By Bruce Mosentorr
In four month's time, specifically on the 4th Thursday of November, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day 2012. You've probably celebrated countless Thanksgivings with friends, relatives, and family, but our bet is that there are still a number of things you do not know or think you know about this American holiday. Here are some interesting facts about Thanksgiving.
The Turkey Tradition Roughly forty million turkeys -or about 740 million pounds of turkey meat - will be eaten during this American Holiday. Minnesota is the country's top turkey-producing state, followed by North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and Indiana. These states produce two of every three US raised fowls.
Each year at least a pair of lucky turkeys are saved from being served on the dinner table because of a longstanding tradition which started in Washington's time of giving presidential pardon to these fowls.
The turkeys we eat nowadays to commemorate the first Thanksgiving are not historically exact since the pilgrims would have had wild turkey, which are much smaller but are also capable of flying in bursts unlike farm bred turkeys. Wild turkeys were so common in America in the eighteenth century that Benjamin Franklin even he made a suggestion that the turkey be made as the official US bird, not the bald eagle.
The First Thanksgiving Menu Surprisingly, the main dish when Pilgrims celebrated the first thanksgiving in 1621 in what has become the area of Massachusetts was meat from deer, not turkey. In fact, much of what we think as traditional Thanksgiving fare was not served at the first Thanksgiving. Potatoes and sweet potatoes were not yet staples then, and cranberry sauce was hard to come by. Pumpkin pie was also likely not of the menu then due to the lack of ingredients for the crust. If you want to dine like a Pilgrim yourself this Thanksgiving Day 2012, consider stewed pumpkin, succotash, and venison dishes instead.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The tradition began in 1924, and unlike the helium-filled balloons used today, the first 3 parades featured Central Park Zoo animals. The balloons were used only in 1927, and in the early years, were launched above the skyline with the assurance of rewards for people who found them.
For 242 years it was not a holiday It is the 1621 Plymouth Thanksgiving that is associated to the birth of this American modern holiday. Almost everything that we know about the Plymouth celebration is derived from a description in a letter wrote by Edward Winslow, the leader of that colony. However that letter was lost for 200 years, and was only discovered again in the 1800s. From that correspondence though, it was clear that the feast was not something which was made to be commemorated every year. The said letter has been covered extensively in various magazines, and in 1863, US President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving Day a national holiday.
The Turkey Tradition Roughly forty million turkeys -or about 740 million pounds of turkey meat - will be eaten during this American Holiday. Minnesota is the country's top turkey-producing state, followed by North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and Indiana. These states produce two of every three US raised fowls.
Each year at least a pair of lucky turkeys are saved from being served on the dinner table because of a longstanding tradition which started in Washington's time of giving presidential pardon to these fowls.
The turkeys we eat nowadays to commemorate the first Thanksgiving are not historically exact since the pilgrims would have had wild turkey, which are much smaller but are also capable of flying in bursts unlike farm bred turkeys. Wild turkeys were so common in America in the eighteenth century that Benjamin Franklin even he made a suggestion that the turkey be made as the official US bird, not the bald eagle.
The First Thanksgiving Menu Surprisingly, the main dish when Pilgrims celebrated the first thanksgiving in 1621 in what has become the area of Massachusetts was meat from deer, not turkey. In fact, much of what we think as traditional Thanksgiving fare was not served at the first Thanksgiving. Potatoes and sweet potatoes were not yet staples then, and cranberry sauce was hard to come by. Pumpkin pie was also likely not of the menu then due to the lack of ingredients for the crust. If you want to dine like a Pilgrim yourself this Thanksgiving Day 2012, consider stewed pumpkin, succotash, and venison dishes instead.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The tradition began in 1924, and unlike the helium-filled balloons used today, the first 3 parades featured Central Park Zoo animals. The balloons were used only in 1927, and in the early years, were launched above the skyline with the assurance of rewards for people who found them.
For 242 years it was not a holiday It is the 1621 Plymouth Thanksgiving that is associated to the birth of this American modern holiday. Almost everything that we know about the Plymouth celebration is derived from a description in a letter wrote by Edward Winslow, the leader of that colony. However that letter was lost for 200 years, and was only discovered again in the 1800s. From that correspondence though, it was clear that the feast was not something which was made to be commemorated every year. The said letter has been covered extensively in various magazines, and in 1863, US President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving Day a national holiday.
About the Author:
In four month's time, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving weekend 2012. To know more on thanksgiving, visit here.
