The Surprising Story of the First Thanksgiving

Commentary from Daniel Davis and Katrina Trinko on The Daily Signal.com:

Thanksgiving is a special day in this country, not just because of the turkey and football and relatives, but also because of the historical memory that lies at the heart of it. The story of the Pilgrims and the Indians is our national story, which means we’d better get it right. To do that, we had the honor of speaking with Robert Tracy McKenzie over the phone.

Dr. McKenzie is professor of American history at Wheaton College, where he serves as chairman of the history department, and is author of the book “The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells Us About Loving God and Learning from History.” Here’s a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.

Daniel Davis: Dr. McKenzie, I think all of us have seen and grown up with those pictures of the Pilgrims eating a nice, big turkey Thanksgiving meal, sometimes with the Indians at Plymouth. Give us the straight scoop here—are those pictures accurate?

Tracy McKenzie: Well, I think you know the answer to that, Daniel. The answer is, not very. Most images of that event really date to two to two-and-a-half centuries later. So the late 19th century is when most of those images really began to crystallize.
If I were going to try to very briefly describe for you what I think the setting would’ve looked like at the time, it would probably sound to you a lot more like maybe a Fourth of July barbecue or something like that. It would’ve been outdoors, the Pilgrims had almost no furniture to speak of in 1621, so we would imagine them sitting on the ground. They’d be eating with their hands, because they had very few utensils—it would’ve been uncommon for them to have really anything more than a knife. And certainly not a fork—those weren’t really in use much among common people at that time.

So they’re sitting on the ground, they’re eating with their hands, and they’re consuming copious quantities of a meat of some kind. The evidence would say, lots of water fowl, which is something the record does suggest. No specific reference to turkeys with regard to the celebration. But we know from other sources that in the autumn, the sky would just grow dark with the geese and ducks and swans and herons and cranes, all of which could have been on the menu.

Most of the side dishes that we would expect would not have been there. Sweet potatoes weren’t indigenous to the area. There were lots of cranberries but no sugar, so if you wanted to have a really tart side dish, I suppose you could. They wouldn’t have had pumpkin pie. They almost certainly had stewed pumpkin, but they didn’t have sugar, they didn’t have flower for crust, and they didn’t have ovens to bake pies in. So that wouldn’t have been there either.

They also might have had eel—I’ll just add that because they bragged very much about the fat and juicy eels available in the area. And with regard to vegetables, their most common vegetables would’ve been turnips and maybe cabbages and carrots. So I always say for a more authentic Thanksgiving meal, I’ll sit on the ground and have turnips and eel. [read more]

Another article about Thanksgiving: Squanto and the Providence of God

Heavenly Father, I am forever thankful for Your Holy Spirit Who resides within my heart to lead me in any circumstance. As I prepare my heart for Thanksgiving Day among friends and family, I ask You to anoint me with a heart and mouth of Thanksgiving. I will thank You first, then live the day showing Your words of thankfulness to others. I truly know that I am blessed, and I want others to feel and share that heart of thanksgiving. Praise and Thanksgiving to You, my Father. In Jesus' name, Amen.