The First Thanksgiving in Louisiana

Thanksgiving might be the quintessential American holiday.  Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, but prior to that, “days of thanksgiving” were periodically declared by governors or other political authorities.  In the popular imagination, the First Thanksgiving was celebrated in Plymouth Colony by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags, opens a new window in 1621.  However, while indeed the Pilgrims and Wampanoags celebrated a three day feast, opens a new window in the autumn of that year, there is no evidence suggesting that this was a celebration of 'thanksgiving' per se.  “Days of thanksgiving”, periodically proclaimed by governing authorities in England, were familiar to the Pilgrims.  The first 'thanksgiving' in Plymouth Colony was probably venerated in 1623 after a drought that endangered the pilgrims’ harvest suddenly ended, as William Bradford recorded: “[T]he Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing.  For which mercy, in time convenient, they also set apart a day of thanksgiving” (See William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, opens a new window for more on the history of Plymouth Colony).  During the next two centuries, Days of Thanksgiving were observed not infrequently but with little regularity in New England and to a lesser extent in neighboring territories.  In 1789, George Washington proclaimed a "day of public thanksgiving" for Thursday, November 26th of that year.  This, however, was a one time event.

All these events were foreign to Louisiana, a colony of France and then Spain.  Even after Louisiana became a part of the United States, culturally Louisiana remained strongly French.  However, in December of 1845, Louisiana Governor Alexandre Mouton, decided that Louisiana should offer a day of Thanksgiving as Americans did up North.  Thus, the governor declared that the 16^th of the next month, January, would be set aside for a day of "public Thanksgiving".  The Daily Picayune describes it here:

Today, Louisiana celebrates the feast with the rest of the country, but come January 16th, take a moment and be thankful and remember Louisiana's First Thanksgiving.

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