Tradition--and most history books--teach that the first Thanksgiving feast was held in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, in November of 1621, when Protestant Pilgrims invited their Wampanoag neighbors to share a meal of wildfowl, corn and venison. However, the true "first Thanksgiving" may well have taken place fifty-six years earlier in St. Augustine, Florida.
In 1565, King Philip of Spain sent Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519-1574), a Spanish admiral, to destroy a colony of French Huguenots that had established itself in Florida in territory claimed by Spain. On August 28, the Feast of St. Augustine of Hippo, Menéndez and his men landed near the native Timucua village of Seloy and founded the settlement of St. Augustine. Shortly after, they commemorated their safe passage by celebrating Mass--considered by many to be the first Catholic Mass celebrated on American soil--and invited their Timucuan neighbors to a meal of Thanksgiving.
As the meal took place shortly after the Spaniards' arrival, it would have been comprised of dishes produced from the remaining provisions brought from Spain. The most likely candidate was a stew called cocido, made of garbanzo beans and salt pork flavored with garlic, which would have been served with hardtack biscuits and red wine. The Timucua probably contributed dishes made of corn, venison, and tortoise, staples of their diet.
The battle over the "first Thanksgiving" is in all likelihood a moot point, for as historian Michael Gannon points out, other Europeans in pre-Mayflower days would have marked their arrival with prayers of thanksgiving and perhaps even meals with their Native American neighbors. Gannon does emphasize, however, that the thanksgiving at St. Augustine was the first to take place at a permanent European settlement on the American continent. Sorry, Pilgrims!
In any case, I wish you a happy holiday marked by a spirit of genuine thanksgiving for all the blessings we share!
Source:
Horowitz, Tony. A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World (Picador, 2008).
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