Why we don't eat deer for Thanksgiving (the Pilgrims did)
Does this sound familiar? In 1621, Pilgrims, dressed in black and white with buckles on their shoes, held a feast in Plymouth Colony to celebrate their first harvest. They invited Wampanoag Indians, and everyone enjoyed turkey and pumpkin pie. Probably, but we don't know for sure. Historians, including those at Plimoth Plantation, a living museum in Plymouth, Mass., say that they do know there was a feast that year shared by the colonists and Wampanoag Indians. Squanto, who had learned English, served as translator. But it wasn’t until the 1800s that Thanksgiving became an annual holiday and that turkey became the staple of the Thanksgiving holiday meal.
The first Thanksgiving proclamation, by George Washington
The following speaks for itself: A copy of a 1789 newspaper that published President George Washington's proclamation of the first official Thanksgiving holiday in the United States:
