--- title: Thanksgiving Day 2015: The Myth of the First Thanksgiving description: Learn what actually happened on that day in this clip from the new PBS documentary 'The Pilgrims' canonical: https://time.com/4120573/the-pilgrims-documentary-first-thanksgiving-clip/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-23T16:00:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:06.800Z article:section: History og:title: Thanksgiving Day 2015: The Myth of the First Thanksgiving og:description: Learn what actually happened in this clip from the new documentary 'The Pilgrims' og:url: https://time.com/4120573/the-pilgrims-documentary-first-thanksgiving-clip/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8824c974dde1b962/698871f38e0601765c46369e/thanksgiving1.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The First Thanksgiving 1621. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Thanksgiving Day 2015: The Myth of the First Thanksgiving twitter:description: Learn what actually happened in this clip from the new documentary 'The Pilgrims' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8824c974dde1b962/698871f38e0601765c46369e/thanksgiving1.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Small Truth Behind the Big Myth of Thanksgiving ## Video: Thanksgiving 2015 By The Numbers [Watch (HLS stream): Thanksgiving 2015 By The Numbers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4429B5qt.m3u8) (1:02)  _Published 2015-11-20. Here’s all of the important numbers you need to know for Thanksgiving this year._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 23, 2015 4:00 PM UTC  An illustration of the mythological first Thanksgiving of 1621 An illustration of the mythological first Thanksgiving of 1621Universal History Archive / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 23, 2015 4:00 PM UTC Few would be surprised to learn that the story of the First Thanksgiving is mostly a myth. The idea that the Massachusetts Pilgrims and their Native American neighbors broke bread together in 1621 to celebrate the bounty of their harvest reads like a tale for children. In 1970, on the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth, TIME [took note](http://time.com/vault/issue/1970-11-30/page/87/) of the myth’s staying power and the darker nature of the truth. “The Pilgrims do not deserve the sentimental image created for them by Longfellow and his contemporaries in the 19th century, when the name Pilgrim itself finally began to catch on,” the magazine observed. “They had to be, and were, considerably tougher to surmount the brutal odds threatening their survival—one aspect of the myth that has not been exaggerated. During the first winter, cold, disease and famine cut their number in half—13 out of the 18 wives who came on the Mayflower died.” As shown in this clip from the new Ric Burns documentary _The Pilgrims_, which will premiere on PBS on Tuesday evening, the bounty of that ‘Thanksgiving’ meal is still historically significant, for marking the end of a period of deprivation–even if the Pilgrims never called it Thanksgiving or issued formal invitations to their neighbors. **_Read more from the TIME Vault:_** [Unshakable Myth](http://time.com/vault/issue/1970-11-30/page/87/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4120573/the-pilgrims-documentary-first-thanksgiving-clip/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4120573/the-pilgrims-documentary-first-thanksgiving-clip/"},"headline":"The Small Truth Behind the Big Myth of Thanksgiving","datePublished":"2015-11-23T16:00:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:06.800Z","description":"Learn what actually happened on that day in this clip from the new PBS documentary 'The Pilgrims'","url":"https://time.com/4120573/the-pilgrims-documentary-first-thanksgiving-clip/","keywords":["movies","Holidays","Thanksgiving"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8824c974dde1b962/698871f38e0601765c46369e/thanksgiving1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8824c974dde1b962/698871f38e0601765c46369e/thanksgiving1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The First Thanksgiving 1621.","caption":"The first Thanksgiving 1621.","creditText":"Universal History Archive / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4120573/the-pilgrims-documentary-first-thanksgiving-clip/","name":"The Small Truth Behind the Big Myth of Thanksgiving"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Thanksgiving 2015 By The Numbers","description":"Here’s all of the important numbers you need to know for Thanksgiving this year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4429B5qt/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-20T18:32:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4429B5qt.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4120573/the-pilgrims-documentary-first-thanksgiving-clip/","duration":"PT1M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4120573/the-pilgrims-documentary-first-thanksgiving-clip/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```