Thanksgiving Story

A long time ago in a country called England, there were a group of people who all went to the same church, they were called Puritans.

There was a King in England who didn’t like them because of their religion so they went to Holland in 1609. But they were not happy there so they decided to go to the New World (America).

The Pilgrims left Plymouth in England on September 6, 1620 for the New World aboard a ship called the Mayflower.

The trip to America was long and hard. There were storms and the ship was really crowded.

When they got to America, it was winter and there were no food or houses. Many of the pilgrims died from sickness, starvation and freezing to death.

There they met friendly Indians, the Wampanoag, and one of them, Samoset, spoke English.

He taught them such things as how to distinguish between plants that were helpful and harmful, how to plant corn and other crops.

They showed them how to hunt and fish. They helped them build houses out of the trees there.

When it was winter again, the Pilgrims had enough food and a place to live.

The Pilgrims shared their food with the Wampanoag Indians to thank them for helping them through the terrible winter. This was the first Thanksgiving.

They ate turkey, fish, deer, sweet potatoes, corn and pumpkin. They played games.

Thanksgiving Customs The customs of Thanksgiving are, eating, seeing your family, singing, thanking people for coming over and coming to their celebration! It is a thankful holiday!