Thanksgiving Facts
1. A magazine editor is responsible for Thanksgiving becoming a national holiday.
In 1862, Sarah Josepha Hale began a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. On October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared in his “Thanksgiving Proclamation” that the last Thursday of November be set aside a day of thanks.
2. In 1941, Congress had to pass a law that Thanksgiving would be the fourth Thursday of November thanks to FDR.
During Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency there was a considerable amount of debate about Thanksgiving because it had always traditionally been celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. FDR, however, wanted to lengthen the Christmas shopping season so he attempted to move it up to the third Thursday in 1939. People were actually outraged by this and Congress had to pass a law stating that Thanksgiving will always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.
3. Thomas Jefferson thought Thanksgiving was the most ridiculous idea.
George Washington was a firm believer in celebrating a national day of Thanksgiving (he proclaimed on in 1789), however, he had a hard time gaining momentum to make it an annual national holiday because Thomas Jefferson was firmly against the idea.
4. “Black Friday” goes back to the 1930s.
Black Friday was initially the kick-off for the Christmas shopping season though now it is Halloween.
5. It was the Wampanoag Indian tribe that helped the Plymouth Pilgrims.
The first Thanksgiving was a meal shared between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians at Plymouth Rock in 1621 and the celebration lasted for three days!
Turkey Facts
1. Turkeys have been around for, literally, ever.
Fossil evidence has proven that turkeys have been roaming around North America for the past 10 MILLION years. They were also one of the first animals to be domesticated here in the New World.
2. Turkeys can have heart attacks.
Turkeys, surprisingly, are an easily spooked animal. When the Air Force was conducting field tests to break the sound barrier, whole fields of turkeys would just drop dead. A spooked turkey can actually also run up to 20 miles per hour and when flying, can go from 0 to 55 mph in a matter of seconds.
3. Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird of the United States.
“What a strong, majestic icon of our freedom,” said no one else ever.
4. There is no official reason we eat turkey on Thanksgiving.
While 91% of Americans feast on turkey during their Thanksgiving meals, there is no actually official reason we celebrate this tradition. We have no proof that the Pilgrims and Native Americans actually ate turkey at their Thanksgiving dinner however because turkey was the most abundant meat source at the time, it is incredibly probable that they did.
5. The word “turkey” was Columbus being wrong (again).
We all know the story of how when good ole Chris Columbus first landed in North America, he believed he had sailed all the way to India. When Columbus first laid eyes on a turkey, he believed it to be a peacock since they are so large in number and abundance in India. The word “turkey” comes from the Tamil (an Indian langauge) word “tuka” which means “peacock.”
Sources: http://www.allindiacelebration.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Thanksgivi…