First Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims who had migrated to America had a grand feast in 1621, after their first harvest, and it is this feast which people often refer to as "The First Thanksgiving". As this feast was never repeated so it can't be called the beginning of a tradition. The colonists did not call it a Thanksgiving Feast. In fact, to these piously religious people, a day of thanksgiving was a day of prayer and fasting, and would have been held any time that they felt an extra day of thanks was called for. Yet, the 1621 feast has become a landmark that we think of for our own Thanksgiving celebration.