The story of Thandksgiving

The first thanksgiving

Our document is a painting from Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. It is dated from 1915. It shows a scene of the first Thanksgiving.

We can see two groups of persons : The Pilgrims and the Indians. The Pilgrims are sharing their meal with the Indians.

Firstly, there is an idea of community between the two of them that the painting wants to show. We see the two groups together, partying, sharing food…. It can seem controversial knowing what happened after.

It represents the first Thanksgiving. The holiday feast dates back to November 1621, when the newly arrived Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians gathered at Plymouth for an autumn harvest celebration, when the Pilgrims come to India, the Indians save them and gave them some food. To thanks them, Pilgrims organized a festive and happy meal. That’s the origin of Thanksgiving.

In 1777 George Washington orders to set aside December 18, as a day for Thanksgiving, to celebrate victories over the british int the American revolution. It was the first day of thanksgiving in the newly United state of America.

There is a rumour abroad that all of this never really happened and that it is just an unfortunate myth.

In the 19th century, the modern Thanksgiving holiday started to take shape. In 1846, Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of a magazine campaigned for an annual national thanksgiving holiday after a passage about the harvest gathering of 1621 was discovered and incorrectly recognize as the first Thanksgiving.

It wasn't until 1863, when President Lincoln declared two national Thanksgivings; one in August to commemorate the Battle of Gettysburg and the other one in November to give thanks for "general blessings."

Nowadays, Thanksgiving is still celebrate by principally the American people. They eat turkey in reference to the first meal between Indians and Pilgrims

...