As the end of 2021 draws near, we are often welcomed by our favorite celebrations and family traditions. After loading up on sweets trick or treating, here comes another celebration we all look forward to – Thanksgiving!
As we dig into our cornucopia of delicious food this November 25, let us look into some unique, unknown, and cool thanksgiving facts you might know nothing about. As we devour that sumptuous Turkey, let us eat up with trivia and cool stories about Thanksgiving Day!
What is the Origin of Thanksgiving Day?
The first Thanksgiving Day took place in 1621. Wampanoag Native Americans shared an autumn harvest feast. The other colonies followed. For a good two centuries, it was celebrated in different states and colonists as a way to honor a good harvest. Thanksgiving Day celebrations were also bound with religious and cultural traditions too. The first feast was celebrated by the Pilgrims together with the Native Americans. They are the ones who helped them get through the previous winter. They gave them food during a time of scarcity.
We celebrate many Thanksgiving Days that transpired through history. Here are some of the top fun facts about Thanksgiving we can share around the dinner table with our loved ones.
There is a hotline dedicated to Turkey-related questions in the United States and Canada from November to December every year.
Butterball, one of the most popular turkey companies in the U.S. opens a turkey hotline every year. They do this to address turkey-related questions. It was founded in 1981 and on average, they receive around 100,000 questions across Canada and the United States every holiday season.
Turkeys almost went extinct, twice.
The star of the Thanksgiving Feast almost went extinct twice. It is not an endangered species. However, there were two incidents in history that almost led to the extinction of the species. The turkey almost went extinct about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago due to climate change, overhunting, or a combination of the two.
In 1813, turkeys became another prolific target by hunters who were European settlers who arrived in America. They went extinct in Vermont around 1842. By the 1930s, serious efforts to prevent them from going extinct were practiced to save these animals from being completely wiped out.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels
Jingle Bells was originally a Thanksgiving song
Jingle Bells, a classic and favorite Christmas song we all know written in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont was not for Christmas but was for Thanksgiving. The original title of the song was supposed to be One Horse Open Sleigh. However, it was never used for turkey day and was reprinted and renamed Jingle Bells to be launched as a Christmas song.
People travel to Orlando Florida the most during Thanksgiving Day
Around 55 million Americans traveled more than 50 miles for Thanksgiving back in 2019. One of the most popular destinations they head to – Orlando, Florida. Anaheim, California, and New York City follow the top places where Americans travel to during this special time of the year after Orlando.
A Different Thanksgiving Day
Most history books accept that the first-ever Thanksgiving happened in 1621. However, there are some people who still believe otherwise. Others believed that the first feast occurred at a much earlier date. Some claim that the first Thanksgiving day was celebrated a few decades earlier, in 1598 in San Elizario, Texas, a town located near El Paso. It was an event to celebrate how 500 members of Spaniard Juan de Onate’s crew. They survived their travel through the Chihuahuan Desert. They threw a huge feast of fish when they made it to Texas.
The Mother of Thanksgiving Day
Do you know that the famous writer of the nursery song “Mary Had a Little Lamb was also the Mother of Thanksgiving? Sarah Josepha Hale was a 19th-century writer and editor who wrote a letter to President Abraham Lincoln and the then Secretary of State William Seward back in 1863 calling for the declaration of the day as a national holiday. However, it was President Roosevelt who signed the resolution on December 26, 1941, declaring the fourth Thursday in November as the Federal Day of Thanksgiving holiday.
Football and Thanksgiving
Football games have always been associated with Thanksgiving. Back in 1920, the celebration fell on November 25, just like this year. It was during that year where six football games were played. Non-league teams went up against league teams during that year. Till today Thanksgiving and football became an expected way of life. Beginning in 1966, it was only during 1975 and 1977 that Dallas missed playing during Thanksgiving.
The Traditional Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade
Every year since 1924, Macy’s has held its annual Parade in New York City. Originally known as the Macy’s Christmas Parade, it was originally created to entice New Yorkers and the rest of the world as they welcome the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
The first parade featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Giant floating balloons became the parade’s highlight. Before the pandemic, around 3 million people, on average, attended the actual parade each year with around 44 million people watching it on television. It is one of the most modern traditions we have today.
Pardoning a Turkey
In 1989, President George H. W. Bush pardoned the first turkey, assuring that he would never become a home’s highlight on the Thanksgiving dinner table. He did this after noticing a 50-pound bird looking a little antsy during his proclamation on that day that year. Since then, every president of the United States made it a tradition to pardon a turkey during the celebration to serve a different purpose. In 2005 and 2009, the pardoned turkeys went to Disneyland and Disney World parks to participate during the annual Thanksgiving parades in the respective theme parks.
The celebrations haven’t changed that much over the years. The food remained festive, featuring turkey, venison, waterfowl, lobster, fish, clams, betties, and fruits. They have become a staple, even on today’s Thanksgiving dinner table.
As you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, remember the good old days, even the challenges that brought you to where you are right now.
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