What Really Happened in 1621?

Every autumn, many people gather around tables filled with roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Many stories claim that this tradition began in 1621 as a peaceful celebration called the "First Thanksgiving." However, historians look closely at primary sources—writings from the people who were actually there—to understand what really took place.

In the autumn of 1621, English colonists in Plymouth, Massachusetts, gathered their first successful harvest of corn and barley. To celebrate the harvest, the English men fired their muskets during target practice. Hearing the gunshots, Ousamequin, the leader of the Wampanoag Nation, arrived at the settlement with about ninety men. The Wampanoag people had lived on that land, called Patuxet, for thousands of years. Earlier that spring, Ousamequin and the English leaders had formed a political and military treaty to protect and help one another. Ousamequin likely came to check on the noise and ensure the treaty was being honored.

After realizing there was no battle, the two groups spent three days together. The gathering was not a planned holiday, and neither group called it "Thanksgiving." For both the Wampanoag and the English, giving thanks to the Creator was a regular spiritual practice that happened throughout the year, not a one-time feast. During these three days, the Wampanoag men went out and hunted five deer, which they contributed to the meals along with wild fowl, fish, and cornmeal provided by the colonists. People ate, played games, and conducted diplomacy.

Many popular images of this event were created hundreds of years later, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These paintings and stories often show people wearing matching black-and-white clothes or feather headdresses that do not match historical records. They also present the event as a simple, happy friendship, ignoring the difficult challenges and complex negotiations between the two different nations.

By examining historical records, we learn that the 1621 gathering was a real, three-day harvest meeting shaped by diplomacy, survival, and shared resources, rather than the storybook feast often imagined today.