The First Thanksgiving? Not So Fast

We all were taught about it in school: The Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation had a harvest meal with Squanto and the Native Americans, giving thanks to God for their harvest, and well-being. From this first celebration, others followed in the New England colonies, and later, states, until finally, it became a national holiday. Children still make Pilgrim hats and Indian headdresses as they celebrate in their classrooms what our forefathers did back in 1621. But, as the song says: “It ain’t necessarily so.”

From a Catholic perspective, this was not the first Thanksgiving celebrated in what was to become America. Let me explain:

In 1540, Spanish explorer Francisco Coronado, five priests, including the expedition chaplain, Fray Juan de Padilla, along with many soldiers set out on an expedition to find the golden city of Cibola. Their explorations brought them into what are now the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Kansas, and Texas. Along the way, Fr. Padilla and the other priests would celebrate Mass at various locations.

When Coronado’s group got to the High Plains of Texas, an area they called the Llano Estacado, or “Staked Plains,” or even the “Palisaded Plains,” they found themselves in a featureless landscape of tall prairie grasses with no trees or mountains or other landmarks by which they could mark their progress. One soldier remarked that when one sat down, the horizon shrunk to the distance of a musket’s length.

Some accounts indicated that the expedition eventually made camp in what is now called Palo Duro Canyon near present-day Amarillo, TX in 1541, some 80 years before Plymouth’s celebration. However recent artifact findings including bits of chain mail armor, metal crossbow arrow tips, a broken Spanish helmet, among other items were found in a smaller canyon south of Palo Duro named Blanco Canyon, located near Floydada, TX.

The chronicles indicated that whenever the expedition stopped for encampment, Fr Padilla would celebrate Mass in Thanksgiving for the expedition’s safety and progress. We can safely assume that this happened all along the way at sites in the other present-day states also.

My point is this: The word, “Eucharist” means thanksgiving. Coronado’s expedition and its priests had several thanksgiving celebrations during their travels. I point out the one in Blanco Canyon because it is documented with the historical artifacts of the expedition.

Therefore, the first Thanksgiving in America took place not in Plymouth Plantation, Massachusetts, but in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Kansas. I think it would be well to remember that we Catholics can claim to have celebrated Thanksgiving not once, but several times before the Pilgrims did. It is something to be proud of, as Catholics.