FIRST THANKSGIVING

1st Thanksgiving Food
Food served during the three-day festival was nothing like the dinner table menu many are used to today on Thanksgiving Day. The pilgrim tables didn't overflow with desserts of cakes and pies, partly because their sugar supplies would have been depleted. Edward Winslow, the pilgrim chronicler, wrote in a journal that the governor sent a contingent of men to hunt fowl for the feast. The Native Americans arrived with five deer to be dressed, cooked and served for the feast. Winslow's journal also lists other food eaten, such as fish and cornmeal, at what later became known as the first American Thanksgiving Day celebration. It is thought that the pilgrims used only knives and spoons to eat their feast, assuming that they brought the utensils with them from Europe

Thanksgiving celebration
The pilgrims gave thanks to the Native Americans for all their assistance in helping the colony survive and to God for leading them to the new land. That celebration and the day of Thanksgiving two years later began the practice, especially in New England states, of holding a day of thanksgiving each year. Finally, in 1863, President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a recognized national holiday.

First Thanksgiving facts
The Mayflower left England September 1620 and headed for a land where the 102 passengers would be free to worship the dictates of their faith. These pilgrims established their new home on the site of an old Indian village. As they struggled to survive, local Indians, including Squanto, the last member of the Patuxet tribe, proved invaluable. To celebrate a good harvest in thanks to God and the Native Americans, the pilgrims held what has become known as the first American thanksgiving celebration.

5 FACTS ABOUT THANKSGIVING

• It was not until 1941, that congress declared Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
• That the Dallas Cowboys play every Thanksgiving.
• The Plymouth Pilgrims were the first to celebrate the Thanksgiving.
• They sailed on the ship, which was known by the name of 'Mayflower'.
• They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

My websites that gave me info
eHow.com,education.com, History.com, news.national geographic.com