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Thanksgiving — the Real Story
From 1524 to 1621. And what happened in 1622!
Did the feast in the above painting really happen?
This Thanksgiving scene was painted in 1914 by Jennie A. Brownscombe. It is a romantic, idealized representation of that “First” Thanksgiving in 1621.
Listen to this interview: 🎧 https://bit.ly/HbN-S4-Thanksgiving
For starters, the 1621 Plymouth Thanksgiving was not the First Thanksgiving. Two years earlier, the English had held thanksgiving services in Virginia. It’s noteworthy that the persistent rivalry between MA and VA for the honor of having hosted the First Thanksgiving continued for centuries and eventually became the subject of a 1963 White House Proclamation by President Kennedy.
Neither MA or VA, however, were the First Thanksgiving in America. Decades before the English, the Spanish had held thanksgiving services in Florida and Texas.
So yes. There was a 1621 Thanksgiving feast in Plymouth, MA, but it was nothing like what you see in the painting above. For starters, the “Pilgrims” and “Indians” ate eel as well as turkey —…
