Myth of the First Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving 1621, oil on canvas by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899). A fictionalized depiction of the traditional "First Thanksgiving" in which the Wampanoag anachronistically wear Plains tribes' headdresses, the Pilgrims wear contemporary cowboy hats and at least five Pilgrim women are present (only four had survived the previous winter).

The myth of the First Thanksgiving, also called Thanksgiving myth, is the mythologized retelling of a 1621 harvest feast by the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts as the foundation for the modern Thanksgiving holiday as celebrated in the United States. This description of events has been criticized by both Indigenous peoples of the United States and academic scholars for how it obfuscates history. In particular, the relationships between the Pilgrims and the Indigenous people of the region are misrepresented. Many modern day Thanksgiving foods were also not eaten at the feast as assumed, and the aftermath of the event is usually ignored.