Thursday is Thanksgiving, that day when the entire nation will be sitting down to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner that will likely feature roast turkey with dressing, mash potatoes, giblet gravy, sweet potatoes, squash, a variety of side dishes, cranberry sauce or relish, rolls, and all of this topped off with a large slice of pumpkin pie. But If you think that this was the same meal that our Pilgrim forefathers dined on in 1621 you would be very wrong.

It is important to understand that while it’s considered the first Thanksgiving the Pilgrims saw it as a traditional English Harvest Festival celebrating a successful harvest. Nor did it take place on the fourth Thursday in November but according to historians it was likely celebrated somewhere between Sept. 21 and Nov. 11 and most likely on Sept. 29, which was Michaelmas.

Probably the best record of what the Pilgrims ate that “first” Thanksgiving are given us by Edward Winslow and Governor William Bradford

Winslow tells us “We exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon our governor, and upon the captain, and others….”

Bradford adds “And besides waterfowl there were great stores of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck of meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion.”

Despite those two descriptions of what Pilgrims ate, determining all they ate is mere speculation. However, we do know that there were no mashed potatoes on the menu because potatoes were still unknown outside of Peru, and it was the same with sweet potatoes which had not emerged from the Caribbean. Food historians tell us that it was possible that the Pilgrims might have eaten dried cranberries with the meal because a recipe for cranberry sauce was 50 years in the future. At this stage a lack of wheat and butter for pastry eliminated the possibility of the meal being topped off by a slice of pumpkin pie or any sort of pie.

While historians say that turkey was not the centerpiece of the meal the Pilgrims probably ate a variety of fowl such as goose, duck, and even swans and passenger pigeons stuffed with chunks of onion and herbs. Experts tell us that birds were often boiled and then finished by spit roasting over a fire although accounts of the period tell us the preferred method was roasting and finished by boiling as this made for a better tasting bird.

Being on the ocean the Pilgrims had access to a wide variety of seafood. There were Striped Bass, Bluefish, Flounder, Mackerel, Haddock, and of course, Cod. Then there were shellfish that include, Littleneck Clams, Quahogs, Razor Clams, Soft shell clams, and Steamers.

It’s likely that some form of corn was included in the meal along with beans, pumpkins, squash and perhaps carrots and turnips from their gardens. Then there were foods found in the surrounding forests that would have included hazelnuts, beechnuts, black walnuts, and chestnuts. All of this food would have been eaten without plates or eating utensils and washed down with the one drink available to the Pilgrims, water.

If your image of how Pilgrims dressed was shaped by a painting such as one by George Henry Boughton called “Pilgrims Going to Church” that your third-grade teacher may have shown you, then it’s likely you have a false idea of how pilgrims dressed at the meal.

Pilgrim men did not wear black breeches, square white collar and cuffs, wide buckled belts, black steeple hats with a buckle, nor did Pilgrim women wear full black skirts, white aprons, and dark capes. Pilgrim adults and children wore bright solid colors since their religion did not object to colorful clothing. They had many dyes so that red, green, beige, burgundy, blue, violet, as well as brown and black garments were worn.

That’s the true story of our Pilgrim forefathers and the First Harvest Festival better known to us as the First Thanksgiving. I hope that I have not shattered anyone’s images of Thanksgiving because like many of you it’s my favorite holiday. I also wish to apologize to any third grade teachers who may have taken umbrage with my remarks about third grade teachers because though it was 70 years ago, I still remember my third-grade teacher, Miss King, as a wonderful teacher.

Have a wonderful holiday.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com