Friday’s Top 10’s

As we approach Thanksgiving next week, our minds turn to a celebration of family, friends, and food. It’s a moment to pause and give a nod to all the good things in our lives… and, yes, to double up on the mashed potatoes.

But the real history of Thanksgiving is a bit more complicated than turkey, dressing, and pumpkin pies. In fact, it has many layers of spectacle, entrepreneurial spirit, economic recovery, and, naturally, feasting.

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering why we celebrate Thanksgiving, or where some of our seemingly obscure traditions come from, read on!

From the Home Office in Harveston, Ohio,

Here are the Top 10 Surprising Facts You Never Knew About Thanksgiving

10. A woman named Sarah Josepha Hale lobbied Congress for years to make it an official holiday. If it wasn’t for this determined woman, Thanksgiving might not exist today. Hale’s allegiance to the holiday began in 1827 and was based in national pride; she hoped to make it “permanently, an American custom and institution.” It wasn’t until 1863 that President Lincoln finally declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. Seeing as he did this in the throes of the Civil War, some consider it an attempt to bring some peace back to the country.

9. Originally, Thanksgiving may not have been in November at all. There isn’t clear historical information on the actual date of the first Thanksgiving, but some historians suggest it may have taken place in mid-October. President Lincoln assigned the holiday to the last Thursday in November, possibly to coincide with the date the Pilgrims first landed the Mayflower in New England.

8. In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving one week earlier. FDR hoped that a lengthened holiday shopping season would increase spending and alleviate the effects of the Great Depression. This resulted in two consecutive years of conflicting Thanksgiving Day celebrations, as some states refused to recognize the change. By 1941, FDR gave in and signed a bill making the fourth Thursday in November the official date nationwide.

7. The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. In 1924, New York City went all out for what newspapers called “a marathon of mirth.” Notably, there were none of the balloons the parade is known for today. Instead, the parade featured live bears, elephants, camels, and monkeys from the Central Park Zoo, alongside floats, puppets, celebrities, and Santa Claus.

6. Thanksgiving leftovers led to the first-ever TV dinner. In 1953, the food corporation Swanson overestimated how much turkey would be consumed on Thanksgiving and had to get creative with 260 tons of leftover poultry. Using 5,000 aluminum trays, they created a Thanksgiving-inspired meal of turkey, cornbread dressing, gravy, peas, and sweet potatoes. The dish sold for 98 cents, and they sold ten million in the first year, birthing the frozen meal industry.

5. Benjamin Franklin was very pro-turkey. It wasn’t just that Franklin thought the bird was delicious; he admired its qualities. Surprisingly, Franklin thought the turkey, not the bald eagle, should be the United States’ official bird. “I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character,” he once wrote, noting the turkey was a “much more respectable bird.”

4. The first Thanksgiving menu in 1621 likely included lobster, seal, and swans. No, turkey did not RSVP to the first Thanksgiving. The feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Native Americans lasted for three days. While records are scarce, it’s known the Pilgrims hunted for local fowl (swans included) and the Wampanoag brought five deer. It’s thought that lobster and seal were likely involved, due to their availability.

3. Pumpkin pie has been beloved for a long time—but it isn’t America’s favorite. Records show people have been baking pumpkin pies since the 1600s! Pumpkins were likely at the first Thanksgiving, though not in pie form. The dessert has been a staple since the 1700s—one Connecticut town even postponed the holiday in 1705 due to a molasses shortage. However, according to the American Pie Council, apple pie is America’s favorite, with pumpkin coming in second.

2. The “pardoning” of a turkey is an annual White House tradition… but no one is sure who started it. (This fact seems to be missing its conclusion in the original, but the tradition itself is the surprising fact!)

And the #1 Surprising Fact You Never Knew About Thanksgiving is…

1. FOOTBALL! Thanksgiving Day football games began in the 1870s. Turkey Day football began long before TV. In fact, football wasn’t even a professional sport when the tradition took hold. In 1876, Yale played Princeton in the first-ever Thanksgiving Day match. When the NFL was founded in 1920, it immediately began hosting games on the holiday.

A Bonus Fun Fact

The day after Thanksgiving is especially busy for plumbers. This sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it’s true. According to plumbing company Roto-Rooter, the day after Thanksgiving is “far and away the busiest day of the year.” They warn to be extra careful with turkey grease, potato peels, rice, and stuffing, which can clog drains and overwork garbage disposals.

So kick back, get ready for next week, and save some of these fun facts for after the turkey dinner.

Have a great weekend,

David