15 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving
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15 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving

Fun Facts and trivia about Thanksgiving that you probably don't know.

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15 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving
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Thanksgiving day is normally a day were family gathers, (American) football is watched, parades are stared at for hours at a time and you tend to eat way too much food than you should. This leads to you promising to lose weight next year and maybe join a gym but we both know most of you guys reading this are going to give up in a few months into the new year. And these days worth of left overs aren't helping with your self control. By the end of the year, all that gained weight from Halloween candy and pumpkin flavored treats, Thanksgiving feasting and Christmas dinner, forget about it. That ain't coming off easily.

On this day you might also, think about Native American Indians and pilgrims, you might share what you feel thankful for, you might fight with the family & in-laws and if you have kids you might have to pretend to like the crafts they made in school for the holiday. Hand turkeys for the third year and a row, great job Johnny! Oh, what a pretty paper Native American head dress you got there Katie!

My crappy attempt at comedy aside, this is a pretty big holiday that has been around for a long time and I bet there is a lot you probably don't know about it.


1. The creator of "Mary Had A Little Lamb" helped make Thanksgiving a national holiday


Sarah Joespha Hale, author of "Mary Had A Little Lamb", campaigned for 20 years to get Thanksgiving to be made into a national holiday. She lobbied various congressmen, wrote annually wrote letters to every governor in the United States, and continually wrote letter after letter to the presidents. It took five different presidents before Thanksgiving was made national!

President Jefferson even said that a federal Thanksgiving day was “the most ridiculous idea ever conceived.”

In her last letter on the subject, she suggested that this holiday could help unify the country once again. To put things in a better perspective, this idea was still being purposed during the time when the civil war was being fought. Sarah's last letter was mailed to Abraham Lincoln on September 28th 1863. And on October 3rd 1863, president Lincoln declared that the last Thursday in November as a national Thanksgiving holiday.

Before this, the only national holidays that existed was Independence day and George Washington's birthday.

From that point on, every president except Roosevelt would declare that last Thursday in November as the national day to give thanks. Roosevelt moved the date to the second to last Thursday in November to help extend the Christmas shopping season by a week. However, only about half of the states listened to his change. The other half rebelliously celebrated Thanksgiving on the traditional date. Texas even celebrated both days as a holiday. It wasn't until 1941 that the official day for Thanksgiving was put into USA law.


2. What we eat during the "modern" Thanksgiving is also because of Sarah


Sarah Joespha Hale wrote editorials of recipes to use for thanksgiving dinner that ended up being widely circulated. These recipes included; turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Since then about 91% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving with about 280 million Turkeys are sold each year for Thanksgiving.

This is highly likely to be very different than what the pilgrims and Native Americans probably had during the "original" Thanksgiving which happened in 1621 in Plymouth Colony Massachusetts. It lasted three days and was celebrated by 50 pilgrims and approximately 90 Wampanoag Indians, including Chief Massasoit. Based on a a few accounts, they most likely ate deer, fowl, fish, corn, berries, shellfish, and boiled pumpkin.

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty." - Edward Winslow

"They begane now to gather in ye small harvest they had, and to fitte up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health & strenght, and had all things in good plenty; For as some were thus imployed in affairs abroad, others were excersised in fishing, aboute codd, & bass, & other fish, of which yey tooke good store, of which every family had their portion. All ye somer ther was no want. And now begane to come in store of foule, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besids water foule, ther was great store of wild Turkies, of which they tooke many, besids venison, &c. Besids, they had about a peck a meale a weeke to a person, or now since harvest, Indean corn to yt proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largly of their plenty hear to their freinds in England, which were not fained, but true reports." - William Bradford


3. There were Thanksgivings before the "original"

In England and some other parts of Europe, it was common to frequently set a side days to give God thanks. This was a tradition that fallowed over to the "New World" and they celebrated when good crops where grown, when a drought would end, and when a harsh winter was survived.

The real first Thanksgiving in America according to documentation likely occurred in 1541, when Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his expedition held a thanksgiving celebration in Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas panhandle. However, this celebration is seldom taught in school and history likes to focus more of the Plymouth pilgrims and Native American's feast.


4. This clothes dye is food?!

The Native American Indians used to use cranberries to treat arrow wounds and dye clothes. Today, twenty percent of cranberries eaten are eaten on Thanksgiving.


5. Pilgrims do not dress how they are typically depicted

Pilgrims did not wear buckled hats or dress only in black and white. Buckles did not come into fashion until later in the 17th century. The also pilgrims usually saved their formal black and white colors for Sunday.


6. The True Hero is Squanto

Without Squanto, the pilgrims most likely would not have lived. He was Native American of the Patuxet tribe and he knew English. This was because Squanto had already been back and forth across the ocean to England three times. He was a captured slave...

Anyways, because he knew English, Squanto was great at serving as an interpreter. He was also the one who taught the pilgrims how to farm maize (corn) the native way by burying fish in the soil to fertilize the soil. He was big help for the English, colonization of the New World and Native & Pilgrim interactions between 1605 all the way to when he died in 1622. He died of a fever and bloody nose.

"Here [Monomoyick Bay] Squanto fell ill of Indian fever, bleeding much at the nose, which the Indians take as a symptom of death, and within a few days he died. He begged the Governor to pray for him, that he might go to the Englishman's God in heaven, and bequeathed several of his things to his English friends, as remembrances. His death was a great loss." - Governor William Bradford: "Bradford's History of the English Settlement"


7. Turkeys Can't Breed?!


Due to white meat being the the most popular part of the turkey, over time humans have bred these animals to have bigger breasts. Although it has helped give us the meat that most of us crave, it has gotten in the way of mating. The breasts typically get in the way of a male trying to mount the female. So, in a lot of case artificial insemination is used to fertilize the eggs. If something ever happened that got rid of humans, turkeys would likely disappear as well. Good going humans...


8. Turkey Shoots?

In the late 19th century, people used to tie down live turkey's behind logs on Thanksgiving morning with their head showing only. Marksmanship competitions were held in which they would try to shoot the turkey's head off. If the turkey died, they gained it as a prize. Today, turkey shoots, still happen in some parts of rural United States



9. The Turkey Pardon

The tradition of pardoning a turkey each year official began in 1947, However, President Lincoln informally started the practice when he pardoned his son's pet turkey.


10. TV dinners were invented because of a Thanksgiving mistake

In 1952, Someone at Swanson misjudged how many frozen turkeys would sell that year for Thanksgiving by 26 tons... Executive, Gerry Thomas, came up with the neat idea to cut up the turkeys and repackage them in aluminum trays with some sides. This idea was based on airline food which used to be packaged in aluminum trays that could be heated up in the oven. Over time, beef and chicken were added to these dinners. The TV dinner was then branded by Swanson and was a huge success due to the fact that half of American house holds owned a TV. Since 1987, one of the original TV dinner trays has been on display in the National Museum of American history as part of the pop culture collection which includes items like Fonzie's leather jacket and Archie Bunker's chair.


11. Thanksgiving (American) Football

The first Thanksgiving football game was in 1869 and took place in Philadelphia. On November 17th, 1869, The Evening Telegraph Newspaper of Philadelphia published the fallowing announcement: "Foot-ball match between twenty-two players of the Young American Cricket Club and the Germantown Cricket Club will take place on Thanksgiving Day at 12 1/2 o'clock, on the grounds of the Germantown Club."

From 1876 to 1881, Princeton played Yale in the New York City area on Thanksgiving Day.The Thanksgiving Day football game became a part of organized football in 1882, when the Intercollegiate Football Association determined to hold an annual championship game in New York City on Thanksgiving Day between the two leading teams in the association. Before that, the 'Champion' was to be determined by a team's records over the entire season against all members of the association.

Since 1934, there has been a football game on Thanksgiving every year, except for 1939 to 1944 during World War 2.


12. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The first Macy's Thanksgiving parade was established in 1924. Macy's employees marched six miles from Harlem to Herald's Square to kick off the Christmas season. They dressed up as clowns, knights and cowboys and were accompanied by marching bands and live animals from the Central Park Zoo. At the end was Santa Claus. Over 250,000 people attended this parade.

The event was so successful that they have had a parade every year since except for 1942 to 1944 (rubber and helium was needed for World War 2). Approximately 50 million people watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television and around 3 million watch in person.

The First balloons came to the parade in 1931. These balloons were Felix the cat and the Nuclear family. In 1993, there was a Sonic the hedgehog balloon which became the first video game balloon in parade history. Little Bill became the first balloon to show an African American character in 2002. In 2005, Dora the explorer became the first Latino character balloon. A year later, Pikachu with a pokeball became the first balloon with light up effects. The lights were in Pikachu's cheeks.

The first float joined the parade in 1971. The float was Tom Turkey. Sesame street joined the parade a few years later in 1974.

Another popular performance it the Radio City Music Hall Rockets which have been a part of the parade since 1957.

The first time the parade was on tv, it was shown locally in New York City in 1939 as an experimental broadcast. The parade began network television appearances on CBS in 1948. The parade was shown on tv in color starting in 1960.


13. Jingle Bells

The song "Jingle Bells" was originally written as a Thanksgiving song. So if you get the urge to sing on Thanksgiving, brake out some Jingle Bells and you might as well throw in some Mary had a little lamb to honor Sarah Joespha Hale. Shes a big part on why you are celebrating this day off anyways. Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving song is another possible choice if you so wish. Those three songs would make for some odd caroling though...

The location in which Jingle bells was written is unknown but what we do know is it was written by James Pierpont. The song was originally called One Horse Open Sleigh and it was copyrighted on September 16th 1857. The jingling bells in the song refers to the practice of putting bells on the horse's harnesses to avoid crashes in blind spots to make traveling safer. The bells were used because they made sound to warn others of your approach since horse pulled sleighs in snow were commonly quiet.

Another cool thing you may not know is Jingle bells has many more verses that are not commonly sung. Also in the original fields was "hills". What fun it is was "Oh what sport" and in the chorus it was "what joy" instead of what fun. The lyrics use the word "upsot" which means upset and in the song it is used to mean that the sleigh fell over. Two forty his speed means a mile in two minutes and forty seconds which is in more modern terms 22.5 miles per hour. Here is the full song for those who would like to learn the full version. Feel free to sing along if you would like. You can sing it the modern way or the old fashioned way. Its up to you.


Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way

Bells on bobtail ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon, Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side,
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
He got into a drifted bank
And then we got upsot.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

A day or two ago,
The story I must tell
I went out on the snow,
And on my back I fell;
A gent was riding by
In a one-horse open sleigh,
He laughed as there I sprawling lie,
But quickly drove away

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

Now the ground is white
Go it while you're young,
Take the girls tonight
and sing this sleighing song;
Just get a bobtailed bay
Two forty as his speed
Hitch him to an open sleigh
And crack! you'll take the lead

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.


14. Thanksgiving isn't just a United States holiday

Long before the Pilgrims, native Hawaiians celebrated the longest thanksgiving in the world. It was known as Makahiki and it lasted for four months; from November through February. During this time, both work and war were forbidden.

The people of the Virgin Islands sometimes celebrate two thanksgivings. One is the USA Thanksgiving holiday and the other is Hurricane Thanksgiving Day. Every Oct 19, if there have been no hurricanes that year, Hurricane Day is held and the islanders give thanks that they have been spared.

Canada has Thanksgiving as well. The earliest documented Thanksgiving in Canada was held in 1578. Martin Frobisher in Newfoundland held a celebration for arriving safely in the new world. In 1879, Thanksgiving in Canada took place on November 6. Since 1957, Thanksgiving has been held on the second Monday in October in Canada.

Grenda (October 25th), Liberia (first Thursday in November), Norfolk Island (last Wednesday of November), and Saint Lucia (first Monday of October) also have Thanksgiving holidays.

15. Unthanksgiving Day

Every year since 1975, island of Alcatraz has celebrated Unthanksgiving Day which commemorates the survival of Native Americans following the arrival and settlement of Europeans in the Americas.

The island of Alcatraz is the only place with an alternative Thanksgiving. Every year, a group of Native Americans and their supporters gather on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning in honor of their ancestors and the struggles that the Native Americans today that they have survived.
So... What are you thankful for this year? Do you have Thanksgiving facts and trivia that I didn't mention?


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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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