Buzz
With Thanksgiving arriving tomorrow, instead of posting this list on the holiday itself, it makes more sense to share it today, equipping you with some myth-busting knowledge to discuss with your friends and family!
Nearly everything American children have been taught about the first Thanksgiving is inaccurate. This doesn't mean teachers intentionally misled their students—they were likely taught the same misinformation. Unfortunately, history is often presented in a way that distorts the actual events, and as a result, what we know about Thanksgiving today is largely a myth.
Thanksgiving is celebrated annually in the United States, and many other countries have their own versions of the holiday. But how well do you actually understand the origins of the first one? After all, there was no United States back then, so why do we commemorate it now? There are plenty of intriguing details about that first celebration, but here are some of the most interesting ones you may have wrongly believed.
10. The Pilgrims Set Sail From England to the New World
To begin with, none of the settlers aboard the Mayflower, or at the first Thanksgiving, identified as Pilgrims. The term 'Pilgrim' wasn’t associated with them until the late 1800s. Back then, they referred to themselves as Brownists, Saints, or more frequently as Separatists due to their disagreements with the Church of England. Their journey was driven by their belief that the Church of England contradicted the core biblical teachings of true Christians. Since the Church of England was the established religion in their homeland, the Separatists faced the harsh choice of fleeing or being accused of treason.
Initially, the Separatists didn’t head straight for the New World. Instead, after the execution of several of their leaders, many fled England to seek refuge in Holland. They spent about a decade there, but as time passed, the challenges of aging and unemployment posed a serious threat to their survival. Eventually, they petitioned for land in the New World, north of Virginia, which they named New England. In September 1620, they set sail aboard the Mayflower, joined by 102 passengers, and arrived in December to settle in Plymouth, on land previously known as Patuxet.
9. The Feast in 1621 Wasn't Known as 'Thanksgiving' Back Then
When people talk about the first Thanksgiving in the fall of 1621, they often misunderstand the nature of the event. For starters, the Pilgrims didn’t think of it as a 'Thanksgiving' in the way we do today. In the 17th century, the term 'Thanksgiving' referred to a solemn day of prayer and reflection, not a feast. While some aspects of the feast might align with what we think of as Thanksgiving, neither the attendees nor the society at the time would have called it that.
The feast lasted three days, but it didn’t become an official holiday until over 200 years later. Thanksgiving had previously been a religious observance celebrated at various times and places. It wasn’t until President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation during the Civil War that Thanksgiving was formalized as the final Thursday of November. His aim was to unite the nation and to bring together 'fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands.'
8. The First Thanksgiving Was Not Actually the First Thanksgiving
In retrospect, people began referring to the 1621 harvest celebration as the 'first Thanksgiving' because it seemed similar to their own modern celebrations. However, it wasn’t truly the first, nor was it a traditional Thanksgiving feast. The Pilgrims and the Wampanoags gathered to share a harvest feast, which was more of a harvest festival, a practice common across many cultures. Native Americans had been celebrating harvests for centuries, and similarly, the English and many other cultures worldwide had similar traditions.
Another common misconception about Thanksgiving is its timing. Thanksgiving in the United States is celebrated in November, but this was not the time for harvest celebrations in most cultures. The 1621 feast likely took place in September or early October, not November. The Pilgrims' feast mainly featured vegetables from their harvest. Although President George Washington informally declared a Thanksgiving in November in 1789, it wasn’t until Lincoln made it an official federal holiday nearly a century later that the day became a nationwide observance.
7. The Tradition of Turkey at Thanksgiving
No Thanksgiving meal is complete without turkey, which has become the hallmark of the holiday feast. Whether roasted, fried, or even stuffed with a duck, turkey is the centerpiece—although Tofurky is not quite the same! Despite turkey’s current status as the Thanksgiving bird, it’s unlikely that it appeared at the first feast. The Pilgrims didn’t have an oven for roasting, and while we don’t know everything they ate, historical records confirm that Native Americans brought venison—five deer—but no turkeys. Though turkeys were common in the region, there’s no direct evidence that they were part of the 1621 meal.
Many of the foods we associate with Thanksgiving today were not present at the first feast. For example, there were no apples, pears, sweet potatoes, or pies because the settlers lacked ingredients like flour and butter. Turkey became a central part of Thanksgiving only after Abraham Lincoln made it an official holiday. Before that, neither the bird nor the Pilgrims were part of Thanksgiving traditions. It wasn’t until 1863, when New England’s culinary influences spread across the country, that turkey became the symbol of the Thanksgiving meal.
6. Native Americans Were Part of the Celebration, but Not Invited
One of the most well-known aspects of the Thanksgiving story is the presence of about 90 Wampanoag Native Americans. In nearly every retelling—especially in early education materials—the story suggests the Pilgrims invited the local tribe to join them in celebration. This narrative highlights unity and neighborly spirit, but in reality, the invitation was less clear. While the Natives were indeed welcomed and joined in the feast, there’s no historical evidence suggesting they were specifically invited by the Pilgrims. They had a significant role in helping the Pilgrims with farming, which made their participation important but not necessarily based on an invitation.
History provides conflicting accounts of what really happened at the feast. Some stories suggest that about 90 Wampanoag, hearing gunshots from the settlers, came to investigate, possibly even preparing to engage in battle. However, regardless of their original intent, they were welcomed by the settlers. Some speculate that Massasoit, the Wampanoag leader, may have been there on a diplomatic mission, though this remains unverified. Regardless, historical records don’t support the idea of a formal invitation being extended.
5. The First Thanksgiving Was a Celebration of Cooperation
Each November, as families gather around the table to celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s a tradition to share what they’re thankful for. While it’s possible the colonists did something similar, their version of the harvest celebration was likely a much more somber event. Upon their arrival in the New World, the passengers aboard the Mayflower endured a brutal winter, staying aboard the ship for survival. Of the original passengers, half perished, and out of the 19 women who boarded, only five made it through the harsh conditions.
The Wampanoag people played a crucial role in helping the settlers survive by teaching them essential skills like hunting local wildlife, fishing, and cultivating corn, beans, and squash. The two groups communicated through an English-speaking Abenaki, Samoset, who facilitated an alliance between the settlers and the local tribe. While there was certainly much gratitude during the occasion, the survivors were mostly thankful for their lives after losing so many. However, it’s important to note that the friendship between the Natives and Pilgrims wasn’t a focal point of the celebration; it was more of a happy accident than a planned alliance.
4. The Pilgrims Didn’t Wear All-Black and Buckles Everywhere
In nearly every portrayal of the Pilgrims, they are shown dressed entirely in black, with buckles on their hats, belts, and shoes. This iconic image is mostly a result of 19th-century Victorian romanticism. The Pilgrims’ supposed all-black attire has been tied to their puritanical ideals, but the reality was quite different. Women wore long-sleeved white undergarments beneath a petticoat and dress, which could be any color, from violet to green, blue, or red, depending on what fabric they had access to.
Men typically wore a white collared shirt underneath a doublet, which could be black, blue, brown, or other dark colors. They also wore breeches or knee-length stockings with shoes made of leather, often brown. While modern depictions emphasize bright colors and buckles, the Pilgrims didn’t follow this trend. Buckles may have been on their belts, but not on their hats or shoes, as commonly imagined.
3. The Pilgrims Came Together at Thanksgiving After Facing Multiple Conflicts
While the Native American Wampanoag Tribe endured significant hardships in the years following the first Thanksgiving, modern portrayals of the event tend to cast their relationship with the Pilgrims in an entirely negative light. Although the two groups later found themselves embroiled in the Pequot War, prior to that, they lived in relative peace. The Wampanoag assisted the Pilgrims in building their homes and even guided them to the best fishing spots, which is how cod ended up on the menu during the three-day feast we now recognize as the first Thanksgiving.
In fact, not only did the Pilgrims and Wampanoags coexist peacefully during the early 1620s, they also established a formal peace treaty. Ousamequin, the Wampanoag leader (known as Massasoit to the Pilgrims), negotiated the agreement with key terms: neither group would harm members of the other, any stolen items would be returned with punishment carried out by the respective communities, weapons would be left behind during meetings, and the two groups would support each other in times of war. Although the peace was eventually broken, it remained intact before, during, and for many years after the first Thanksgiving.
2. The Pilgrims Were A Devout and Strongly Religious Community
Today, we often picture the Pilgrims as strict puritans, a deeply conservative society, but this is a misconception more suited to the Puritans of the 19th century. In the 17th century, Puritans weren’t as rigid as often portrayed, and their lifestyle was far from that of a joyless religious sect. As historian George F. Willison stated, “The Sabbatarian, antiliquor, and antisex attitudes usually attributed to the Puritans are a nineteenth-century addition to the much more moderate and wholesome view of life’s evils held by the early settlers of New England.”
Life for the Pilgrims was undeniably tough and demanded a lot of hard work, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t enjoy themselves. Contrary to some depictions, they weren’t opposed to marital relations, nor did they wear dull, colorless clothing at all times. Whenever the opportunity arose, they relished in singing and dancing, and when things were going well, they celebrated with a feast. This practice became an integral part of modern Thanksgiving traditions. While their lifestyle may not have matched our current perceptions, they certainly knew how to throw a good party when the moment allowed.
1. The First Thanksgiving Took Place Outdoors, Not in a Log Cabin
When the Pilgrims and Native Americans shared their meal during the so-called first Thanksgiving, they did so outdoors. Many illustrations show them feasting inside or in front of a log cabin, but log cabins didn’t exist in the 17th century, at least not in the way we think of them today. The English hadn’t encountered them, and there are no records of log cabins being present until the 1770s. If you visit Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts today, you’ll see the type of dwelling the Pilgrims actually lived in, and it wasn’t a log cabin.
Instead of log cabins, the Pilgrims mastered the art of building wooden clapboard houses made from sawed lumber. Their roofs were constructed with tightly packed thatch to protect against sun, wind, and rain. They used grasses and reeds from local marshes, bundling them together and layering them on the roof. Similarly, their walls were made from a framework of small sticks called wattle, which they plastered with a mixture of clay, mud, and grass to create a smooth, sheetrock-like surface. For the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims and Native Americans ate outside, enjoying their meal at tables under the open sky.
