True Facts about the first American Thanksgiving

Today Walt can reveal that what you were taught about pilgrims, pumpkins and Plymouth was fake news! Historian Rodney Kite Powell of the Tampa Bay History Center gives the credit for the first Thanksgiving celebration to Spanish soldiers and missionaries who, along with Native Americans, thanked God for His mercies, especially safe travel and arrival. 

This was on 8 September 1565, in... wait for it... St. Augustine, Florida! Yes, we have a picture... well, a painting, actually.

Those involved were all part of the expedition to the New World of Dom Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. There were around 800 crew members. and a variety of people -- not just Spaniards, but people from from all over Europe -- who were trying to create a settlement in Florida, and whose efforts were ultimately crowned with success. To celebrate, a Roman Catholic Mass and Te Deum were celebrated on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Don Pedro came ashore amid the sounding of trumpets, artillery salutes, and the firing of cannons to claim the land for King Philip II and Spain. The ship's chaplain, Fr. Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, chanted the Te Deum, the Church's great hymn of Thanksgiving, traditionally attributed to St. Ambrose of Milan, and presented a crucifix which Don Pedro ceremoniously kissed.

After that, 500 soldiers, 200 sailors and 100 families and artisans, along with the Timucuan Indians who inhabited the region, celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in gratitude to God, after which a thanksgiving feast was shared by the Indians and the Spaniards.

The second American Thanksgiving occurred on April 30, 1598, when Spanish explorer Don Juan de Onate requested the Franciscan friars to offer a Mass of Thanksgiving, after which he formally proclaimed "La Toma" (The Capture), claiming the land north of the Rio Grande for the King of Spain. The men feasted on duck, goose, and fish from the river. Some of the Spaniards dressed in costume and presented a play.

Even at Plymouth Rock in the Massachusetts Colony, where the Pilgrims later landed in 1620, Squanto, the Indian who organized their first Thanksgiving, was a Catholic. He had been enslaved by the English, but was freed by Spanish Franciscans and subsequently received the Catholic Sacrament of Baptism.

Catholics and all Americans should remember that the word "Thanksgiving" is also Catholic, from the Greek "Eucharistia", referring not to turkey with all the trimmings, but to the Heavenly Bread, the Catholic Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.