 The event now commemorated in the United States at the end of November each year is more properly described as a harvest festival . The original festival was probably held in early October 1621 and was celebrated by the 53 surviving Pilgrims , along with Massasoit and 90 of his men . Three contemporaneous accounts of the event survive : Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford ; Mourt 's Relation probably written by Edward Winslow ; and New England 's Memorial by Plymouth Colony Secretary ( and Bradford 's nephew ) Capt. Nathaniel Morton . The celebration lasted three days and featured a feast that included numerous types of waterfowl , wild turkeys and fish procured by the colonists , and five deer brought by the Native Americans . 
