10 facts you didn’t know about Thanksgiving

Everyone knows the basic plot to the first Thanksgiving. Excuse me, as I recap your 3rd grade education.

The Pilgrims sailed to the New World on the Mayflower hoping to find religious freedom. After landing in Cape Cod, the English settlers had difficulty adapting to their new surrounding. The first bitter New England winter took the lives of half the original passengers. With dwindling supplies and options, the Pilgrims made an alliance with the nearby Wampanoag Indians, who taught the Pilgrims how to use the land to yield crops. That fall, the Pilgrims harvested their first successful corn crop, so they hosted a three day feast with the Native Americans to celebrate.

You hear this same story every year, but what about the facts you don’t know about Thanksgiving? We’ve compiled a list of lesser known trivia about the turkey eating holiday that’ll make you a hit come Thanksgiving dinner or at least, allow you to avoid talking to your relatives.

Here are 10 facts you didn’t know about Thanksgiving.

1. Abraham Lincoln officially recognized Thanksgiving as a national holiday 150 years ago
On October 3, 1863, Lincoln designated the last Thursday of November as a day of “thanksgiving and praise.” His Thanksgiving Proclamation was a long time coming though. George Washington celebrated a day of thanksgiving on October 3, 1789, exactly 74 years before Lincoln made it official nationwide.

2. There were zoo animals in the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was held in 1924. Instead of building-sized balloons, the main features of the parade were Macy’s employees, marching bands, and even Central Park Zoo animals. The quaint parade was so successful that they decided to have another the next year. Today, three million people attend the New York parade, and 43 million watch it on their televisions at home.

3. Without Sarah Josepha Hale, there would be no Thanksgiving.
If it weren’t for Hale’s 20 year campaign, Thanksgiving probably wouldn’t be the cherished national holiday it is today. Hale, a magazine editor and author of “Mary had a Little Lamb,” fought to make the holiday nationally recognized over the course of five different presidencies. Finally in 1863, she convinced Lincoln to make Thanksgiving official, insisting that it would help unify the country after the Civil War.

4. There were no mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies, or turkeys at the first Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately some of our favorite traditional dishes aren’t even traditional. Historians believe that instead of turkey the Pilgrims and Native Americans ate venison as their main dish. Also on the menu was barley, corn, waterfowl, and plenty of fish. You can thank Sarah Josepha Hale (once again) for providing us with stuffing, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes. The Thanksgiving crusader suggested these now Thanksgiving favorites in her magazine editorials during the1860s.

5. Domesticated turkeys are test tube babies.
Due to the popularity of white meat, domesticated turkeys are bred to have large breasts. These overlarge torsos inhibit turkeys from mating naturally, so most hatcheries fertilize their turkey eggs through artificial insemination. They can’t fly. They can’t mate. At least, they taste delicious.

6. Each year, the president pardons one very lucky turkey.
Depending on whose story you believe, this tradition started with Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, or John F. Kennedy. Today, the National Turkey Federation presents the current president with one live turkey, which he mercifully pardons. The lucky bird then lives out the remainder of its life safe on a farm. In 2005 and 2006, the pardoned toms served as the honorary grand marshals in Disneyland’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

7. Americans eat an entire country of Singapore every Thanksgiving.
According to a study done by the National Turkey Association, Americans eat an incredible 690 million pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving. The weight of the population of Singapore is also around that number, which means Americans eat a whole country of Singapore every November. This fact makes me want to loosen my pants just thinking about it.

8. Turkeys are just like us! They have heart attacks.
It’s an unfortunate but true similarity between us and our favorite fall bird. When the Air Force ran test drills that required pilots to break the sound barriers, turkeys at a nearby farm dropped dead of heart attacks due to the shock of the planes.

9. Not everyone on the Mayflower was a Pilgrim.
There were 102 people on the famed ship that landed in Plymouth Rock, but only about half were actual Pilgrims. The rest were known as “Strangers.” These people did not seek religious freedom like the Pilgrims. Instead, they just wanted a ride to the New World.

10. Thanksgiving spawned the TV dinner.
Back in 1954, Swanson had a turkey problem. After Thanksgiving, there were 260 tons of frozen turkeys left over from the holiday. Fortunately, a company salesman was inspired by airline food trays and took this idea into the kitchens of America. The first TV dinners sold for 98¢ and included turkey, cornbread stuffing, peas, and sweet potatoes. Swanson sold 25 million TV dinners that year, and they haven’t had a turkey problem since.

Image: WikiMedia Commons