Strange But True Thanksgiving Trivia
What utensil was missing from the first Thanksgiving table? When was the first Thanksgiving NFL game? And who was the first president to receive a ceremonial Thanksgiving turkey?
Want some fun facts about Thanksgiving history to share this holiday?
Picture the first Thanksgiving — Pilgrims and Wampanoag Native Americans feasting in 1621. But what utensil was missing from the first Thanksgiving table? What seafood was served at the first Thanksgiving feast? And how many women were at the first Thanksgiving?
Jump forward a few hundred years to learn what college teams played in the first Thanksgiving football game and when was the first Thanksgiving NFL game. And when was the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?
Keep reading for strange but true Thanksgiving trivia.
What utensil was missing from the first Thanksgiving table?
What everyday object, found in every home, wasn’t on the table at the first Thanksgiving? If you guessed the fork, you’re right.
Forks were declared “a tool of the devil” when they first arrived in Europe in the 1500s. French aristocrats didn’t want to join the trend, declaring that God gave men hands to eat. Using the fork was not only foolish, it was immoral — the Devil’s tool. Plus, the nobility moaned, half the food fell off on the journey from plate to mouth.
Queen Elizabeth even tried the new contraption but eventually gave up. The Virgin Queen considered “spearing an uncouth action.”
In fact, no one in America owned a fork in 1621, when the first Thanksgiving took place. John Winthrop, the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was the first to bring a fork to the colonies in 1633.
What seafood was served at the first Thanksgiving feast?
Seafood isn’t common on many 21st-century Thanksgiving menus, but it was plentiful at the first Thanksgiving. The Wampanoag dined on 20-pound lobster, mussels, clams, and foot-long oysters. Fish were also plentiful, including 200-pound cod.
What did they eat at Thanksgiving? In addition to deer, corn, and pumpkin, the feast included cod, bass, lobster, mussels, and oysters.
Discover the Strange History of Lobster.
How many women were at the first Thanksgiving?
Only four women attended the first Thanksgiving. Although the Mayflower brought around 30 women to Massachusetts in 1620, only a handful survived the rough winter.
The first Thanksgiving included around 90 Wampanoag men and 22 male colonists, along with four married women and nearly 30 children and teens. Although the men didn’t record many details about who prepared the meal, credit likely goes to the women and girls.
Which was the first state to adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday?
The first national Thanksgiving holiday took place in 1863. But long before that, New England states celebrated with an annual feast. Yet the first state to officially celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday wasn’t a New England state at all — it was New York.
In 1817, New York declared Thanksgiving a state holiday, a move that several other states followed over the next decade. These state Thanksgiving holidays tended to take place on different days, and few states in the South celebrated the holiday, which was associated with the Yankees.
Which southern state was the first to adopt a Thanksgiving day in 1855?
While many Northern states celebrated Thanksgiving before it became a national holiday, Virginia was the first Southern state to carry on the tradition in 1855.
The Civil War cemented the idea that Thanksgiving was for the North — and many Southern states resisted the holiday. It took until 1947 — after World War II — for Arkansas and Mississippi to officially declare their first Thanksgiving holidays.
Who was the first president to make Thanksgiving a national holiday?
Most Americans remember the Pilgrims and Wampanoag breaking bread in the 1600s as the first Thanksgiving. But the first national Thanksgiving holiday dates to a very different time: the Civil War.
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving holiday in 1863, after the destructive Battle of Gettysburg.
Decades earlier, George Washington had suggested a “day of public thanksgiving,” but it did not become a national holiday until the Civil War.
And it wasn’t until President Franklin Roosevelt that Congress officially declared the fourth Thursday in November as a national holiday in 1941 during another war — World War II.
Who was the first president to receive a ceremonial Thanksgiving turkey?
In 1948, the poultry industry officially presented two turkeys to President Harry Truman. But they weren’t Thanksgiving turkeys — and Truman didn’t plan to pardon them. Instead, the president said they would “come in handy” for Christmas dinner.
So when did presidents start pardoning turkeys? President Kennedy said “let’s keep him going” when he received ceremonial turkeys, and President Nixon’s turkeys went to a children’s farm. A turkey sent to President Carter ended up in a mini zoo, and President Reagan continued the tradition of pardoning the turkeys and sending them to a farm.
In 1989, President George H.W. Bush declared, “let me assure you, and this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table, not this guy — he’s granted a Presidential pardon as of right now — and allow him to live out his days on a children’s farm not far from here.”
What college teams played in the first Thanksgiving football game?
Before the NFL took over Thanksgiving, the holiday featured college football games. And back in 1876, a new tradition started: the Thanksgiving championship game.
Yale and Princeton faced off in the first Thanksgiving football game, and Yale won. The tradition has continued for nearly 150 years.
When was the first Thanksgiving NFL game?
The Detroit Lions hosted the first Thanksgiving NFL game in 1934. Lions owner George Richards wanted to compete with the crowds who showed up for Detroit Tigers games, so he decided to schedule a game on Thanksgiving.
At the first game, the Chicago Bears defeated the Lions — but 26,000 fans attended and the tradition continued. Soon, other teams also started playing on Thanksgiving.
When was the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade remains a popular tradition, and it dates back to 1924. That year, employees of Macy’s dressed in costumes and marched down the streets of New York. They even borrowed 25 animals from the Central Park Zoo to attract crowds.
Macy’s wasn’t the first department store to throw a parade, but it became the longest-lasting tradition.
What year did the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade first have balloons?
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade first had balloons in 1927, when Felix the Cat debuted. Balloons were a safer alternative to the earlier tradition of marching zoo animals in the parade.
In the parade’s early years, the balloons were filled with helium and released at the parade’s finish line. That tradition ended in 1932.
Mickey Mouse first appeared in the 1934 parade. Macy’s canceled the parade during World War II, instead donating its balloons to the war effort.
For more strange and fascinating stories from history, check out Bruce Wilson’s book Strange but True Stories: Fascinating Facts, Astonishing Trivia, and Conversation Starters from History, available in ebook, paperback, or audiobook.
Bruce Wilson Jr. is the author of nine books on history. Visit Bruce Wilson’s website to learn more.
