Happy Thanksgiving
By Taylor Murphy Editorial Assistant at Good Housekeeping.
Thanksgiving traditionally revolves around family, food, and football. And while some of us are spending entirely too much time making spreadsheets of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes such as turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie, it’s possibly even more important to remember how the holiday started, as well as the diverse ways we celebrate it today. Share these quizzes with family members while you wait for the turkey to come out of the oven.
1. The first Thanksgiving was a three-day affair.
Today, Thanksgiving takes place over one decadent day — maybe two if you count Black Friday. But the original Pilgrims went all out. In November 1621, the settlers’ first corn harvest proved so successful, and Governor William Bradford reportedly invited the Plymouth colonists’ Native American allies to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Members of the Wampanoag tribe came bearing food to share. They had so much bounty; the revelers decided to extend the affair.
2. Colonists and Native Americans may not have had turkey at their feast.
While most of us enjoy turkey as the centerpiece of our table, no one can say for sure whether it was even on the menu back in 1621. However, they did indulge in other foods like lobster, seal, and swan.
3. Part of Plymouth, Mass., looks just as it did in the 17th century.
If you want to see what Thanksgiving was like back in the 1600s, the historic attraction Plymouth (or Plimoth) Plantation stays true to its historical roots. You can even celebrate Thanksgiving at the site, designed after a colonist’s home and a Wampanoag place.
4. Thomas Jefferson refused to declare Thanksgiving a holiday.
Presidents originally had to declare Thanksgiving a holiday every year, until Lincoln made it a national holiday during his tenure. However, Jefferson refused to recognize the event because he believed so firmly in church and state separation.
5. The woman behind “Mary Had a Little Lamb” is also responsible for Thanksgiving’s recognition as a national holiday. After three decades of persistent lobbying, writer and editor Sarah Josepha Hale convinced President Abraham Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday officially.
6. The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade didn’t feature any balloons.
Thanksgiving parade made its big debut in 1924. It did have something that might be even crazier than balloons: animals from the Central Park Zoo.
8. In 1939, Thanksgiving was celebrated on the third Thursday in November — not the fourth. Even though the holiday had been observed on the fourth Thursday since Lincoln officially recognized the federal holiday decades before, Roosevelt bumped it up a week. He effectively added seven more shopping days to the holiday season to boost the economy.
9. A Thanksgiving mix-up inspired the first T.V. dinners.
In 1953, a Swanson employee accidentally ordered a colossal shipment of Thanksgiving turkeys (260 tons, exactly). To deal with the excess, salesman Gerry Thomas took inspiration from the prepared foods served on airplanes. He came up with the idea of filling 5,000 aluminum trays with the turkey – along with cornbread dressing, gravy, peas, and sweet potatoes to complete the offering and sold for 98 cents per meal.
10. Americans prepare 46 million turkeys for Thanksgiving each year.
Thanksgiving without turkey would be like Christmas without a tree, and most American families wouldn’t dream of foregoing the almighty bird.
11. But not everyone eats turkey on Thanksgiving.
If your family goes in a different direction on the big day, you’re not alone. According to the National Turkey Federation, 88% of Americans chow down on Thanksgiving turkey.
12. You might consume up to 229 grams of fat during the big meal.
You might want to put on those stretchy pants before heading to Thanksgiving dinner. That’s about three to four times the amount of fat you should eat in a day.
13. America’s first turkey trot took place more than a century ago. The race was hosted by the local YMCA in Buffalo, NY, and included just six runners — although only four made it to the finish line.
14. Runners at a Dallas turkey-trot set a world record by dressing up as turkeys.
15. The turkeys pardoned by the president go on to live fulfilling lives.
President George H.W. Bush pardoned the first turkey in 1989 after noticing the 50-pound bird at his official Thanksgiving proclamation looked a little nervous.
Cheers, Thanksgiving Dinner clip
16. Only male turkeys gobble.
If you learned in preschool that a turkey goes “gobble, gobble,” that’s only about half true. Only male turkeys — appropriately named gobblers — actually make the sound. Female turkeys cackle instead, so if you’re trying to figure out whether a turkey’s male or female, wait until they open their beaks.
17. Turkeys are (kind of) named after the country.
No, the bid turkey does not hail from the country Turkey. During the Ottoman Empire’s reign, a bird called the guinea fowl — which bears a striking resemblance to the American turkey — was imported to Europe from its native North Africa.
18. Most Americans prefer Thanksgiving leftovers to the actual meal.
Fans of the beloved turkey, stuffing, and mashed potato leftover sandwich: You’re in the majority. Almost eight in 10 Americans agree that the second helpings of stuffing, mashed potatoes, and of course pie beat out the big dinner itself, according to a 2015 Harris Poll.
19. The Butterball Turkey Talk-Line answers almost 100,000 calls each season.
So many people roast a big bird just once a year and understandably need a little help. No question is too silly for the heroes on the other end of the line. In 2016, the company’s famous cooking crisis management team also introduced a 24-hour text message line for the lead-up to the big day.
20. Canada also celebrates Thanksgiving — but on a different day.
While American Thanksgiving pays homage to a feast between the pilgrims and the Native Americans, the Canadian celebration commemorates a feast between English explorer Martin Frobisher and his crew after their successful sail from England to the Canadian territory in 1578. Canadian Thanksgiving takes place on the second Monday of October every year. That doesn’t mean there are zero similarities between the two holidays. Both American and Canadian Thanksgiving menus often revolve around turkey, and revelers in both countries frequently spend the day watching football marathons and festive parades.
21. Four places in the country bear the name Turkey.
The U.S. Census has identified another four named Cranberry and a total of 34 dubbed Plymouth.
22. Americans east an estimated 50 million pumpkin pies on Thanksgiving.
According to The American Pie Council, more Americans prefer apple pie overall — pumpkin pie only comes in second place.
23. Black Friday is the busiest day of the year for plumbers.
Thanks to all that food we gobble up on Thanksgiving and houseguests stressing out the plumbing system, Roto-Rooter reports that kitchen drains, garbage disposals, and yes, toilets require more attention the day after Thanksgiving than any other day.
24. Over 32 million people begin Black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving.
Even though many consumers think stores shouldn’t be open on Thanksgiving, a good chunk of us still shop on holiday, according to the National Retail Federation. But not everyone heads to the mall before their meal settles.
5 Tips for Keeping Your Sanity This Black Friday
Black Friday still draws the biggest crowd of the entire holiday weekend, with 115 million people. A total of 69 percent of Americans chase those deals like a retail-driven Olympic sport.
25. Thanksgiving’s history isn’t all sunny.
Before you tuck into your turkey and stuffing, take a moment to remember that Thanksgiving didn’t come about entirely peacefully. After the pilgrims arrived, years of the conflict took place between European settlers and the Wampanoag people, which resulted in the deaths of millions of Native people. The only reason the pilgrims could even settle in Plymouth was that the Wampanoag population had been devastated by disease, virtually wiped out by a plague European settlers brought with them years before.
Since 1970, people have gathered on the last Thursday in November at the top of Cole’s Hill, which overlooks Plymouth Rock, to commemorate a “National Day of Mourning.” Similar events take place in other parts of the country to remember that, even as European settlers fled to North American to escape persecution in their own country, their arrival heralded unspeakable loss for Native people that continues today.
Reference Good Housekeeping
