The First Thanksgiving Everyone knows about Thanksgiving and eating turkey and pie, with a little cranberry sauce. Even though that is not what the pilgrims and Indians really did on the first Thanksgiving. Most elementary schools teach about how the pilgrims and Indians were friends. That they wore nice clothing, and ate at a giant table all together with a cornucopia in front of them. That is not really what happened; they probably did not have a table or pretty clothes. They ate what they had, not anything that they wanted. The schools don’t really portray what actually happened on the first thanksgiving. The trip on the Mayflower wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, it was harsh. The ship took off from Plymouth with 102 pilgrims in the year of 1620. This wasn’t any short trip; it took 66 long days to reach Cape Cod. When they arrived it was winter, so most people stayed on the ship. Only about half of the original passengers survived until spring. In March they moved on to the land and received a greeting from an Abenaki Indian. Later in the month he brought Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe. Squanto ended up teaching the pilgrims how to do many things such as cultivate the corn, gather sap from trees, catch fish, and be aware of poisonous plants. The Pilgrims had a rough start to their amazing …show more content…
In 1621 the Indians taught the pilgrims how to plant and grow crops so they wouldn’t starve. After the growing came the harvesting, it was a success. They had finally done it and would not starve through the winter. The feast or thanksgiving is all about how the pilgrims had their first successful corn harvest and had plenty of food to gather and share. They shared this feast with the Indians and their leader Massasoit. The first thanksgiving lasted three whole days. It wasn’t until 1863 that Abraham Lincoln made it a national holiday know as Thanksgiving. (History.com Staff,