Pagan Roots of Thanksgiving

Pagan Roots of Thanksgiving

Feast Day Has Roots in European and Native American Paganism

Pilgrims and Wampanoagans celebrated the first Thanksgiving. The tribe had its own feast day. Future Pagan immigrants brought their harvest festivals to America.

By the time Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1861, other Europeans had settled in America and brought their traditions, some Pagan, with them. Harvest festivals were celebrated by Europeans. Romans celebrated Cerelia by giving thanks to Ceres, Goddess of Harvest. Celtic and Anglo/Saxon Pagans celebrated Lughnasadh and Mabon, the first and second harvests. The Greeks gave honor to Demeter during the Thesmophoria. The New Englanders’ Pagan ancestors celebrated Harvest Home, the first reaping of crops, in August. There was a silent time for gratitude and reflection, followed by singing and dancing after which a joyous feast was held.

First Thanksgiving Feast

There are only two brief contemporary accounts written by Edward Winslow and William Bradford of the menu. According to these, celebrants ate venison, fowl, corn, fish and wheat breads. It is likely that rabbit, eggs, shellfish, barley, beans, squash, carrots, onions, peas, cabbage, cheese, pumpkin and Indian puddings, nuts and cornbread were on the table because these foods were available in 1621. There were no pies because the colonists didn’t have ovens. Potatoes weren’t served.It’s been written that Quadequina, Massasoit’s brother, treated the celebrants to popcorn. This has been refuted because Indian corn doesn’t pop well. It’s possible that popcorn, although poorly made, was served.