Thanksgiving Fun Facts and Trivia: What You Didn’t Know About Turkey Day

Thanksgiving Pilgrims — There are several facts to know about Thanksgiving. Members of a colonial fife and drums corps are pictured marching in the annual Thanksgiving Parade on Nov. 20, 2004 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The parade is a part of a weekend of holiday festivities called “America’s Hometown Celebration,” and commemorates the Plymouth Colony’s first Thanksgiving feast of 1621. Michael Springer/Getty Images

While people often look forward to overloading on Turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving, some fail to acknowledge the significance the day actually holds. Dating back to 1621, the first dinner held between Plymouth Colony settlers and the Wampanoag Indians celebrated the arrival of the harvest season.

Years later, the gathering evolved into the National holiday known as Thanksgiving. Check out these fun facts about Thanksgiving, compiled from History.com, Good Housekeeping and Reader’s Digest.

1. Americans came up with the word “pilgrims” for the settlers who attended the first Thanksgiving. These so-called pilgrims actually called themselves “Saints” but by the 20th century, the word “pilgrims” became synonymous when describing the colonists who settled on Plymouth Rock.

2. There were no turkeys at the first Thanksgiving. Instead, the group feasted on deer, pumpkin and local seafood like bass, mussels and lobster.

3. President John F. Kennedy was the first American president to spare the life of a turkey for Thanksgiving, but it was George H.W. Bush who started the annual tradition of the White House turkey pardon in 1989.

4. Around 88 percent of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving.

5. In 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the third week of November, however, half of the US refused to celebrate on the new date. By 1941, Congress moved the holiday back to the fourth week in November.

6. Although the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade took place in 1924, the company didn’t start featuring the balloon floats until 1927.

7. Sarah Josepha Hale, the author of “Mary Had A Little Lamb” lobbied for years to have Thanksgiving recognized as a national holiday. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln officially proclaimed the day as such.

8. Thanksgiving was initially a three-day celebration that included gambling, games and drinking.

9. Thomas Jefferson refused to acknowledge Thanksgiving because he believed it conflicted between the separation of church and state.

10. Thanksgiving leftovers inspired the TV dinner. After a C.A. Swanson & Sons employee overestimated the demand for turkey on Thanksgiving, the company was left with over 260 tons of the frozen bird. A salesman decided to order 5,000 aluminum trays and used the extra turkey to create the first TV dinner.