Thanksgiving: The Real Story

Where it really comes from

Thanksgiving was always about thanking God. The Pilgrims' 1621 harvest feast with the Wampanoag, described in a letter by Edward Winslow, credits "the goodness of God." In 1789 George Washington proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving "to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being" who is "the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be." In 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln made it a yearly holiday, calling Americans to give thanks "to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." He did it after years of letters from Sarah Josepha Hale, a writer and editor who campaigned for it.

What people say vs. what history shows

Myth: “Thanksgiving is just about food, family, and football.”

Solid: nearly all historians agree.

Those are good things, but every official proclamation that created the holiday called Americans to thank God. Lincoln's proclamation also asked the nation for "humble penitence" and to pray for widows, orphans, and the suffering.

Myth: “Thanksgiving began as a celebration of the 1637 massacre of the Pequot people.”

Solid: nearly all historians agree.

The 1637 massacre was real and terrible, and colonial leaders did declare a day of thanksgiving after it. But the national holiday doesn't come from that event. Colonists held many separate days of thanksgiving, for harvests, rain, and victories, and the holiday we keep today comes from Washington's and Lincoln's proclamations. Being honest about the wrongs of the past matters, and so does getting the history right.

The customs, honestly

• Saying grace (Christian origin): Thanking God before the meal is the original heart of the day.
• The turkey dinner (Folk custom): A 19th-century American tradition, encouraged by Sarah Josepha Hale's magazine.
• Football (Folk custom): Thanksgiving football began in the late 1800s. Not religious, but fun.

For kids

Thanksgiving is a day to say "thank you" to God for everything he gives us: food, family, and most of all, Jesus!

Talk about it

Go around the table: what is one thing God did for you this year that you're thankful for?

Read it in the Bible

Psalm 100 · 1 Thessalonians 5:18 · 2 Corinthians 9:15 · Psalm 107:1

Sources

• Edward Winslow, letter of December 11, 1621 (in Mourt's Relation)
• George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3, 1789
• Abraham Lincoln, Proclamation of Thanksgiving, October 3, 1863