The Thanksgiving Story

The Thanksgiving Story

After Thanksgiving dinner is finished, settle down with your family and take a breather...and a refresher course on the Thanksgiving celebration!

Here is the story of Thanksgiving, written for smaller ears:

Long ago, in the early 1600s, a group of people in England wanted to pursue their religion in their own way. The King controlled the Church in England and ordered everyone to attend his Church. Anyone who didn't was punished.

The group of people who wanted to free the Church of England from the King's rule were known as Puritan. To escape the King, around 100 of these men, women and children left their home and sailed away on a ship. the Mayflower, on a trip to the New World.

These brave people, the Pilgrims, landed in Plymouth after a long six week journey. It was December 11. 1620. The winter in the New World was bitter and cold. It was a strange land to them and the Pilgrims could find nothing familiar.

The winter was long and hard for the Pilgrims. Luckily, Native Americans helped by supplying them with seeds and food and taught them how to survive in their new land.

The first year was very difficult for the Pilgrims and many didn't survive. With the seeds and plants received from the Native Americans, the Pilgrims planted crops and their fall harvest was a good one. To celebrate their good fortune, the Pilgrims had a feast to celebrate. A feast of Thanksgiving.

Many foods were cooked for the feast- wild turkey, duck and venison along with fish, pumpkins, squash, corn, sweet potatoes and cranberries. 

Captain Miles Standish, the leader of the Pilgrims, invited all of the Native Americans who had helped the Pilgrims survive and taught them so much their first year. The feast lasted for three days! 

Happy Thanksgiving!