This a brief summary of the story of Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.A,

2. It is not a
religious Holiday
nor a Patriotic
holiday, but
simply a day for
doing something
we sometimes
forget to do - to
say “thank you”
for the most

3. Five centuries ago, a
group of men and women,
called , pilgrims, had
earlier fled their home in
England and sailed to
Holland to escape
religious persecution.
They enjoyed more
religious tolerance, and
decided to make a
pilgrimage to America.

4. The Pilgrims
were living in
Holland .
They hired a
ship called the
Speedwell to
take them to
Southampton,
England, to
meet the
Mayflower.

5. On September
6th, the
Mayflower
departed from
Plymouth,
England to
America.

6. By the time
the Pilgrims
had left
England, they
had already
been living on
board for
nearly a
month and a
half.(45 days)

7. The first
half of the
voyage
went fairly
smoothly,
the only
major
problem
was sea-
sickness.

8. By October, they began encountering a
number of Atlantic storms that made the
voyage treacherous.

9. What happened on the voyage?
•Off the 102
passengers
onboard the ship
´, three of them
were pregnant.
One of them
gave birth
during the
voyage.

10. •During one
storms, a main
beam in the
middle of the
ship cracked,
but it was fixed
with a large
screw.

11. •A twenty-five year
old man named
John Howland
came up on deck,
but the ship rolled,
and he lost his
balance and fell
into the cold
Atlantic ocean.
Luckily, he
managed to grab
a hold of a rope.

12. The voyage
itself across the
Atlantic Ocean
took 66 days,
from their
departure on
September 6th,
until Cape Cod
was sighted on
November 9th,
1620.

13. The
Mayflower
anchored
off the tip
of Cope
Cod on
November
11th.

14. Their first winter
was devastating.
At the beginning of
the following fall,
they had lost 46 of
the original 102
who sailed on the
Mayflower.

15. But the harvest of
1621 was a
bountiful one. And
the remaining
colonists decided
to celebrate with a
feast -- including
91 Indians who
had helped the
Pilgrims survive
their first year