The First
Thanksgiving
In 1603, there was a
King in England which made a law that everyone had to be a catholic or they
would be killed, the Puritans did not want to be a catholic so they moved to
Holland, they were happy, but poor. So
in 1620 they set out on, the Mayflower toward America. The Mayflower was 180 gross tons, 25 ft. in
width, and 80 ft. in length. It had
three main decks, upper deck, lower deck, and cargo deck. In the upper deck there were the cooking
facilities, the crews sleeping quarters, and the steering room. The lower deck was where the passengers
stayed in, and the cargo deck had the main supplies needed to survive. The height of the decks was 5.5 ft. There
were 102 passengers, and 26 crew members, Fifty-one men, twenty-one boys, twenty
women, and ten girls. The average age the passengers were 32, the oldest was
64, and 1 baby was born on the boat, his name was, Oceanus.
It was very unusual for the mayflower to carry
passengers because it was made to carry supplies. They were originally headed for the Hudson
River, but they were blown off course.
It took 66 days for the 2,750 mile journey to reach Plymouth Rock. They spent their first winter on board the
ship while they built their homes. Out
of, 102 passengers, only 53 survived and half the crew.
Once the weather improved,
they built their houses. The Indians
came to help them prepare for the next winter.
At the end of the harvest, there was enough food for the whole winter.
The pilgrims decided to have a feast with the Indians to thank them. That was the first Thanksgiving. What they had back then to eat was not what
we have today, for instance they did not have, Turkey, Pumpkin pie, or Mashed
potatoes,they did have cranberries, but they were plain. They did have, goose, eel, duck, deer,
eagles, beans, lettuce, plums, grapes, and, of course their crops.
In 1777 the congress declared that all 13
colonies celebrate a day of thanks for winning over the British. Sarah Hale was
the author of Mary had a little lamb and believed America needed an annual
holiday to give thanks. She sent letters
to the presidents asking them about this.
In 1863 Abraham Lincoln declared that Sarah Hale was right and they
needed a national annual holiday to give thanks, he decided the last Thursday
of November be, Thanksgiving Day. But in
1939 Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up a week. People did not like this change. Franklin D. Roosevelt settled the date with
the Congress and moved it to the 4th Thursday of November.
Happy
Thanksgiving and may God bless you all!!!
