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

the

first

thanksgiving

hello I'm mary chilton and I'm 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 was 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 exploring 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 told us hopefully we were relieved oh thank the lord we said after six more weeks of exploring our men sent word that they had found a place to settle on December 31, 1620 it 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 illness that winter, my family was one of the most affected, I lost my father and my mother, my father was the oldest pilgrim to make the trip to the new world and he 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 Let me eat first give me some of their food because there really wasn't enough food for all of us to eat at the end of the winter, more than half of those who had crossed the mayflower had died, but the older women were the hardest hit, only five of them The original 18 married women aboard the Mayflower survived although I was now an orphan without a mother or father.

The other pilgrims took me in and treated me kindly with so many dead women that I found myself busier than ever. I had to help with cooking and laundry 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 came into town shouting welcome welcome English even though he was a Very cold and windy day, 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 shortly after several days.

Samosa 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 patusette squanto stayed with us all spring and summer taught our men to hunt and fish taught the women to plant and grow corn, squash and beans Squanto helped us make friends with neighboring tribes. With his help we signed a peace treaty with King Massasoit. We learned that our seeds from England did not grow very well in the new world, but Squanto showed us that if we planted our seeds with herring, then they grew squanto and other Native Americans also helped us with their crops with their help to our corn, squash and beans did very well that year to celebrate our abundant harvest we invited the great king Massasoid and his advisors to our town the festivities lasted three days We ate duck, turkey, venison, clams, lobster and many types of fish.

There were many berries, nuts, and various kinds of fruit, but the best dish of all was an Indian pudding made with pumpkin and sweetened with maple syrup. 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, oh you.