Surprising Facts About Thanksgiving We Bet You Didn’t Know!
Thanksgiving is America’s most beloved national holiday which was first celebrated in the year 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. There is no doubt that traditions in the USA are executed brilliantly. The harvest feast was shared between the pilgrims of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people. The first Thanksgiving lasted for 3 days and was shared between 50 pilgrims and 90 Wampanaog Indians, these are some of the lesser known facts about thanksgiving.
This American holiday is filled with centuries old traditions, rich culture and the iconic — turkey with bread stuffing. A typical Thanksgiving meal also includes a pumpkin pie, cranberries and lots of potatoes. This holiday is also a favourite among American families because it brings people together. One of the traditions of thanksgiving that is still followed is feasting and is the primary reason why so many Americans and Canadians are looking forward to this time of the year.
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the last Thursday of every November. One of the most unique and interesting facts about thanksgiving is that it is celebrated to express gratitude and thanksgiving towards family, friends and food.
Unknown Facts About Thanksgiving!
Turkey Was Never On The Menu
Historians have no record of turkey being eaten on the first thanksgiving. The only things that were consumed were venison, duck, goose, oysters, lobster, eel, and fish which were served, alongside pumpkins and cranberries.
Feasting on turkey is only a recent tradition that began somewhere in the 19th century. Thanksgiving required wild fowl which could have been geese or duck. By the end of the 19th century, Turkeys became abundantly available in the USA and as a result, became a popular part of the Thanksgiving feast.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
The United States’s thanksgiving parade, aka. Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade is the world’s largest thanksgiving parade. Organised by the US’s department store Macy is the second oldest parade in the world and was first executed in the year 1924.
A fun fact about this thanksgiving parade is that the cartoon character Snoopy has been attending the parade for the longest time in history. Snoopy made his debut in the year 1968 as a balloon and is present in the parade in some form or the other even today.
Macy’s Thanksgiving parade grabbed the attention of the entire world when it brought in the central park zoo animals to attend the first parade in 1924. This is one of the lesser known facts about thanksgiving.
US President Has Refused To Recognise Thanksgiving
When Thomas Jefferson held the United States’s chair as its president he refused to declare Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Jefferson believed in “a wall of separation between Church and State” and believed that endorsing such celebrations as president would amount to a state-sponsored religious worship. This is one of the most interesting facts about thanksgiving that is not widely known.
The complicated relationship between Thomas and Thanksgiving started in 1801, and rumors have swirled that the third president despised the event. For Jefferson, supporting Thanksgiving meant supporting state-sponsored religion, and it was his aversion to mixing church and state that earned him a reputation as America’s only anti-Thanksgiving president.
Why Was Thanksgiving Celebrated Differently in 1939?
President Roosevelt encouraged thanksgiving celebrations in the 3rd week of November instead of the 4th in the year 1939. Here’s what he did during the original Thanksgiving week — he introduced the “Black Friday’’ mindset for the last week of November in order to boost the American economy. Many stores offer highly promoted sales on Black Friday and open very early, sometimes as early as midnight, or sometime on Thanksgiving Day. Black Friday has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year ever since.
Jingle Bells Was Actually A Thanksgiving Song
One of the most interesting facts about thanksgiving is that the song “One Horse Open Sleigh” released in the year 1857 was actually intended to be a Thanksgiving jingle instead of a Christmas carol. The composer of the song, James Pierpont, had originally wanted this song be played for thanksgiving, but it became so popular around December 25 that in 1859 the title was changed to “Jingle Bells” and the rest is history.
How Many Turkeys Are Cooked On Every Thanksgiving?
According to the US Poultry Association, approximately 46 million turkeys are cooked every Thanksgiving. The average commercial turkey sold in grocery stores weighs approximately 30 pounds, according to the Wall Street Journal, this means that Americans are eating nearly 1.4 billion pounds of turkey during the holiday.
Thanksgiving Is How The Dinner-TV Industry Was Born
The dinner-TV industry serves the purpose of providing on-the-go, ready to eat meals that can be reheated and are pre-cooked. The idea and invention of this type of meal was because of thanksgiving. In 1953, when an overzealous Swanson employee was left with 260 tons of excess turkey after a thanksgiving lunch, he had the brilliant idea of creating pre-made turkey dinners that would be served in re-heatable individual trays, just like airline meals. By the end of 1954, Swanson had sold 10 million frozen turkey meals, and the TV dinner industry was born.
Thanks for reading this blog on Surprisingly Facts About Thanksgiving We Bet You Didn’t Know! Do let us know if you enjoyed reading this blog.
Know any interesting facts about thanksgiving? Let us know in the comments section.
Do follow us to receive more such engaging and interesting content in your feed.
