The first winter after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620 was so devastating that by the beginning of Fall of 1621 they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest for the first year was a bountiful one, so the remaining colonists decided to have a thanksgiving celebration with a feast. They invited 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive the first year. The Pilgrims might not have made it through the first year without the help of the Indians. The three-day Thanksgiving feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance.

The Thanksgiving feast in 1621 was not repeated the following year. But two years later, in 1623, the pilgrims experienced a severe drought so they gathered in a Thanksgiving prayer service, praying for rain. The next day a long, steady rain followed so Governor Bradford proclaimed another day of Thanksgiving, and invited the local Indians again. It was not until June 1676 that Thanksgiving was proclaimed a holiday. In 1789, George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving, although some were opposed to it, saying that the hardships of a few Pilgrims did not warrant a national Thanksgiving holiday. Many held this opinion and even President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of having a day of thanksgiving.

Typical Thanksgiving items like pumpkin pie was probably not included in the first Thanksgiving feast. Their flour had been long exhausted, so there was no bread or pastries. But the pilgrims did eat boiled pumpkin and produced a type of fried bread from their corn crop. Since there were no domestic cattle or dairy products, they also had no milk, potatoes, cider or butter, and the newly discovered potato was still considered to be poisonous by many Europeans. But the Thanksgiving feast did include fish, venison, watercress, dried fruit, berries, lobster, clams and plums.

Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, eventually led the efforts to recognize what we now know as Thanksgiving. Hale wrote many articles promoting her Thanksgiving cause in magazines, books and newspapers. And, after a 40 year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale's Thanksgiving obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national holiday for Thanksgiving.

Every president has proclaimed Thanksgiving after Lincoln, although the Thanksgiving date was changed a couple of times. President Franklin Roosevelt changed the date of Thanksgiving one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. However, the public was so against this decision, he moved Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November. Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!