1. The pilgrims didn’t hold the first Thanksgiving – To see what the first Thanksgiving was like you have to go to: Texas. Texans claim the first Thanksgiving in America actually took place in little San Elizario, a community near El Paso, in 1958 – twenty-three years before the Pilgrims’ festival.
2. The first TV dinner was Thanksgiving leftovers – In 1953, someone at Swanson severely overestimated the amount of turkey Americans would consume that Thanksgiving. With 260 tons of frozen birds to get rid of, the company salesman ordered 5,000 aluminum trays, recruited an assembly line of people with spatulas and ice-cream scoops and began creating mini-feasts of turkey, cornbread, peas, and sweet potatoes – creating the first ever TV dinner.
3. FDR tried to change the date – FDR learned the hard way not to mess with some traditions. In 1939, the President declared that Americans should celebrate the annual feast one week earlier, hoping the decision would spur retail sales during the Great Depression. But Americans did not react well to this. After two years of complaints, Congress adopted a resolution in 1941 setting the fourth Thursday of November as the legal holiday.
4. Mary had a little Thanksgiving obsession – The woman who wrote the classic nursery rhyme “Mary had a Little Lamb” also played an integral role in making Thanksgiving a national holiday. After a 17-year-letter-writing campaign, president Abraham Lincoln was convinced to issue an 1863 decree recognizing the historic tradition.
5. We eat a lot of turduckens – Thanks to some culinary genius, more and more Americans are forsaking Butterballs for Turduckens. A what? Picture this: a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. Though this may seem sacrilege to some, the original Thanksgiving meal featured fish, oysters, eel, and lobster as well as wild turkey.
6. Thanksgiving was meant to be a fast – Thanksgiving was initially meant to be a fast, not a feast. The devout settlers at Plymouth Rock mostly recognized “giving of thanks” in the form of prayer and abstaining from food. But the Wampanoag Indians, who joined the pilgrims for their 3-day celebration, contributed their own harvest traditions – dancing, games, and feasting.
7. Thanksgiving was once celebrated in london – In 1942, London’s Westminster Abbey held Thanksgiving services for US troops stationed in England. More than 3,500 soldiers filled the church’s pews to sing America, the Beautiful and Star-Spangled Banner – the first time in the church’s 900-year history that a foreign army was invited to take over the grounds. It was an ironic gesture given the holiday’s origins as a festival for pilgrims fleeing religious tyranny in Britain.
8. Thanksgiving was a slow-roasting holiday – While the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621, it would take more than 150 years before all 13 colonies celebrated Thanksgiving at once, in October 1777.
9. There are three towns named Turkey – Three towns have been named after the holiday’s starring player – Turkey, Texas, Turkey Creek, La., and Turkey, NC – each with less than 500 residents.
10. The Detroit Lions always play on Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving is ruled by two very powerful f-words: food and football. 1934 marked the first NFL game held on Thanksgiving when the Detroit Lions took on the Chicago Bears. The Lions have played on Thanksgiving ever since. (My question is, then – why don’t the Chicago Bears play every Thanksgiving?)
11. The pilgrims did NOT dress in Black – Not only did the Pilgrims not dress in black, they did not wear those funny buckles, weird shoes, or black steeple hats.
12. Thanksgiving was not about family – Thanksgiving was a multicultural community event. If it had been about family, the Pilgrims never would have invited the Indians to join them.
13. Thanksgiving was not about religion – If Thanksgiving had been about religion, the Pilgrims never would have invited the Indians to join them.
Sources:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1862503_1862505_1862520,00.html
http://hnn.us/articles/406.html
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