“When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.”
                       ~ Chief Tecumseh (Crouching Tiger) Shawnee Nation 1768-1813

None of the pilgrims were practicing meteorologists. However, clues to their experiences lie in the stories left behind. Whatever the weather may have been, it played a major role in the day of the first Thanksgiving.

They arrived in 1620, one year prior to the known “first Thanksgiving.” Their ocean voyage and first year in the New World were harsh. Rough seas across the Atlantic Ocean made for ongoing seasickness among the men, women and children. If eating had been even a possibility, the food was likely unhealthy, rat infested and spoiled. Portions were meager, as well. Unusually severe weather and disease further contributed to sickness and death. Even after making landfall scurvy and pneumonia – resulting from poor diets and lack of shelter – followed them through the first winter.

We believe the first Thanksgiving feast held by the pilgrims of Plymouth colony in 1621 was probably in September or October. According to the only two written, firsthand accounts of the event, 53 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans gathered for the three-day celebration of a bountiful harvest. Only one half of the original colonists survived the Mayflower journey and first winter in the New World.

“The fact that they were able to gather for three days, that they were able to play sports together, that they were able to exercise their arms, which is the 17th century meaning for military demonstration and practice, the weather must have been good,” said Richard Pickering, deputy executive director of Plymouth Plantation.      

On the first Thanksgiving, as written by Mayflower passenger Edward Winslow, in 1621 the weather was mild; it was very different from the year before. He wrote in his personal diary, “The air is very clear and not foggy, as hath been reported; I never in my life remember a more seasonable year than we have here enjoyed.” Winslow’s account is given a month or so after the first Thanksgiving. No mention of any major adverse weather event is given regarding those days of eating and giving thanks; they were enjoyable as well.

Today’s (Thanksgiving) weather has little resemblance to that one exactly 400 years ago. Warm winds and clear skies reign from now into next week. In the words of Chief Tecumseh, give thanks “for the food and joy of living.”                

Happy Thanksgiving!