THANKSGIVING FACTS & TRIVIA (2024)

FAQs

THANKSGIVING FACTS & TRIVIA? ›

Would you rather eat Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant or at home? Would you rather take a nap after the meal or watch a football game? Would you rather always smell like turkey or always smell like gravy? Would you rather be in the Thanksgiving Day parade, or be one of the hosts commenting on the parade?

Would you rather eat Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant or at home? Would you rather take a nap after the meal or watch a football game? Would you rather always smell like turkey or always smell like gravy? Would you rather be in the Thanksgiving Day parade, or be one of the hosts commenting on the parade?

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. A shrimp's heart is in its head. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is believed to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

There are only two surviving documents that reference the original Thanksgiving harvest meal. They describe a feast of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, a bounty of cod and bass, and flint, a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.

A Harvest Celebration

During the autumn of 1621, at least 90 Wampanoag joined 52 English people at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, to mark a successful harvest. It is remembered today as the “First Thanksgiving,” although no one back then used that term.

Most Traditional Thanksgiving Foods. A traditional Thanksgiving meal consists of roast turkey and many sides including stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans and cranberry sauce, with pumpkin pie as dessert.

So, to the question “What did the Pilgrims eat for Thanksgiving,” the answer is both surprising and expected. Turkey (probably), venison, seafood, and all of the vegetables that they had planted and harvested that year—onions, carrots, beans, spinach, lettuce, and other greens.

When it comes to the big Thanksgiving feast, we consider the roast turkey and the sweet potato casserole as sides to the STUFFING. A good stuffing makes or breaks Thanksgiving dinner, and this one will absolutely make your holiday meal all the better. Get the Classic Stuffing recipe.

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 over a three day harvest festival. It included 50 Pilgrims, 90 Wampanoag Indians, and lasted three days. It is believed by historians that only five women were present. Turkey wasn't on the menu at the first Thanksgiving.

Although President John F. Kennedy was the first to pardon a turkey, President George H.W. Bush was the first to make pardoning a turkey an annual event in 1989 after he noticed the 50-pound bird at his official Thanksgiving proclamation looked a little nervous. Every president has upheld the tradition, ever since.

What is the number one tradition on Thanksgiving? ›

Breaking The Wishbone

One beloved tradition comes with every holiday turkey: the wishbone. Two people pull the bone apart, and whoever has the larger half will have their holiday wish come true.

In the middle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the 26th, the final Thursday of November 1863.

The national holiday began as a celebration of the harvest and other blessings, per the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Thanksgiving, however, has since moved away from its Puritan roots and has become a day to "symbolize intercultural peace, America's opportunity for newcomers, and the sanctity of home and family."

"Jingle Bells" was originally a Thanksgiving Day song.

Before becoming a Christmas holiday anthem, "Jingle Bells" was an 1857 song titled "One Horse Open Sleigh," and its composer, James Pierpont, intended it to be a Thanksgiving Day song.