The Pilgrims faced severe hardships during their first winter in 1620, with many succumbing to illness and starvation, leaving only about half of the original settlers alive by spring. However, by the time of the first Thanksgiving in 1621, their condition improved significantly due to a successful harvest and assistance from the Wampanoag people, who taught them vital agricultural practices. This newfound stability allowed them to celebrate their harvest with a feast, marking a pivotal moment in their settlement experience.
well..... one fact is that the day we celebrate thanksgiving on isn't really when the pilgrims celebrated it. theirs was probably closer to the harvest season, not winter. ;)
To celibate the cold winter they lived though and to say thanks to the indeans.
Unfortunately this would be very pre-historic times and something we will never know. The closest answer that could be given would likely be the celebration of the seasons such as the winter solstice. Civilizations around the globe all tend to have ancient traditions to celebrate the coming of a season.
Of the original 102 Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620, only about half survived to attend the Thanksgiving celebration in 1621. By that time, approximately 50 Pilgrims were alive, having endured a harsh winter that claimed many lives due to illness and food shortages. The Thanksgiving event was a three-day feast shared with the Wampanoag people to celebrate the successful harvest.
The Pilgrims were Christians who celebrated Thanksgiving in November to give thanks to G-D for the harvest they had, and all the food they gathered which would feed them through the winter and into next year, when their next harvest was.
an opinion about the first winter of pilgrims
It originated in America. The grateful Pilgrims then declared a three-day feast, starting on December 13, 1621, to thank God and to celebrate with their Indian friends. While this was not the first Thanksgiving in America (thanksgiving services were held in Virginia as early as 1607), it was America's first Thanksgiving Festival. Source: www.christiananswers.net
The pilgrims gave thanks to the plague that took out most of the Native Americans in Mass.
The Wampanoag tribe played a pivotal role in the Pilgrims' survival of their first winter in the New World. Thanksgiving did not become an official American holiday until the time of the Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln thought it was a way to bring people together. The Pilgrims arrived cold and sick; many members of their group did not survive the voyage. There were abandoned Native American settlements and burial grounds in the area and several Pilgrims tried to scavenge for food and supplies.
Pilgrims needed more wood in the winter than the summer. In the summer, wood would be needed for building and cooking. Scholastic has a wonderful website on the Pilgrims, the Wampanog and the First Thanksgiving. It talks about chores including firewood.
The Turkey is an important part of the Thanksgiving tradition because according to the legend of the Pilgrims and Indians they shared turkey in a several day fest to thank the Indians for helping them plant crop and harvest for winter. Whether the Pilgrims and Indians actually ate turkey is not known. It is possible that they did because Turkey would be redilly abundant in the east US but this isn't a certainty. However, Turkey is a food that is abundant in the US and is large and can feed many people, this is probably why Turkeys are eaten at Thanksgiving.
In winter, some of the Pilgrims died in winter because of cold,diseases,and starvation.