farmed the land and they bought and sold animal skins. They thought that all people were equal and so they did not The Pilgrims too were often ill and hungry, and nearly have slaves. half of them died in the first year. But they had help from particularly a man called some of the Native Americans, Squanto. He went to Europe as a prisoner in 1605, and spent some years in England, so he spoke some English. He showed the Pilgrims how to hunt and grow corn. In the autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims had a big dinner to give thanks for the first food that they had grown themselves. This day was called Thanksgiving, and Americans still celebrate it every year, on the fourth Thursday of November It is one of the most important holidays in the year, and people often travel many hundreds of kilometres to be with their families. They eat a big dinner with two of the food that the Pilgrim Fathers found in America, turkey and pie filled with pumpkin.