The story of America’s fabled First Thanksgiving rests almost entirely on a single source. In December 1621, after a brutal winter wiped out half of Plymouth’s population, Edward Winslow wrote that the colonists had recently decided in “a special manner [to] rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors.” They celebrated the successful harvest with a three-day feast, featuring fowl, venison, gunplay, and other “recreations,” and a group of 90 Wampanoag Indians with “their greatest King Massasoit.”
Some scholars suggest that the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the Feast of the Tabernacles, inspired the separatists’ celebration. This intriguing theory, while historically unfounded, highlights the event’s biblical origins, rooted in values shared by both Judaism and Christianity.
Historians Jeremy D. Bangs and Francis J. Bremer have persuasively rejected the notion that the 1621 celebration simply recreated a “secular” English folk festival. Contrary to common perception, Puritans played games, too, and recreation did not necessarily indicate irreligiosity. Religion infused even mundane aspects of Puritan life and culture.
Bangs and Bremer examine three potential influences on Plymouth’s activities in 1621: English, Dutch, and Hebraic. Firstly, England offered an official ceremonial precedent. The Book of Common Prayer, the Church of England’s liturgy, had prescribed “A thanksgiving for Plenty” since 1604. Although Puritans opposed state-mandated extra-scriptural prayers, they did not object to public proclamations for days of fasting or thanksgiving, a common practice in early modern England. However, New England’s earliest such recorded instance did not occur until 1623, after a drought ended.
The city of Leiden in the Netherlands, where the separatists had previously sojourned since 1609, provided a second possible precedent. Each year on October 3rd, the city celebrated its survival of a Spanish siege in 1574. Several striking parallels exist: half the town had perished in the conflict, the festivities included meals and games, and the celebration lasted more than one day (albeit ten rather than three). Leiden’s practice very likely influenced the “special” form of Plymouth’s party.
Finally, the Plymouth Puritans drew on the Bible. The language of Winslow’s letter alluded to the gospel’s promise: “And he that reapeth, receiveth rewarde, and gathereth fruite unto life eternall, that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, might rejoyce together” (John 4:36). Winslow’s usage of the terms “rejoice” and “fruit” evoked this verse, as well as the maxim, “Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for it becommeth upright men to be thankefull” (Psalms 33:1).
Beyond these general biblical precepts, Bangs and Bremer suggest that the Plymouth colonists also modeled their celebration after specific Old Testament ceremonies. The holiday of Purim, “a day of feasting and joy” (Esther 9:17-22), commemorated the saving of the Jews from a plot of annihilation under the Persian Empire, and the week-long harvest festival of Sukkot commanded the Israelites to “rejoyce in thy feast” with “the stranger…within thy gates” (Deuteronomy 16:14). They also speculate that the latter verse explains the presence of native Americans in the festivities.
On the other hand, historian David J. Silverman notes that according to Wampanoag tradition, the natives came to investigate the sounds of the colonists’ gunplay, and their appearance came as a surprise. Winslow’s letter does not explicitly state that Plymouth invited the Wampanoags, and diplomatic strategy seems a more plausible motive for the subsequent hospitality.
While Bangs and Bremer rightfully identify the multiple influences that possibly shaped the 1621 celebration, the suggestion that the Plymouth Puritans adopted the Sukkot or Purim blueprint beggars belief.
Like nearly all Protestants in this period, Puritans maintained that the New Testament had superseded and abrogated the Old Testament’s ceremonial law. This category included ancient Jewish feasts and rituals, which they viewed only as symbols for Christ. They rejected not only Jewish ceremonies but even those of their coreligionists: on Christmas in 1621, two weeks after Winslow wrote his letter, Governor William Bradford ordered the colonists to conduct a regular workday!
The idea that Jewish rituals inspired American Thanksgiving fuels a longstanding myth that Puritans sought to emulate Judaism. For instance, one popular theory claims that America’s “first” Thanksgiving occurred upon the Mayflower’s landfall in 1620, when the passengers purportedly recited Psalm 107 with the Jewish prayer of birkat hagomel in mind. This suggestion similarly lacks sufficient documentary evidence and contradicts Puritan theology.
Instead, historical precedent and other Scriptural sources provided Puritans with ample basis for expressing gratitude to God. By acknowledging divine providence and omnipotence, the 1621 harvest festival followed commonplace ideas in both Testaments. Four centuries later, Jews and Christians alike commemorate this unique moment of spirituality, revelry, and hospitality in America’s infancy.
