Your tasks will be to take a trip back in time when our country was very young. You will be researching facts on how Thanksgiving began and the important role it played in shaping our country. Learn about how Thanksgiving has shaped our country by going back in time and learning the: THE PILGRIM STORY The 17th-century Pilgrims are known through the writings and artifacts they left behind. There is much more to their history, however, than the 17th-century facts. There is also the "Pilgrim Story." That "Story" is the celebration of a few selected moments which have fixed the Pilgrims firmly in America's collective memory. This Pilgrim Story has grown and evolved over time. Thanksgiving shapes our past. Hold dear to your heart those traditions that shape our lives.