Thanksgiving is a well-known traditional occasion. President Abraham Lincoln declared it a national holiday and it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in the month of November. Almost everyone across the country celebrates this occasion with enthusiasm and various delicious dishes on their plate, especially turkey.
You must have heard about the national holiday of Thanksgiving but you are probably unaware of these “Thanksgiving fun facts” that are mentioned below. This occasion is simple yet special; it is celebrated with a lot of blessings, food, family, and friends. This occasion is celebrated to express gratitude for the blessings you received the whole year. Thanksgiving also keeps your family and friends close to each other.
What Is The Reason for Celebrating Thanksgiving?
This occasion was started to appreciate colonists and their successful harvest meal that they used to share with others, especially with (Wampanoag Indians). As Wampanoag were essential for the existence of colonists. Years later, a ceremonial formal dinner was organized in order to express gratitude on an annual basis; this ceremony now became a common occasion in various places including England.
So basically this occasion is all about expressing gratitude for all the blessings you received. President George Washington 1789 stated a few lines for the purpose of Thanksgiving during the declaration of Thanksgiving, he said: “Although it is the responsibility of every single person to observe the fate of divine God, and not only to obey his sayings and planning but also to be grateful for the blessings, the protection, they received from Angels.
Both the houses of congress through their joint committee asked, to suggest the public of the United States, a day to celebrate as public thanksgiving and pray with their grateful soul, for the experiences they received with the blessings of Almighty God, the opportunities by which the government established for their protection and happiness.”
How To Celebrate Thanksgiving?
Modern Day Thanksgiving tradition is celebrated in the following manner:-
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
You can watch the live stream of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, or it would be best if you find a spot to watch that iconic moment of marching bands, floats, and parade on the street. The first Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade featured central park zoo animals.
Visit Stores For Shopping
Mostly, Thanksgiving is a day or half-a-day holiday for workers. So if you need some grocery items, make sure to visit the stores as early as you can and buy all the things that are necessary for cooking. The best time for shopping is just after the parade. It is sort of the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
Watch Football Match
It is an important part of Thanksgiving day. As you are free from your work, you surely need something to kill your time and make yourself more hungry for the delicious dishes at dinner. So watching football is a brilliant idea, you can enjoy American Football all day.
Cook Thanksgiving Staple
Cooking for Thanksgiving needs hours depending on the variety of dishes that you are going to serve your guests and of course, it depends on quantity, how many people will join you for the dinner. For instance, turkey per pound needs around 20 minutes and about 5 hours in the oven. So plan your menu and guest list accordingly.
Enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner
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Eat the delicious dinner, that you had cooked all day. The laughs and joyous atmosphere will definitely make you eat more than you thought.
Thanksgiving Fun Facts
Below mentioned are some fascinating facts about Thanksgiving that will amaze you:-
1. Turkey Consumption
Around 700 million pounds of turkey are consumed by Americans every year on Thanksgiving. According to a report by the National Turkey Federation, in 2017 about 45 million turkeys were served in the U.S. where 22 million pounds were served on Christmas and about 19 million on Easter. The weight of each on average was 16 pounds, which resulted in the consumption of 700 million pounds of turkey all over the country.
2. Raccoon on Thanksgiving
Years back in 1926, Calvin Coolidge who was the president at that time, received a raccoon as a present for Thanksgiving, that was supposed to replace the turkey on the table for the meal. But he and the First Lady Grace Coolidge refused, as they were not ready to eat the masked animal as a meal. So they decided to adopt him and named that raccoon “Rebecca”. Rebecca then became their White House pet.
3. Uses of Cranberry
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Prior to the handmade and canned sauces made from cranberries, Americans used this small red fruit for various purposes. They eat it as a fruit and also use it as an ingredient for other dishes. Cranberry was also used to dye various fabrics and it was helpful in healing wounds. Isn’t it amazing that cranberry which are now used to prepare sauce was also used for coloring the fabrics and healing wounds?
4. Male Turkeys Gobble
Whenever you hear turkeys you probably relate it immediately to gobble but only male turkeys do that, because of this reason they are called Gobblers. Female turkeys don’t gobble, instead, all turkey makes purr, cackle according to the situation.
5. Movies on Thanksgiving
As everyone gets together after a long wait of thanksgiving and is free from their hectic schedule can enjoy a movie together during Thanksgiving week, it is considered the best weekend to release a new movie on the screen. The best movie release till now was in 2013, an animated Disney frozen made 93 million dollars. That is why it is the number 1 release on Thanksgiving till now.
6. What Not To Eat On Thanksgiving?
Eating tofu is not preferred by most people on Thanksgiving. According to the results of a poll, tofu was the most hated dish or element for Thanksgiving meals.
7. Thanksgiving Song:- Jingle Bells
This famous song that was written in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont was not prepared for Christmas but its original title “One Horse Open Sleigh” was sung for the purpose of Thanksgiving. However, after this song was renewed in 1859, it was solely for the occasion of Christmas.
8. 3 Days Long Celebration
The first celebration of Thanksgiving took place in 1621 October. Governor William Bradford of Plymouth, Massachusetts, organized this occasion to celebrate the immigrants’ first harvest of corn. Although there is no complete information available, the meal of thanksgiving didn’t include the dishes that were common at present. For instance:- no information is available related to how much turkey was served. But this event was celebrated for 3 days.
9. How is Thanksgiving Celebrated in Canada?
It is a myth that Thanksgiving is celebrated only in America but the reality is that it is celebrated in Canada as well. Only the day differs instead of the final Thursday; it is celebrated in October on the second Monday. The first officially announced Thanksgiving celebration was organized in 1872 in order to celebrate the recovery of “Prince of Wales”.
10. Franklin D Roosevelt Moved Thanksgiving
Due to the depression period, FDR moved thanksgiving for a week, with the thought that to give people some extra time for shopping. This move of the president leaves an intense spark among the public, however, the most memorable reaction was from the Mayor of Atlantic City C.D. White. A week later, just before the day of the new Thanksgiving, a public statement was released in which White declared “his city Atlantic would celebrate Thanksgiving twice, so the earlier one would be called Franksgiving”.
But after two years of this decision, the President realized and confessed his mistake, and in order to correct it, he announced last Thursday of November was officially the national holiday for Thanksgiving.
11. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Around 50 million people enjoy this parade every year. The streets start lining up with spectators early in the morning at 6:00-6:30 a.m. although the parade starts after 9 a.m.
12. Favorite Beverage
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The most loving beverage for Thanksgiving is Red Wine. According to a survey, around 50% of the people serve red wine with their dinner for thanksgiving, around 10% serve white wine and the remaining prefer cocktails, beer, or other soft drinks.
13. Thanksgiving:- A National Holiday
According to a poll, the Thanksgiving holiday is considered the second favorite and awaited holiday of people. Like everyone, the complete family gathers and enjoys together. So thanksgiving successfully held its place after Christmas and before Halloween.
Some other Thanksgiving: fun facts are-
- Presidents have received gifts on Thanksgiving, especially Turkey, as gifts since the 1870s but the first one to receive it from the “Poultry and Egg National Board” and “National Turkey Federation” was Harry S. Truman.
- According to a report around 20% of the total consumption of cranberries in America takes place on Thanksgiving every year.
- The day after thanks is considered the busiest day for plumbers.
- A myth about Thanksgiving is that eating turkey makes you sleepy but the reality is any heavy meal will result in causing eagerness in you to sleep.
- According to a study an average person gains around 1 pound in the holidays of Christmas and Thanksgiving.
- Another myth of Thanksgiving is that for some the meal of thanksgiving remains incomplete until they make a wish by snapping the bird’s wishbone. Do you believe in this one? Or this tradition arrived way earlier than the holiday.
- Making wishes on bird bones was used in the ancient period; Etruscans used chickens for the prediction of the future. After the chicken’s death, the wishbone of the chicken was dried by Etruscans under the sunlight and they kept it with them and considered it a fortune.
- People feel stressed during holidays as they have a lot of free time, yet instead of thinking of the blessings they have and the things they are grateful for, people spend their time on other things like playing football, reading, cleaning and some prefer conversation through their smartphones.
But this thing needs to be changed, counting on your blessings and expressing gratitude towards it will bring positivity to your life. There are so many things in our life that we take for granted, and it’s high time to understand the value of everything you have and what is better than the Thanksgiving holiday to do that.
It will also help to get clarity on what you need in the future and which things you are lacking now. You can prepare a plan on how to work on those things and how to achieve them. This will guide you to work properly on the pre-planned path, which will save your time, and you will achieve your goals.
Besides this, you can do various things that are mentioned in the above section, especially cooking! You can cook the following things for a delicious meal on Thanksgiving night:-
Thanksgiving Turkey
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For non-veg lovers, turkey covers most of the table, it can be in the form of roasted, fried, smoked, or brined. But before cooking the turkey, don’t forget to prepare its delicious stuffing. After that, you need to cook of course its mouth drooling Gravy. Mashed Potatoes, also don’t forget to add mashed potatoes to the gravy. Cooking Sweet potatoes is also a good option.
Cranberry Sauce
Its sweet and tart taste is no less than delicious Indian Chutney. Cranberry sauce will add wonders to the taste of turkey. You can replace the canned cranberry sauce with an easy homemade recipe.
Pumpkin Pies
For dessert, after a heavy turkey meal, you can go for pumpkin pie. If you have some leftovers from your main course, then don’t worry, keep it for Friday morning, but keep some space in your stomach for this tasty dessert.
Final Note
This article concludes by highlighting some special things about this national holiday. The whole Thanksgiving day is special, yet the most favourite times of the day are the Thanksgiving feast, annual Thanksgiving parades, thanksgiving gifts, and thanksgiving staples that include green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and cornbread dressing, which increase cravings to eat turkey. Don’t forget to watch football, and enjoy the Macy’s thanksgiving day parade.
Last Updated on by Sathi
