The First Thanksgiving was a Catholic Holiday

National Holiday of Thanks to God is Respected but Misunderstood

Nov 29, 2008

Everyone knows the story of Thanksgiving, or so they think. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620, and their first winter was devastating.

The Pilgrims had lost some 46 of the original 102 pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower. The harvest of 1621, though, was a good one and the remaining colonists celebrated with a feast. This included about 90 “Indians” who had helped the Pilgrims survive that first year. That first feast lasted three days.

But Thanksgiving was not held again for many years. It wasn't until June of 1676 that thanksgiving was again “proclaimed.” On June 20th of that year the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks to God for the good fortune their community had seen, and they proclaimed June 29th as a day of thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was not held again until October of 1777, one hundred years later, when the colonists once again joined in a thanksgiving celebration. George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789.

It was Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, who eventually led us to what we now have as Thanksgiving. Hale wrote many editorials calling for Thanksgiving in Boston Ladies' Magazine, and in Godey's Lady's Book. Finally, after many years of editorials and letters it became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. Although there had previously been some disapproval, Thanksgiving has since been proclaimed by every president after Lincoln.

The Real First Thanksgiving

There are numerous historical precedents demonstrating that America was deeply committed to religion. American history does recognize the importance of Thanksgiving to God by both the earliest settlers and by the vast majority of Americans throughout this time. Thanksgiving was a Holiday, a religious holiday, a national Holiday, and yes, it has remained religious in respect.

Even more interesting, however, is the fact that the real Thanksgiving was a Catholic Holiday. While history books have long portrayed images of the nation’s first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts with Pilgrims sharing turkey with Native Americans, the truth is that one researcher found that St. Augustine, the nation’s oldest city, was the actual site of the nation’s first Thanksgiving. (“The Cross in the Sand,” Michael Gannon, December, 1965.)

In reality, the nation’s first Thanksgiving took place in 1565 when the Spanish founder of St. Augustine, Pedro Menindez de Avilis, and 800 Spanish settlers shared in a Catholic Mass of Thanksgiving. As according to Michael Gannon, a historical expert on Florida, following the religious service Menindez had a communal meal shared by the Spaniards and the Seloy natives who occupied the landing site.

Thus, there was a Thanksgiving between the settlers and Natives Americans in the New World. It was just that the first Thanksgiving in the New World was actually a Holy Catholic Mass followed by a wonderful feast of Blessed food.

The copyright of the article The First Thanksgiving was a Catholic Holiday in Colonial America is owned by Nelson Acquilano. Permission to republish The First Thanksgiving was a Catholic Holiday in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.