Top 10 Myths About Thanksgiving

Top 10 Myths About Thanksgiving: "Top 10 Myths About Thanksgiving

By Rick Shenkman

Mr. Shenkman is the editor of HNN.



MYTH # 1



The Pilgrims Held the First Thanksgiving



To see what the first Thanksgiving was like you have to go to: Texas. Texans claim the first Thanksgiving in America actually took place in little San Elizario, a community near El Paso, in 1598 -- twenty-three years before the Pilgrims' festival. For several years they have staged a reenactment of the event that culminated in the Thanksgiving celebration: the arrival of Spanish explorer Juan de Onate on the banks of the Rio Grande. De Onate is said to have held a big Thanksgiving festival after leading hundreds of settlers on a grueling 350-mile long trek across the Mexican desert."