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Articles on Pilgrims

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The Catholic hymn, “Te Deum” – which says, “You, God, we praise” – has been used for centuries in Catholic worship for thanksgiving. Iconotheca Valvasoriana Author Jean Marot via Wikimedia Commons.

How medieval Catholic traditions of thanksgiving prayers and feasting shaped the Protestant celebration of Plymouth’s pilgrims

The Pilgrims who started the first Thanksgiving tradition after they landed in Plymouth were following the customs they had grown up with, originating in medieval times.
Turkeys have always been a fixture in the holiday’s marketing. Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images

Why is turkey the main dish on Thanksgiving?

A mix of New England and British traditions and historical events led to the particular poultry you’ll find on Thanksgiving tables everywhere.
In the 19th century, there was a campaign to link the Thanksgiving holiday to the Pilgrims. Bettman/Getty Images

The first Thanksgiving is a key chapter in America’s origin story – but what happened in Virginia four months later mattered much more

The communion between Native Americans and the Pilgrims makes for a compelling narrative. But it masks the suspicions and brewing violence that were far more representative of the era.
Plimoth Plantation, in Plymouth, Mass., is a living museum that’s a replica of the original settlement, which existed for 70 years. Wikimedia Commons

The complicated legacy of the Pilgrims is finally coming to light 400 years after they landed in Plymouth

Descendants from the Pilgrims were keen to highlight their ancestors’ role in the country’s founding. But their sanitized version of events is only now starting to be told in full.
‘Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor’ by William Halsall (1882). Pilgrim Hall Museum

Why the Pilgrims were actually able to survive

The Pilgrims repeatedly thanked God for their good fortune. But without two earlier developments, the entire undertaking at New Plymouth would have likely failed.
We can give thanks to the strong winds of trans-Atlantic trade for ‘Tom Turkey.’ Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

Why we have globalization to thank for Thanksgiving

A globalization expert shares two surprising tales of how the powerful winds of trans-Atlantic trade affected the quintessentially American holiday.
Jennie A. Brownscombe’s ‘The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth’ (1914). Wikimedia Commons

The two men who almost derailed New England’s first colonies

The Pilgrims were thankful for finally being able to vanquish Thomas Morton and Ferdinando Gorges, who spent years trying to undermine the legal basis for settlements in Massachusetts and beyond.

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