As I do each year, I’m re-publishing my post on the very first Thanksgiving. Happy holidays everyone!
Growing up, I never paid much attention to the origin of Thanksgiving. Other than what I may have learned in elementary school, all I recall knowing was that it was a feast between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans sometime after the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock. Only in the past few years did I become interested in what really happened at the first Thanksgiving. And like many an adventure, it all started with a few bottles of wine …
The First Thanksgiving
Not that the pilgrims drank wine at the first Thanksgiving (at least by any accounts I’ve read, although they did have beer). But the several bottles my friends and family drank a few years ago, after another gut-busting Thanksgiving dinner, inspired us to do some research into the origin of Thanksgiving. (That’s also how we rediscovered the role Tisquantum played in all of this, but more on him in a moment.)
Apparently, there are only two written accounts of the first Thanksgiving, which was celebrated in 1621 as a harvest feast by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag. Turkey, it turns out, was not the centerpiece of the meal, although one of the two accounts referenced a “great store of wild turkeys.” The main course appeared to be venison, but there is also mention of waterfowl and “Indian corn.”
The interesting part about the meal is what was not eaten, at least according to an article in The Smithsonian Magazine. There were no potatoes or sweet potatoes. White potatoes originated in South America, and sweet potatoes came from the Caribbean, and neither had apparently made it to Massachusetts by 1621. The Pilgrims also lacked butter and wheat flour, so there was no pumpkin pie. Among things they probably did eat were fish, eels, and shellfish (like lobster, clams, and mussels), which were staples for the Wampanoag and the colonists.
Tisquantum
But this feast may never have occurred if it were not for a Patuxet Native American named Tisquantum, commonly known as Squanto. He served as an interpreter for the Pilgrims, taught them how to grow corn, and showed them the best places to catch fish and eel, all of which helped them survive their first winter at Plymouth. He also helped negotiate a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag in March of 1621. Without this, I suspect there would not have been the first Thanksgiving.
Tisquantum’s backstory was less than idyllic. He was captured twice by the English and forced to leave his wife and child. During his first captivity in 1605, he was taken to England along with several other native Americans. Their captor, Capt. George Weymouth, wanted to display them for his financial backers, who were interested in seeing natives from the New World. In England, Tisquantum learned English and apparently became the consort of an English woman. By 1613, he was hired as a guide for an expedition to New England and returned there with the famous explorer John Smith.
But Tisquantum’s time back in Plymouth did not last long. Once Smith went north on another expedition, one of his lieutenants, a Capt. Thomas Hunt, kidnapped Tisquantum and twenty-six other Native Americans to sell them into slavery. Hunt sailed to Spain, where he hoped to sell his captives for twenty pounds each. When local friars discovered Hunt’s plans, they rescued Tisquantum and his brethren, hoping to convert them to Christianity. Tisquantum ended up living with the friars until 1618, when he found his way back to London and then to a ship headed to the New World.
His Return Home
Upon returning home, Tisquantum discovered that his entire Patuxet tribe had died from the plague (believed to be smallpox, a disease introduced to the New World by Europeans). Despite all this mistreatment and misfortune, he stayed and helped the Pilgrims until he died of fever in 1622. According to one account, the Massachusetts governor at the time called Tisquantum a “special instrument sent by God for their good beyond their expectations.”
So this Thanksgiving, my family and friends are going a bit more historical. There will be venison and some lobster, and turkey, of course. (I suspect mashed potatoes will be in order too, only because my friends and family might never forgive me if I eliminate them for the sake of historical purity.) There will also be more wine and probably a few mixed drinks – including a special concoction that we intend to dedicate to Tisquantum.
2021 Menu Update
This year, in keeping with tradition, I’ll be making my pumpkin soup with fig quenelles and prosciutto, along with fried lobster tails in honor of my New England ancestors. In place of clams, I’m substituting stone crab, and for the historic venison, I’ll be doing a venison pastry with blackberry wine sauce. We’ll also have turkey, stuffing, and potatoes, both sweet and mashed. And finally, there will be a specialty cocktail aptly named “the Squanto.” This year it’s an Orchard Manhattan with peach, apple, and spiced cherry. Yes, I love cooking almost as much as I love writing! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Another Interesting Fact
Through my father’s side of the family, I am a direct descendant of Francis Cooke and his son John, and Richard Warren and his daughter Sarah, who married John Cooke. Francis, John, and Richard all journeyed to the New World on the Mayflower in 1620 and were likely present at the first Thanksgiving!