πΊπΈ This is the American Thanksgiving story. For the Canadian version, see Why Do Canadians Celebrate Thanksgiving in October?
"Why do we eat turkey in November?"
Good question from the back seat. And here's a spoiler for the grown-ups: at the first Thanksgiving, there probably wasn't any turkey at all.
Here's what actually happened.
The winter that almost ended everything
In 1620, about 100 English colonists sailed to what's now Massachusetts on the Mayflower. Their first winter was brutal β cold, hunger, sickness. By spring, half of them had died .
The ones who survived got help from a Wampanoag man named Tisquantum β most kids' books call him Squanto. He taught them how to plant corn, how to use fish to fertilize the fields, and where to fish. In March 1621, the colonists and the Wampanoag leader Massasoit made a peace agreement.
That fall, the harvest came in. It was good. Really good, for people who'd nearly starved a year earlier. So the colonists threw a harvest feast.
The feast that lasted three days
About 50 colonists sat down to eat β and about 90 Wampanoag joined them. Here's the part most kids' books leave out: the Wampanoag weren't exactly invited.
The colonists had fired their guns in celebration while hunting. Massasoit heard the shots, thought the English might be under attack (or planning one), and marched over with 90 men to find out what was happening. When he realized it was just a feast, everyone stayed β for three days of eating, games, and singing.
What did they eat? Deer (the Wampanoag brought five of them), corn, shellfish, and wild birds. There is no record of turkey on the menu. Sorry, Tom.
The part we should be honest about
Here's where I level with you, because kids deserve the truth, not a fairy tale.
That feast was real. But it wasn't the start of a beautiful friendship β it was one meal between two groups who needed each other at that moment. What happened in the years after was much harder, and much sadder, for the Wampanoag and other Native peoples. We can celebrate the sharing without pretending everything was perfect. I tell my kid: the feast matters because people chose to sit down together. That's the part worth copying.
How it became a holiday (200 years later)
Here's the wild part: Thanksgiving wasn't a holiday for another two centuries.
Then along came Sarah Josepha Hale β a magazine editor (she also wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb"). She believed the whole country should celebrate Thanksgiving on the same day, and she spent 17 years writing letters to governors, congressmen, and five different presidents asking for it.
Finally, in 1863 β in the middle of the Civil War, when the country was literally tearing itself apart β President Abraham Lincoln said yes. He declared the last Thursday of November a national day of Thanksgiving, hoping it would give Americans something unifying. One determined woman with a pen, and a president who listened.
A note for my fellow Canadians
We do Thanksgiving differently up here β second Monday of October , and it's been a national holiday since 1879. Ours is more of a straight harvest celebration than a Pilgrim story. We just get to the turkey (or ham) first.
The takeaway for the kids' table
Thanksgiving started as a harvest party thrown by people who'd survived something terrible, shared with neighbors who showed up uninvited and stayed for three days. Two hundred years later, one persistent woman turned it into a holiday.
Not bad for a dinner.
After the feast, keep little hands busy: our free Thanksgiving coloring pages β turkeys, harvest scenes, and pumpkin pie, ready to print.