Fun Facts about Thanksgiving
The first Thanksgiving feast lasted for three days.
Thanksgiving became an official national holiday in 1863.
Turkey wasn’t the main course at the first Thanksgiving, it was venison.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade started in 19
5. The first Thanksgiving didn’t have mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie.
Football games have been a Thanksgiving tradition since the late 1800s.
Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird, not the eagle.
Thanksgiving leftovers inspired the creation of the first-ever TV dinner.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to change the date of Thanksgiving to boost the economy.
Cranberries are an essential part of a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by Pilgrims and Native Americans in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The average number of calories consumed on Thanksgiving Day is around 4,500!
Black Friday got its name because it was the day retailers went in the black financially.
Thanksgiving is the busiest travel time in the United States.
In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October.
The record for the largest pumpkin pie ever made weighs over 3,000 pounds!
Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November.
The White House turkey pardon tradition started in 1947.
The Plymouth Pilgrims didn’t use forks at the first Thanksgiving; they ate with spoons and knives.
Fun Facts about Thanksgiving part 2
Sarah Josepha Hale, the writer of Mary Had a Little Lamb, lobbied for Thanksgiving to become a national holiday.
The phrase talk turkey originated from Native American negotiations during Thanksgiving feasts.
The iconic green bean casserole became popular during the 1950s as a Thanksgiving side dish.
Settlers celebrated the first Thanksgiving in America in 1619 in the Berkeley Plantation of Virginia.
The heaviest turkey ever weighed tipped the scales at 86 pounds.
The Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys have hosted a Thanksgiving Day football game since the 1930s.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States.
Thanksgiving was declared a federal holiday by President Abraham Lincoln.
The average Thanksgiving turkey weighs around 15 pounds.
Corn has been a staple food in Thanksgiving feasts since ancient times.
Thanksgiving Day is estimated to be the busiest day for plumbers.
Wild turkeys can fly at speeds of up to 55 miles per hour.
In 1939, Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up a week to extend the Christmas shopping season, causing controversy.
The tradition of breaking the wishbone from the turkey comes from the ancient Romans.
Thanksgiving is not just celebrated in the United States; it is also celebrated in Liberia and parts of Canada.
The first Thanksgiving menu included seafood such as lobster, eel, and fish.
The amount of butter consumed during Thanksgiving week in the United States can cover the Statue of Liberty.
Turducken, a dish that consists of a deboned turkey stuffed with a deboned duck, stuffed with a deboned chicken, is a popular Thanksgiving dish.
The Canadian holiday of Thanksgiving is often referred to as Action de grâce.
The state of Maine produces the most cranberries in the United States.
Approximately 50 million pumpkin pies are eaten on Thanksgiving in America.
The word Thanksgiving is derived from the Old English word thancg
The tallest balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was a Ronald McDonald balloon that stood at 61 feet tall.
Canada’s first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1578, 43 years before the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Thanksgiving is also a popular holiday for volunteering at soup kitchens and shelters.
Thousands of pounds of green beans, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes are consumed on Thanksgiving Day.