It is still a week until Thanksgiving, but you may wish to impress your dinner guests with some of the following facts, as there are so many myths associated with this celebration.

At Berkeley Plantation, Virginia, near the Charles River in December of 1619, a group of British settlers led by Capt. John Woodlief knelt in prayer and pledged “Thanksgiving” to God for their healthy arrival after a long voyage across the Atlantic. This has been acknowledged by some scholars and writers as the official first Thanksgiving among European settlers on record.

The only two items that were definitely known to be on the Thanksgiving menu at Plymouth were venison and wild fowl. It is possible that lobster, seal and swans were also included. Depending on the time of year, many vegetables were not available. They didn’t have ovens so pies, cakes and breads were not possible. The pilgrims didn’t use forks — they ate with spoons, knives and their fingers. Hands were wiped on large cloth napkins which were also used to pick up hot food. In the pilgrim household, the adults sat down to eat and the children and servants waited on them.

In the 17th century, a person’s social standing determined what he or she ate. The best food was placed next to the most important people and they didn’t sample everything as we do today, but ate what was closest to them. Food was not eaten in courses, all the food was placed on the table at the same time and was eaten in any order. While the colonists had set eating patterns, breakfast, dinner and supper — the Wampanoag Indians tended to eat when they were hungry and to have pots cooking throughout the day.

The most detailed description of the “First Thanksgiving” comes from Edward Winslow from A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1621. “Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indian coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to he plantation and bestowed upon our governor, and upon the captain and others….”

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Information compiled from Wikipedia and other online sources.