Five kernels of corn – that is what has been reported that he Pilgrims were served on the second Thanksgiving Day, 1623, just before the larger meal was dished up.* When we talk about the first Thanksgiving Day–with the Pilgrims and Wampanoag tribe of Native Americans sharing a meal of thankfulness after harvesting their crops–that event was held on November 28, 1621. The second Thanksgiving Day happened two years later. It may have been a better day to represent Thanksgiving.

After the first Thanksgiving in 1621, two things happened that caused great hardship for the community living at Plymouth. First, they underestimated how much food to save for the winter and they ran out of grain before spring. They saved just enough grain to plant their fields during 1622. However, they had a communal agreement where everyone would share food equally from a common food pantry. This caused a great many people to slack off when it came time to tend to the fields. They left that hard work to someone else. Slothfulness became epidemic. As a result, their corn harvest was diminished and they faced another lean winter as food ran out once again. Grain was rationed to a few kernels of corn per day. Stealing food in the dark of night became a problem in the colony.

William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth Colony decided to make a change. In the spring of 1623 he announced that he was canceling the communal living agreement. In its place, he parceled out land for each family and announced a private land ownership agreement. The families were free to do whatever they deemed fit on their own land. They could plant as little or as much as they wanted. If they had more than they needed, they were free to keep it, trade it, sell it or whatever they deemed fit. However, there would be no more public handouts! Bradford’s plan worked! He reported that men and women who had previously shirked working in the fields took to planting and tending their fields. Crops were growing in larger quantities than either of the previous two growing seasons.

Then adversity happened. The summer months of 1623 were exceptionally hot. Starting in June, it did not rain for six weeks and their crops began to wither and turn brown. In the middle of July, Bradford called for a day of fasting and prayer. The Pilgrims spent nine hours one hot July day praying for God to send rain. In the evening, the skies became cloudy and it began to rain. Bradford wrote about the day they prayed for rain.

For all the morning and the greatest part of the day, it was clear weather and very hot, and not a cloud or any sign of rain to be seen; yet toward evening it began to overcast, and shortly after to rain with such sweet and gentle showers as gave them cause of rejoicing and blessing God…It came without wind or thunder or any violence, and by degrees in that abundance as that the earth was thoroughly wet and soaked … which did so apparently revive and quicken the decayed corn and other fruits as was wonderful to see, and made the Indians astonished to behold.¹

The rain lasted for two weeks, reviving the crops. So when the harvest came in the fall of 1623, they had more food than they had in the previous two years. When they sat down for the second Thanksgiving meal, they had a change of attitude due to their new perspective. Five kernels of corn reminded them of their blessings.

• One kernel to remind them of the blessings of health
• One kernel to remind them of the blessings of family
• One kernel to remind them of the blessings of friends who lent a helping hand
• One kernel to remind them of the blessings of faith and hope beyond what is seen with human eyes
• One kernel to remind them of the blessings of work so one could earn their daily bread

Make sure you take time to count your blessings on this Thanksgiving Day.

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1. Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, by William Bradford, translated by Samuel Eliot Morison. As quoted in The Pilgrims & Capitalism Part II: What to Remind Yourself Every Thanksgiving. Triple Check.com, November 24, 2011

*Note: The five kernels of corn tradition may have actually been started by Daniel Webster at a Pilgrim Society event on December 22, 1820, nearly 200 years after the Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving. See Five Kernels of Corn, by Susan E. Roser, The Mayflower Quarterly, October 19, 2005

The tradition may also be attributed to a poem by 19^th century writer Hezekiah Butterworth, The Five Kernels of Corn