25 Fun Thanksgiving Facts You'll Want to Tell Everyone You Know | South Florida Waterfront Homes and Condos

25 Fun Thanksgiving Facts

You’ll Want to Tell Everyone You Know

This list is courtesy House Beautiful Lifestyle article here – click through for the full list and details.

” Thanksgiving Day is made up of three activities: spending time with family, flipping back and forth between football games and the iconic Macy’s parade, and eating an extravagant feast. But there’s only so much to catch up on with loved ones, and after you’ve dodged all their awkward questions about your life’s hopes and dreams (and lack of a significant other), what else is there to talk about? Sure, you can rehash the same old stories and family drama, but we think there’s no better way to keep the conversation flowing—and blow some minds—than with Thanksgiving Day facts. Whether you turn them into a festive and competitive game of Thanksgiving trivia or just use them to school your relatives, some of these Thanksgiving facts might just blow your mind.

Thanksgiving itself is a blend of facts, fiction, and myths: Some of the so-called origins of our traditions lack evidence, while many parts of the holiday are purely commercial. We barely even know what happened at the first Thanksgiving! (Although we do know there wasn’t even any turkey—read on to find out what they served instead.) Learn more fun facts about Thanksgiving as we know and love it, from its origins to how we celebrate it today.

The first Turkey Trot dates back to the 1890s.

Buffalo, New York, was the first city to host a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning in 1896. Only six runners participated in the race that year, running on stretches of dirt road for roughly five miles.”

Here is a sample of the 25 fun facts – how many do you know?

Thanksgiving was originally celebrated in mid-October.
Pumpkin pie isn’t actually Thanksgiving’s favorite pie.
Female turkeys don’t gobble.
The first Thanksgiving was actually a three-day festival.
The tradition of football on Thanksgiving was started by college teams.
Historians have no record of turkey being eaten at the first Thanksgiving.
Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird.
The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade featured Central Park Zoo animals
Forty-four years after the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Snoopy made his debut as a balloon in 1968.
The first professional Thanksgiving Day football game was played in 1920.
“Jingle Bells” was originally a Thanksgiving Day song.
Each year about 46 million turkeys are cooked.
Butterball has had a Turkey Talk-Line for nearly 40 years.
The turkey’s tryptophan doesn’t actually make you tired.
The majority of Americans secretly dislike classic Thanksgiving dishes but eat them anyway.
Many people enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers more than the meal itself.
Thank gent George H. W. Bush was the first to pardon a turkey.
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is known as “Drinksgiving.”
Back Friday, aka the day after Thanksgiving, is the busiest day for plumbers.
The turkey bird is actually linked to the country of Turkey.