Tracy McKenzie, Justin Taylor, and Thomas Kidd on Thanksgiving

One-on-One with Tracy McKenzie on the Truth about Thanksgiving and What It Means for Us Today

The Pilgrims did not think of their autumn 1621 celebration as a Thanksgiving Day as much as a kind of harvest festival. Read More

The Original Thanksgiving Menu in the Fall of 1621

A lot of myths have come to surround the original Thanksgiving. Read More

Not All Turkey and Touchdowns

The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony weren’t the first Europeans to settle in North America, nor were they the first permanent English colonists. But because of our annual celebration of Thanksgiving, and our hazy images of their 1621 meal with Native Americans, the Pilgrims have become the emblematic colonists in America’s national memory. Although modern Thanksgiving has become largely non-religious — focused more on food, family, and football than explicitly thanking God — the Pilgrims’ experience reveals a compelling religious aspect of our country’s roots. Read More

Despite the quote in Thomas Kidd's article the historical evidence suggests that turkey was not on the menu at the original Thanksgiving. Rather the colonists and the Native Americans celebrated the occasion with roast venison and goose, cornmeal mush, salt pork, and sea biscuits, or hardtack. The colonists are also often portrayed wearing solemn black but their actual dress was much more colorful.