Did you know that the first Thanksgiving in the world lasted for 3 days, about 280 million turkeys were consumed on Thanksgiving Day…?
- In the United States, Thanksgiving was celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.
- The Pilgrims in Plymouth were the first to celebrate Thanksgiving.
- The first Thanksgiving in the world lasted for 3 days.
- Thanksgiving officially became a national holiday in 1941.
- The Pilgrims did not use forks, they ate with spoons, knives, and fingers.
- Although Thanksgiving is considered an American holiday, it is also celebrated in Canada on the second Monday in October.
- In the United States, about 280 million turkeys are consumed on Thanksgiving Day.
- Fossil evidence shows that turkeys appeared in the Americas 10 million years ago.
- Columbus thought the land he explored was connected to India, where there were many peacocks. And he believed that turkeys were a type of peacock (in fact, turkeys are a type of pheasant). So he named them “tuka,” which means “peacock” in the Indian language of Tamil.
- Turkeys were one of the first animals in the Americas to be domesticated.
- 91% of Americans eat turkey for Thanksgiving.
- More than 40 million servings of green bean casserole are served on Thanksgiving.
- The wishbone of a turkey is used in a Thanksgiving ritual for good luck.
- A frightened turkey can run up to 20 miles per hour.
- According to the American Automobile Association, an estimated 42.2 million people in the United States drive at least 50 miles to get to their Thanksgiving destination each year.
- According to a survey, each Thanksgiving meal costs an average of about $50 for a family of about 10 people, equivalent to $5/person. Therefore, Thanksgiving often has a lot of leftover food because of the large amount of food cooked.
- Minnesota is considered the top turkey producing state in the US.
- About 20% of cranberries are consumed in the US each year on Thanksgiving Day.
- Since the time of President Harry Truman, every president has pardoned a turkey on Thanksgiving Day.
- In the United States, there are three places named after this Thanksgiving: Turkey, Texas; Turkey Creek, La.; and Turkey, N.C. There are also nine towns in the US named “Turkey”, with three cities in Kansas.
- The American Automobile Association (AAA) estimates that more than 42 million Americans travel 50 miles or more from home for Thanksgiving each year.
- American football is one of the traditions closely associated with Thanksgiving. From amateur to professional, most teams will play a game during Thanksgiving weekend. Many high schools have this game called Turkey Day or Turkey Bowl Game.
- The day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday: The day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday, marking the beginning of the holiday shopping season, which is the busiest time for shoppers, with major stores offering their biggest deals of the year. There are many explanations for the origin of the name Black Friday, the two most common explanations suggest that the term was coined by the police to describe the disruption caused by people engaged in sales (the roads and sidewalks caused havoc) causing chaos, or that the term originated from retailers, claiming that the term was more positively associated with an increase in sales, transferring the recording of business losses noted in red ink to positive profits in black.
- 6 major turkey producing states in the US: Although Thanksgiving is celebrated in all states in the US, in fact, there are only 6 major states that are responsible for producing most of the turkeys here. They are Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri and Virginia. According to the US Census Bureau, the number of turkeys produced by these 6 states accounts for 69% of the total chicken production in the US.
- The huge number of apple pies consumed: In just one month of Thanksgiving (November), the number of apple pies consumed by Americans has reached 50 million, according to Good Housekeeping magazine.
- The average amount of money for each Thanksgiving party: Estimates show that the amount of money that each American family spends to prepare for a party on this holiday is about $64.05
- The huge number of calories in each meal: According to The Calorie Control Council (CCC), a national association specializing in healthy living, each American will consume about 3,000 calories for each Thanksgiving meal.
- Macy’s parade: The Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, broadcast live across the country on NBC, has been taking place since 1924 but was interrupted for 3 years from 1942-1944 due to World War II. This is a parade organized by the retail chain Macy’s, passing through a 4km route in the center of New York. One of the highlights of the parade is the giant balloons with the shapes of cartoon characters and animals.
