Thanksgiving Fun Facts

Thanksgiving fun facts, Thanksgiving day history, first Thanksgiving in the Americas... we'll cover those items and more on this page. Thanksgiving has become an important holiday in America and American history. Presidents have issued Thanksgiving proclamations and retailers have made the Thanksgiving holiday a major part of their holiday shopping season advertising (think "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday").

Thanksgiving Greetings

Let's look back at the first Thanksgiving and learn some Thanksgiving fun facts and some brief Thanksgiving history. You may be surprised to hear that there is some dispute about when the first Thanksgiving in the Americas actually occurred. While the Thanksgiving feast at Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts in 1621 is often referred to as the first Thanksgiving, there are actually reports of earlier celebrations, including some in Virginia in the early 1600's and even as early as the 1500's..

The Plymouth Thanksgiving feast is the most well known celebration. It came about after a hard winter and then a successful harvest by the Pilgrims. They had landed at Plymouth Rock in December of 1620, and had very little time to prepare for the harsh winter. Nearly half of the Pilgrims died that year. After their successful harvest, the Pilgrims decided to have a three-day feast, starting on December 13, 1621. They celebrated with ninety Wampanoag Indians who had helped them throughout their first year. Their Thanksgiving feast included shellfish, lobsters, turkey, corn bread, berries, deer, and other foods.

Thanksgiving Fun Facts - 1st National Thanksgiving in America

The first national Thanksgiving in America occurred in 1789. The first act after the framers finished the Bill of Rights was this resolution...

"Resolved, That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer. . . ."

That resolution was delivered to President George Washington, and he issued the first federal "Thanksgiving Proclamation", designating "A Day of Publick Thanksgiving and Prayer" on November 26, 1789. This proclamation was given to give thanks for the new constitution and offer prayers for the government and country.

• After Washington's proclamation, Thanksgiving proclamations were only given sporadically by Presidents.

• Most Thanksgiving proclamations were given by the individual states.

• Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale , the editor of Godey's Lady's Book, was a strong supporter of making Thanksgiving a national holiday.
• In 1863, Abraham Lincoln finally set the precedent for a national Thanksgiving holiday with his proclamation.

Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.




Uncle and Aunt Sam Cutting Turkey

More Thanksgiving Fun Facts and Thanksgiving History

• In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt began celebrating Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday of each November

• FDR proposed that Thanksgiving be proclaimed a national holiday in 1939. Congress approved it in 1941, permanently establishing the fourth day in November as the national Thanksgiving holiday.
• Ben Franklin thought that the Turkey should be the national bird, instead of the Bald Eagle.

• At a Thanksgiving Day Dinner for senior citizens in 1969, President Nixon said these words about Franklin's thought about our national bird... "I think when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, it would have sounded rather funny to say, '(The) Turkey has landed,' and today I think you will all agree you would not want to eat eagle."

• After a turkey gets pardoned by the President, it gets flown to Disneyland to take part in the Thanksgiving Day Parade

• Black Friday is a term used for the Friday after Thanksgiving. It actually started in the 1930's, but has really become popular in the last few decades. It is the day that retailers hope will produce enough profits to pull them out of the red (negative earnings) and into the black (positive profits).

• The National Dry Retail Goods Association asked President Franklin Roosevelt to move the date of Thanksgiving in 1933, during the Great Depression. Since it would fall on November 30th, it would shorten the Christmas shopping season, reducing profits for retailers. He refused in 1933, but in 1939, when Thanksgiving again fell on November 30th, he changed his mind. He changed the date for Thanksgiving in Washington, D.C. to November 23rd. Other states chose between both dates for their celebrations.

• Texas and Colorado decided to celebrate Thanksgiving twice in 1939, due to the November 30th date.

• A bill was introduced that FDR signed into law on November 26, 1941 establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. By 1956, every state had taken up that date as the official Thanksgiving day.

• The American Automobile Association (AAA) estimated that 38.4 million Americans traveled 50 miles or more from home over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 2009.

• The U.S. Census Bureau reports that Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in America.

• The total number of turkeys expected to be raised in 2011 was 248 million, which is up 2% from 2010. (USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service)

• There were 2.4 billion pounds of sweet potatoes produced in 2010 (Source: USDA)
• The average retail price per pound of frozen whole turkey in 2010 was $1.38 (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• There are four towns and/or cities named after the Turkey: Turkey, TX, Turkey Creek, AZ, Turkey, NC and Turkey Creek, LA (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
• There are 37 towns and/or cities named after Plymouth (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
• Nearly 88 percent of Americans said they eat turkey at Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation.
• The largest Pumpkin Pie ever baked weighed 2,020 pounds and measured just over 12 feet long, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Baked on October 8, 2005 by the New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers in Ohio, it included 62 gallons of evaporated milk, 7 pounds of cinnamon, 3.5 pounds of salt, 900 pounds of pumpkin, 155 dozen eggs, 300 pounds of sugar, 2 pounds of pumpkin spice and 250 pounds of crust.
• Macy's Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, New York, USA, is the world's largest inflatable parade.
• El Paso Diablos Baseball Club, Texas, USA made a pecan pie weighing 41,586 lb at Cohen Stadium in El Paso, Texas on May 22, 1999.
• The Nintendo DS contributed to the record for the Most Profitable Week in Nintendo History, where it sold 653,000 units during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 2007.

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Thanksgiving Quote

"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor." - George Washington

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Here is a fun, interactive site about the Pilgrims Thanksgiving where you can learn more Thanksgiving fun facts - The First Thanksgiving.

Danielle, a student at Lexington Middle School in Massachusetts, suggested another site that you might enjoy visiting. Click to visit The Gift of Thanks - The First Thanksgiving - I'll bet you'll enjoy it! Thank you for suggesting it Danielle!

If you have enjoyed Thanksgiving Fun Facts, you might enjoy reading about other American holidays here.




Here are some fun printable games from Python Printable Games that you might enjoy playing with your family this Thanksgiving. Something for everybody - kids and adults, and you can learn some more Thanksgiving fun facts!