1. The First TV Dinner was Thanksgiving Leftovers
In 1953, someone at Swanson severely overestimated the amount of
turkey Americans would consume that Thanksgiving. With 260 tons of frozen birds
to get rid of, a company salesman named Gerry Thomas ordered 5,000 aluminum
trays, recruited an assembly line of women armed with spatulas and ice-cream
scoops and began creating mini-feasts of turkey, corn-bread dressing, peas and
sweet potatoes — creating the first-ever TV dinner. Thomas later said he got
the idea from neatly packaged airplane food.
2.
FDR Tried to Change the Date
FDR learned the hard way not to mess with some traditions. In
1939, the President declared that Americans should celebrate the annual feast
one week early, hoping the decision would spur retail sales during the Great
Depression. But Americans did not react kindly to the New Deal meal. Some took
to the streets while others took to name-calling; the mayor of Atlantic City
solved the controversy by declaring his residents would simply enjoy two meals
— Thanksgiving and "Franksgiving." After two years of squabbling (or
gobbling, as it were), Congress adopted a resolution in 1941 setting the fourth
Thursday of November as the legal holiday.
3.
Mary Had a Little Thanksgiving Obsession
The woman who wrote the classic nursery rhyme "Mary Had a
Little Lamb" also played an integral role in making Thanksgiving a national
holiday. After a 17-year letter-writing campaign, magazine editor Sarah Josepha
Hale finally convinced President Abraham Lincoln to issue an 1863 decree
recognizing the historic tradition.
4.
We Eat a Lot of Turduckens
Thanks to the culinary genius of Louisiana (or Wyoming or South
Carolina — each region has staked its claim), more and more Americans are
forsaking Butterballs for Turduckens. A what? Picture this: a turkey stuffed
with a duck stuffed with a chicken. It's like a Russian nesting doll only with
poultry. One store in Louisiana claims to ship more than 5,000 turduckens the
week before the feast. Though this may seem like sacrilege to some, the
original Thanksgiving meal featured fish, oysters, eel and lobster as well as
wild turkey. Other modern pilgrims settle for a tofu version
("tofurkey") or the wildly dangerous "deep-fried turkey."
5.
There's Debate Over Which President First Pardoned a Turkey
The annual White House tradition of pardoning a turkey before
Thanksgiving began in 1947, when President Harry Truman took pity on one lucky
fowl. Other historians say the practice began during the 1860s, when Abraham
Lincoln granted a pardon to a pet turkey belonging to his son, Tad. The
tradition may alleviate some of America's guilt, but it doesn't stop us from
slaughtering more than 46 million turkeys for the holiday. Even so, as former
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin once proved during a interview in her
hometown, Americans prefer public acts of mercy to massacres.
6.
Thanksgiving Was Meant to Be a Fast
Thanksgiving was initially meant to be a fast, not a feast. The
devout settlers at Plymouth Rock mostly recognized "giving of thanks"
in the form of prayer and abstaining from food. But the Wampanoag Indians, who
joined the pilgrims for their 3-day celebration, contributed their own harvest
traditions — dancing, games and feasting — from their ancient estival, Nickommoh, meaning
"to give away" or "exchange."
7.
Thanksgiving Was Once Celebrated in London
In 1942, London's Westminster Abbey held Thanksgiving services
for U.S. troops stationed in England. More than 3,500 soldiers filled the
church's pews to sing America, the Beautiful and The
Star-Spangled Banner — the first time in the church's 900-year history
that a foreign army was invited to take over the grounds. It was an ironic
gesture given the holiday's origins as a festival for pilgrims fleeing
religious tyranny in Britain.
8.
Thanksgiving Was a Slow-Roasting Holiday
While the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621, it would take
more than 150 years before all 13 colonies celebrated Thanksgiving at once, in
October 1777. In 1789, George Washington hailed the holiday, while President
Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the notion, calling Thanksgiving "the most
ridiculous idea" ever conceived. For his part, Benjamin Franklin had such
an affinity for turkey that he lobbied to make it the national bird (to no
avail).
9.
There Are Three Towns Named Turkey
Three towns have been named after the holiday's starring player
— Turkey, Texas, Turkey Creek, La. and Turkey, N.C. — each with less than 500
residents. Legend has it that the pheasant's name came from the wayward
traveler Christopher Columbus, who thought he was in India when he arrived in
"The New World" and, hence, dubbed the pheasant a "tuka,"
an Indian term for peacock. The name stuck.
10. The Detroit Lions Always Play on
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is ruled by two very powerful f-words:
"food" and "football." Nearly as old as the sport itself,
the tradition of watching football on Thanksgiving began in 1876, when the
newly formed American Intercollegiate Football Association held its first
championship game. Less than a decade later, more than 5,000 club, college and
high school football teams held games on Thanksgiving, with match-ups between
Princeton and Yale drawing more than 40,000 fans out from their dining rooms.
1934 marked the first NFL game held on Thanksgiving when the Detroit Lions took
on the Chicago Bears. The Lions have played on Thanksgiving ever since —
except, of course, when the team was called away to serve during World War II.
Happy Thanksgiving! Remember... Thanksgiving is an action word!
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| Be Savvy...Call the Smart Realtor |
e-PRO, Strategic Pricing Specialist
