25 THANKSGIVING FACTS!

25 facts about Thanksgiving! Enjoy!

1.) Pilgrims did not wear buckled hats! We better tell our elementary art teachers 😦

Buckles didn’t even become fashionable until the 18th century.

2.) Thanksgiving has no religious origins.

THIS IS WHY NO ONE SHOULD SHOP ON THANKSGIVING!!! NO ONE!

3.) Thanksgiving did not originate in America.

Harvest festivals predated Europeans settling in America. These celebrations were brought over from Europe by colonists. Along with this, you should know that there were multiple “First Thanksgiving”s – numerous places along the East Coast – at different times, with different people. (Not just the 1621, 3-day celebration by Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock with (perhaps) some Wampanoag Indians.)

4.) Pilgrims’ clothes were likely NOT black and white. They were most likely earthtone.

Black fabric was extremely expensive at the time.

5.) The Native American Indians were NOT wearing loincloths. New England in November — way too cold, holy cow!!!

6.) “Traditional” food that isn’t actually traditional…….

Turkey, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, CRANBERRY SAUCE!

They probably had goose or duck instead of turkey at these original harvest festivals. Perhaps even swans, pigeons and SEAFOOD (yummy).

7.) No forks! Forks had not yet been invented. For silverware, knives and spoons – fingersss, facessss.

8.) There has been a myth for quite some time that the Native Americans taught the pilgrims about popcorn and even brought some to the First Thanksgiving. This would be a neat story. Alas, it is only a story. Not factual. DISAPPOINTMENT.

9.) Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving? Google miss Sarah Josepha Hale. She was a magazine editor in New Hampshire. She used 17 years of her life (omgoodness) campaigning for a nationally recognized thanks to the giving. (This included writing letters to 5 presidents…. Abe Lincoln was the last.)

10.) Abraham is the one who made Thanksgiving a national holiday!

11.) Sarah (see #9) wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb.

12.) Before Thanksgiving became a nat’l holiday, Thomas Jefferson was quoted calling Thanksgiving “the most ridiculous idea”.

13.) I love presidents, so fascinating. FDR tried to move the holiday one week earlier (in 1939) in order to quicken the post-holiday shopping. Due to the Depression.

14.) In 1941, Congress officially declared the holiday as the fourth Thursday of the month.

15.) TURKEY DOESN’T MAKE YOU SLEEPY. (Perhaps you are tired of hearing your great uncle talk your ear off about the NSA.)

16.) Minnesota produces the most turkeys. (None were killed by me. Nor will any ever be.)

17.) Last year, 2012, 46 MILLION turkeys were eaten on Thanksgiving Day. My guess was way low, hahahha. 736 million pounds of turkey…….

18.) There is a National Turkey Federation.

Is there a National Lemur Federation? National Polar Bear Federation? I will be looking this up. I would like to partake in both, if they exist.

19.) Football on Turkey Day? The first time this occurred was in 1876. It was Yale and Princeton who went head to head that day. The tradition continued when the NFL was created in 1920. 6 National Football League games were played that day.

20.) The Detroit Lions are most typically associated with Thanksgiving games because, in 1934, G. A. Richards bought the Lions and scheduled a Thanksgiving game against the Bears. The only time the Lions have failed to play on the holiday since was during WWII.

21.) Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is not the oldest thx parade. Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade was FIRST. 1920, in Philadelphia.

22.) 1924 was the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It featured live animals from the Central Park Zoo! Elephants, camels, lions! …..and no balloons.

23.) The live animals tradition lasted only 3 years (shocker!… bummer). In 1927, the first Macy’s Parade balloon was Felix the Cat.

24.) Originally, at the end of the parade, the balloons would be let go into the sky to float around awhile. No more 80 foot Kermit the Frog flying around the Statue of Liberty. Poor, lonely lady liberty 😦

25.) During WWII, the parade was cancelled and the rubber from the balloons was given to help the war effort.

This information was learned via http://mentalfloss.com/ and one of my favourite people in the entire world, JOHN GREEN.

DFTBA

-THE WORD