The First Thanksgiving

Spanish settlers celebrate the
First Thanksgiving in Florida, 1565

It is traditional in America to imagine that our Thanksgiving Day celebrations are based on "the first Thanksgiving", or the one in which the Europeans celebrated thanks by holding a special dinner with the indigenous people.


September 8, 1565 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and his 800 Spanish settlers founded the settlement of St. Augustine in La Florida, the landing party celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving, and, afterward, Menéndez laid out a meal to which he invited as guests the native Seloy tribe who occupied the site.

Juan de Oñate celebrates the first Thanksgiving in New Mexico, 1598 On April 30, 1598, Juan de Oñate's pioneers made camp along the Rio Grande and prepared to drink and eat their fill, for there they found fishes and waterfowl. Villagrá wrote, "We built a great bonfire and roasted meat and fish, and then sat down to a repast the like of which we had never enjoyed before." Before this bountiful meal, Don Juan de Oñate personally nailed a cross to a living tree and prayed, "Open the door to these heathens, establish the church altars where the body and blood of the Son of God may be offered, open to us the way to security and peace for their preservation and ours, and give to our king and to me in his royal name, peaceful possession of these kingdoms and provinces for His blessed glory. Amen." Samoset greets Pilgrims in  Massachussets, 1620 Surely the people of Plymouth Colony were astonished when Samoset strode into their village. It may have been his attire and his request that astonished them most. Samoset, clad only in a belt, in rather good English, welcomed the people of Plymouth, then requested a beer. The drink he was given, then he quickly disappeared. But this was not the last the Pilgrims would see of Samoset. A few days later Samoset returned to Plymouth. With him was a friend, the captive Squanto. It was Squanto who showed these would-be farmers some down-home Indian tricks for making crops grow. He showed them the Indian way of planting corn in hills and the trick of planting a dead fish with the seeds for fertilizer. Pesquantum teaches survival in America to the Pilgrims, 1621 The settlers didn’t actually get to Plymouth until the dead of winter on December 26, 1620. They had to find land and make shelter quickly before the winter weather got any worse. This winter was terrible and about half of the settlers died in the cold with very little food. What people did survive accredited the survival to John Carver, William Bradford, William Brewster, Edward Winslow, Myles Standish and a local Native named Squanto. This friendly Indian taught them where to fish and how to trap and later how to plant and grow corn. He also taught them how to hunt and what plants were safe to eat and what plants could cure illnesses.  They celebrated a special dinner in 1621 to celebrate their first harvest. President Lincoln establishes Thanksgiving Day in 1863 The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.... It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. This year we celebrate Thanksgiving in the tropical paradise of Guayaquil, Ecuador.  The temperature will drop down to 69 degrees from a high of 86.   We are surrounded by people who love and appreciate us, and are enjoying better health this year than last year.  We have all the abundance of guanábana, guineo, mango, papaya, seviche, camarón, arroz, pollo, hallacas, humitas, arepas, etc. that we can eat.   We are working on the ward Christmas program, teaching music lessons, working on quilts, and enjoying life, but we miss being with our children and grandchildren, brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, uncles and aunts.  Be sure to call us.