14 Things You Didn't Know About Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving: Who's on First

By Jeremy Lott Before entering our mandatory food comas this year, we pause to reflect on the curious fact that several historical societies regard the official Plymouth Plantation Thanksgiving story as a bit of Massachusetts pro-Pilgrim propaganda. These local history buffs are not anti-Thanksgiving -- not even anti-Pilgrim necessarily. They point out that the first of the two feasts, held in October 1621 and then July 1623, was more of a harvest feast than an official cycle of fasting and gorging and thanksgiving to God. The boosters tend to make these points and then slyly slip it in there that their very own favored Thanksgiving(s) occurred first. When and where were these tentative turkey days, these rival First Thanksgivings? So glad that you asked... Jeremy Lott is an editor of Rare and author, most recently, of William F. Buckley.

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