Ninety Guests and Five Deer at Plymouth

The only eyewitness account of the 1621 harvest celebration at Plymouth comes from Edward Winslow in a letter published in Mourt’s Relation. After the harvest came in, Governor Bradford sent four men out hunting fowl “that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors.” Then Massasoit, the Wampanoag leader, arrived with about ninety men. For three days they were entertained and feasted, and the Wampanoag went out and killed five deer, which they brought back and gave to the governor and others. Winslow wrote that it wasn’t always so plentiful, “yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.” That’s a grateful heart. When God fills your table, you don’t just say thanks. You pull up more chairs.