Caleb Johnson has an excellent summary of the Pilgrim's first
Thanksgiving celebration in 1621 at
http://members.aol.com/calebj/thanksgiving.html. On his radio
program today, Dennis Prager read Edward Winslow's letter,
written 12 December 1621, describing the first celebration in
Plymouth: "Our corn [i.e. wheat] did prove well, and God be
praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn, and our barley
indifferent good, but our peas not worth the gathering, for we
feared they were too late sown. They came up very well, and
blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom. Our harvest
being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so
we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had
gathered the fruit of our labors. "They four in one day killed
as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company
almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we
exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and
among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ni