History of Thanksgiving Day: Turkey Was Not Part of The First Celebration

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Long before Thanksgiving day was declared as an official holiday in North America, people set aside a day of giving thanks. Often it was after the harvest and was a day of thanksgiving for plentiful food.

The earliest record of harvest thanksgiving feast is in the Bible in the Book of Leviticus. The Israelites were to hold the Feast of the Tabernacles on the 15th day of the 7th month, after gathering the crops. The people were to live in booths made of branches to remind them of the days they lived in tents in the wilderness. This celebration lasted eight days, and the people were instructed to praise God during this time.

Many countries have adopted an annual day of giving thanks. The Feast of St. Michael, or Michaelmas, began in the Roman Empire in the 400s A.D. or (C.E.) when St. Michael was the patron saint of the knights. It was celebrated in Western churches on September 29 after the harvest. Eating cooked goose on this day was believed to protect against financial distress in the coming year.

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England celebrated a Harvest Home Festival with a special supper after the last load of the harvest was safely stored. The village churches were decorated with autumn flowers, and sheaves of wheat and barley were twisted into bouquets. A loaf of bread made from the new wheat was placed on the altar. The main food for the meal was roast beef.

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Long before the Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving in the New World, the Native Americans celebrated their own harvest with a feast. And English settlers in Newfoundland held their harvest festival 43 years before the Pilgrim’s day of thanksgiving.

The Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving wouldn’t seem like a big feast today, but the Pilgrims were thankful to have enough food to survive the winter. Thanksgiving lasted three days. The Native American people brought five deer to add to the duck, goose, and eels the Pilgrim hunters had supplied. Although turkey was abundant, there is no record that any was eaten during that celebration.

There is a long tradition in the world of giving thanks for our blessings. Each family has its own special way of celebrating the day.