Thanksgiving, as a U.S. holiday tradition, is most commonly traced to a three‑day harvest feast held by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag in Plymouth, in the autumn of 1621.

Quick Scoop

  • In what is now the United States, European-style thanksgiving ceremonies were recorded as early as the mid‑1500s, including Spanish and French services of thanks involving prayers and meals.
  • The famous “First Thanksgiving” that most people mean took place in 1621, when the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag people held a multi‑day harvest celebration after the Pilgrims’ first successful crop.
  • This 1621 feast was not originally called “Thanksgiving Day” by the participants; it was remembered later as a prototype of the holiday that eventually became a national day of thanks.

A Bit of Nuance

  • Some historians note even earlier thanksgiving observances, such as a 1565 shared meal at St. Augustine in Spanish Florida and a 1578 thanksgiving service in Newfoundland, but these did not evolve into the modern U.S. Thanksgiving tradition.
  • Over time, various colonies and states held their own days of thanksgiving, until Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a recurring national Thanksgiving Day during the Civil War in 1863, cementing the holiday’s place in U.S. culture.

In everyday use, when someone asks “When was Thanksgiving first celebrated?”, the historically standard answer is: the Plymouth harvest feast of 1621 , even though earlier thanksgiving events took place in North America.

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