Nadene Goldfoot
The passengers on the Mayflower who were Puritans were a group of English Protestants known as Separatists, or "Saints":The Puritans wanted to establish a new church in the New World where they could practice their religion without interference from the Church of England (Yes, the Church of England is now called the Episcopal Church in the United States, and its members are called Episcopalians:). They believed the Church of England needed reform, but they chose to remain within the church.
37 of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower were Separatists living in Leiden, Netherlands. The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England on September 6, 1620. The adult male passengers signed the Mayflower Compact on November 11, 1620 to establish order and civil society while waiting for a new patent to settle in New England. The passengers became the settlers of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. The colonists were unprepared for the harsh New England winters, and about half of them died in the first winter. The Puritan colonists of Plymouth were not called "Pilgrims" until the early 19th century.
Traveling with the Pilgrims were about two dozen non-separatist Puritans, whom the Pilgrims sometimes called “strangers,” a few servants, and a crew of 30 sailors — 102 passengers in all. After a rough crossing, the Mayflower arrived at the tip of Cape Cod on November 10, 1620.
To understand what motivated their journey, historians point back a century to King Henry VIII of England. When the Roman Catholic pope refused to annul Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry severed relations with Rome and formed the Church of England, naming himself its supreme leader. Membership in the new church was mandatory. 
First Thanksgiving in new country to become USA later
Puritans were readers of the Old Testament. The Puritans were a Christian group that drew much of their ideology from the Bible, and their relationship to the Old Testament was complex: The Puritans saw themselves as God's chosen people, similar to the Israelites in the Bible. They believed they had escaped oppression in Europe and settled in America, their Promised Land, just as the Israelites escaped captivity in Egypt and settled in Canaan. Puritans believed that biblical types could be used to interpret their own experiences and historical situation. For example, they could identify with biblical figures like Adam, Noah, or Job to understand their own spiritual struggles. Puritans believed that their community was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, and identified themselves as the "New Israel".
They read about the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. According to the Old Testament, the Jewish holiday most closely associated with giving thanks that Puritans would have referenced is Sukkot (also known as the Feast of Tabernacles), which is a harvest festival celebrated in the fall and considered a time to give thanks for the bounty of the land; many believe the Pilgrims modeled their Thanksgiving celebration after Sukkot. Sukkot is primarily found in the book of Leviticus, specifically in Leviticus 23:33-43, where the instructions for celebrating the Feast of Booths (Sukkot) are detailed. 
Decorating the family Sukkah before the attack that infamous Day Oct. 7th
Sukkot's last day of celebration in 2023 was October 7th, the day that goes
Sukkot's last day of celebration in 2023 was October 7th, the day that goes
down in infamy, being young dancing people outside were slaughtered by Hamas
terrorists, starting war events not wanted or dreamed of.
Keeping of Sukkot is detailed in the Hebrew Bible (Nehemiah 8:13–18, Zechariah 14:16–19 and Leviticus 23:34–44); the Mishnah (Sukkah 1:1–5:8); the Tosefta (Sukkah 1:1–4:28); and the Jerusalem Talmud (Sukkah 1a–) and Babylonian Talmud (Sukkah 2a–56b). Jews consider the 1st 5 books to have been written by Moses. It's also called the Pentateuch by Christians; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. This had been written in Hebrew, except solitary words in Genesis and Jeremiah and a few chapters in Ezra and Daniel which were written in Aramaic. Puritans had to rely on translations of that day. Only Jerome's Latin Vulgate of 4th century was available at this time for the Puritans. It had been adopted by the Catholic Church. Moses Arragel wrote it in Spanish but not until 1422.
Puritans established grammar schools to prepare students for college and the ministry, and to read classical authors in their original languages. These schools emphasized Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Judah Monis, an Italian Jew, was appointed as a Hebrew instructor at Harvard College in 1720. Monis taught Hebrew for 38 years. Puritans read the Hebrew scriptures as the Christian Old Testament. Some Puritans studied the Jewish Kabbalah to better understand the Hebrew Bible. The Puritans believed it was important to be able to read and understand the Bible. They established schools to educate the children of the colony, and the "Old Deluder Law" required towns to pay for teachers and send children to school.
The Puritan era is generally considered to have ended by 1740, but there is no consensus on the exact date. The term "Puritan" was used to describe New Englanders well past this time, even though the label was no longer accurate.
1621 Thanksgiving Day with the help of the Indians, or they might have starved to death: A depiction of the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Image by J.L.G. Ferris/LOC/Creative Commons, a holiday with big differences from Sukkot, however: Pastor John Robinson was the Puritan leader in Holland who encouraged his flock to board the Mayflower. He did leave, but his son did, later on. New England is loaded with Robinsons, who mostly came from Ireland very early on.
1. First, the Pilgrims did not believe in fixed holidays. In the words of Jonathan Sarna, professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University: “If it was a good season, they would announce a thanksgiving, but it was not Sukkot.”
2. Second, there was a crucial element of Sukkot the pilgrims neglected — and that was to build Sukkot. Neither do we have any record of them shaking lulav and etrog.
3. Third, the Pilgrims were Christians. For them, the covenant at Calvary, sealed in the blood of Jesus, would have negated the covenant at Sinai. While they might have found spiritual inspiration in what they called the “Old Testament,” they would not have observed any Jewish rituals and certainly would not have observed any Jewish holidays.
So, was Thanksgiving the American Sukkot? Probably not. Just like Chanukah and Christmas are not the same this year at all even though both fall on December 25th this year. One's on a lunar calendar and the other on the solar calendar, which is our universal calendar except for Jewish holidays.
However, Native American cultures traditionally expressed gratitude to the Creator or the natural world for the food they harvested, often incorporating prayers and rituals of thanks before consuming meals or during harvest celebrations, signifying a deep respect for the land and its bounty; this practice of giving thanks was a central part of their daily lives, not just on a specific holiday like Thanksgiving as it is understood today. Many Native American tribes viewed the natural world as sacred and believed that giving thanks to the source of life was essential.
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