feast you smell the meat and vegetables cooking, it makes your mouth water, the cooks They include people from Europe that you are on the ship with and Native Americans who have come to celebrate with you.

It's the first Thanksgiving celebration in the United States and you're ready to eat. Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the United States and other countries. But how did this festival begin? Where did it start and why does the story begin in 1620 when a small ship called the Mayflower left England on board there were 102 passengers, they were all people of different religions who did not feel welcome in Europe and wanted to leave? to find a new home where they could practice their religion freely, there were also people on board who were excited about the idea of ​​buying land they couldn't afford in Europe, they hoped to find a new life and become rich in the new world.

Mayflower made a long and difficult journey across the Atlantic Ocean lasting 66 days and they finally landed on Cape Cod, this was much further north than where they expected to land, which was at the mouth of the Hudson River, a month later Mayflower traveled to massachusetts bay and the travelers landed or arrived and came ashore decided to settle or make a home in the area and began to build a town now called plymouth the people who began to build the settlement were called pilgrims pilgrim means a traveler or settler in a new land the pilgrims in plymouth did not have time to build houses to live in before the first winter came the winter was very cold and hard so most of the pilgrims stayed on the mayflower ship during the winter they were hungry and cold living on the ship Many people developed scurvy, which occurs when they do not eat enough fruits or vegetables.

Many also contracted diseases that spread easily among crowded living conditions. At the end of winter, only half of the Mayflower's original 102 passengers were still alive in that March spring of 1621. The people who were still alive got off the ship and came ashore to begin building their homes as they settled in. On the shore, an Abunaki Native American came and greeted them in English. Everyone was surprised to see that he was friendly and that he spoke English. A few days later he returned with another Native American named Squanto years before Squanto was kidnapped by the English and taken to England, but then he returned to America and could now speak English.

Squanto became friends with the pilgrims and could see that they needed help. A small group of about 50 people were weak and hungry and many of them were sick. Squanto felt bad for them, so he taught the pilgrims how to grow corn, how to fish in the rivers, and how to extract sap from maples. Squanto also helped the Pilgrim settlers to form an alliance with a local native tribe the Wampanoag. An alliance is a bond or union between two groups that agree to support each other. Later that year, in the fall of 1621, the first corn harvest of the pilgrims was successful, they had plenty of corn and we were able to eat the group's governor William Bradford organized a party to celebrate the harvest he invited all the pilgrims in the community and their Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit the party lasted three days While no one wrote down exactly what they ate, we know it was an incredible feast for the time and probably included chicken, venison, corn, lobster, seal, shellfish, and possibly turkey.

This holiday is now remembered as America's first Thanksgiving. The pilgrims probably didn't call it that because they wouldn't have. They knew that this party would become a holiday. They also played and had fun during the three days with their guests. They considered this celebration a way of giving thanks to God and nature for the harvest and the alliance with the Wampanoag people, the dishes that the pilgrims prepared. The preparations were probably made using traditional Native American spices and cooking methods. The Pilgrims did not have an oven and the supply of sugar on the Mayflower had been exhausted before the fall of 1621, so the meal included no cakes, pastries or desserts, but the people were happy.

They had a harvest meal and a feast and were happy that their nutrition and health had improved compared to last year and especially because they were still alive, that is a lot to be thankful for because the pilgrims celebrated their second

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celebration in the autumn of 1623 and the between two years there was a long drought a drought is a long period of time in which it does not rain, so everything dries up or does not grow due to the drought there was no harvest in the autumn of 1622 and the People were very hungry in 1623, agriculture had become good again and everyone celebrated as they had before, the practice of fasting or not eating for a period of time, followed by a large celebration of

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and began to become a common practice in other New England settlements outside of Plymouth and later, during the American Revolution, the government designated a couple of days of thanksgiving a year in 1789.

George Washington issued the first thanksgiving proclamation. In his speech he asked Americans to show that they were grateful for the happy ending to the War of Independence. who had just won and the new constitution or written framework for the structure and order of the country rules other presidents after george washington also designated a couple of days of thanksgiving to remember these events in 1817, new york became in the first state to have an official Thanksgiving holiday. After that, other states began to adopt their own Thanksgiving holiday and each was celebrated on a different day; However, the tradition had not spread to the South and most southern states did not hear of thanksgiving for a long time.

A woman decided that she wanted to change. this wanted to make thanksgiving a national holiday her name was sarah josepha hale she was a writer and wrote many articles and books and even wrote the song mary had a little lamb sarah started a campaign to make thanksgiving a national holiday and worked on this For 36 years, a campaign is a planned effort to make something happen or change, he published articles in newspapers and sent letters to politicians. Their efforts finally paid off when Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863 and scheduled it to be celebrated on the last Thursday.

In November, Sarah was ever since known as the Mother of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was celebrated annually or once a year, and on this day until 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday forward a week to help stores make money during the Great Depression. However, people did not like the change and moved it to the original date of 1941, although the original Thanksgiving celebrations were to celebrate the end of the American War of Independence and the new constitution. The modern American Thanksgiving is quite different now the celebrations center around cooking. a turkey and sharing a hearty meal with family and friends, while turkeys are the main dish in most American homes for Thanksgiving, it may not have actually been on the menu for the first day of Thanksgiving. thanksgiving of the pilgrims.

Today, more than 90 percent of Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving and there. There are many different ways people prepare it, most like to cook it in the oven, but some people fry it or smoke it or find a variety of other ways to make the turkey dish new and interesting. Other traditional foods Americans eat this holiday include stuffing or dressing, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, all of which are seasonal foods for that time of year. Another common Thanksgiving tradition is volunteering. Many people spend Thanksgiving day volunteering in their communities, including holding food drives to collect food. for the poor or hosting free dinners for people who are struggling, parades have also become an important part of the Thanksgiving holiday in cities and towns across the United States.

One of the largest and most famous is the Macy's department store parade in New York City. It began in 1924 and was created to give businesses the opportunity to celebrate the holiday and advertise their store at the same time. Today, many Americans tune in to watch the parade on Thanksgiving. The parade follows a two and a half mile route and features marching bands. performers, floats and giant balloons, although Thanksgiving is a modern American tradition, there are similar annual harvest celebrations that take place around the world and throughout

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, to ancient times, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans Thanksgiving for the fall harvest also has much in common with the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot, and Native Americans have a long tradition of celebrating the fall harvest. with banquets and parties.

These traditions are older than the American Thanksgiving of 1621, so they may have had an influence on the idea of ​​having a feast. Does your family celebrate Thanksgiving? If so, what are some of your favorite family traditions when eating during the holidays this year? Think back to the first American Thanksgiving in Plymouth. How do you think it would have been different? What are some of the Things you are grateful for this year, however you plan to celebrate, we at Bedtime History wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.