Did You Know? (Thanksgiving)
Did you know that the first Thanksgiving took place in December 1621, when the Pilgrims held a three-day feast in Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts to celebrate their bountiful harvest?
Did you know that Thanksgiving didn't become an official national holiday until more than 200 years later, when in 1863 President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November a national day of thanksgiving.
Did you know that the most popular Thanksgiving dinner includes a menu of turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie?
Then it's only fitting that Americans raise over 256 million turkeys. The biggest producer of turkeys is Minnesota, followed by North Carolina, Arkansas, Virginia, Missouri and California. Did you know that U.S. turkey farmers also raised just over 144,000 organic turkeys in 2005.
Did you know that Americans raise 649 million pounds of cranberries, 1.6 billion pounds of sweet potatoes, and 998 million pounds of pumpkin.
In addition to domestically grown and raised Thanksgiving food, the U.S. also imports $5.2 million worth of live turkeys from Canada, $2.2 million worth of cranberries (also from Canada), and $2.3 million dollars worth of sweet potatoes -- from the Dominican Republic.
Did you know that there are at least three American towns named after Thanksgiving dinner's main course? There's Turkey, Texas, with 496 residents; Turkey Creek, Louisiana, with 357 residents, and Turkey, North Carolina, with 267 residents. There are also eight places and townships named Cranberry, and 20 places named Plymouth, after the location of the first Thanksgiving.
Did you know that as many 107 million American homes will celebrate Thanksgiving this year?
Did you know that the first National Football League's Thanksgiving Classic game was played in 1934, when the Lions hosted the game as a gimmick to get people to go to Lions football games?
Did you know that Black Friday -- the day after Thanksgiving, which is widely touted as the biggest Christmas shopping day in America -- is actually not the biggest shopping day? In fact, the Saturday before Christmas has historically been the largest volume shopping day. Black Thursday ranks anywhere from second to fifth in Christmas shopping days.
Related Articles:
The Thanksgiving Turkey
History of Thanksgiving
When is Thanksgiving? (Canada)
National Day of Mourning
Pilgrims & America's First Thanksgiving
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