10 facts you might not know about the Mayflower and Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the most celebrated holiday in the United States as families of different religions and cultures can all unite under the banner of gratitude.

The deadly journey

While many know the story of Thanksgiving, there are details often left out. For one, only 52 of the 130 pilgrims who set sail on the Mayflower survived the first year after reaching what is now Massachusetts. Disease was the primary cause of death for those who perished on the other side of the Atlantic.

Early collaboration with Native Americans

The Native American tribe living in the area where the Mayflower made landfall, the Wampanoag, saw the toll disease had taken on the pilgrims and recognized their lack of knowledge about local crops and agricultural techniques. They helped the settlers plant their first successful harvest. The celebration of that harvest—and of their collaboration—is what Thanksgiving is meant to commemorate. Rosalind Beiler, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Central Florida, has conducted extensive research into the Mayflower and the early colonists. She explained that the first Thanksgiving also served to remember the fellow passengers who had died during the first year. While the bountiful harvest was celebrated, grief and loss were central to the story, a fact often overlooked in history books.

Relations begin to sour as more colonists arrive

As more pilgrims arrived on Wampanoag land, tensions began to rise. Although the early settlers and the Wampanoag initially collaborated and maintained peace, the subsequent waves of settlers adopted agricultural practices that harmed the native people. For instance, they allowed their domesticated animals to encroach on Wampanoag planting areas, destroying their crops.

The bloodiest war in Colonial American history

In 1675 or 1676, King Philip’s War broke out between the colonists and Native American tribes in what is now New England. This three-year conflict was one of the bloodiest in colonial American history and set a grim precedent for relations between settlers and Indigenous people for centuries. A growing distrust between the groups was exacerbated by a peace treaty proposed by the colonists, which called for the disarmament of the tribes.

Thanksgiving’s importance to the Founding Fathers

Though Thanksgiving can be traced back to similar feasts and celebrations in England, the holiday took on a distinctly American character by the Revolutionary War. While loyalists did not observe it, patriots embraced it as a celebration of the emerging American identity and the values underpinning the revolution.

The wars fought by early colonists without the direct support of their colonial power contributed to the myth-making that eventually birthed the revolutionaries who chose to secede from the United Kingdom. These colonists began to see themselves as patriots, identifying with a culture and heritage distinct from their British forebears who had first journeyed to the New World.

In 1789, George Washington issued a presidential proclamation designating November 26 as Thanksgiving. He described it as a day “to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.”

Thanksgiving officially made a public holiday

Thanksgiving became an official public holiday, to be celebrated on the last Thursday of November, under President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. However, the Civil War and its aftermath caused the holiday to wane in prominence until the Reconstruction era.

Now, moving into some facts that you might not know about Thanksgiving that highlight the scale at which it is celebrated.

One of the busiest travel days of the year

According to AAA, 80 million people are expected to travel at least 50 miles to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. The holiday and the following weekend are among the busiest travel days in the U.S. as families and friends gather to share turkey, pie, and gratitude.

The states where most turkeys are produced

Of the more than 200 million turkeys consumed annually, Minnesota leads in production with around 38.5 million birds, followed by North Carolina with 29 million and Arkansas with 27 million.

How producers manage to increase supply around the holidays

To meet holiday demand, turkey producers begin chilling or freezing birds shortly after Christmas. According to the US Department of Agriculture, inventories typically peak in August at levels equivalent to about five weeks of production. From September to November, frozen inventories drop by about 75 percent to meet Thanksgiving demand.

Black Friday 2024 expected to shatter spending records

Ironically, a holiday centered on gratitude is immediately followed by Black Friday, a day infamous for consumerism. While online shopping has reduced the chaos of in-store sales, Americans are still expected to spend $10.8 billion the day after Thanksgiving, marking the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season.