Slideshow · Viral
25 Surprising Details About Thanksgiving
25 Unknown Facts About Thanksgiving You Didn't Know
By Most Viral Today
36 min ago
Think you know Thanksgiving? 25 facts history books skipped. 
25. Turkey Was Not On The 1621 Menu 
24. Sarah Josepha Hale Saved The Holiday 
23. Lincoln Made It A National Holiday - AdvertisementSwipe or tap ▶ to continue countdown
22. TV Dinners Were Invented By Accident 
21. Live Zoo Animals Marched In 1924 
20. Early Balloons Were Released Into The Air 
19. FDR Moved The Date For Holiday Shopping - AdvertisementSwipe or tap ▶ to continue countdown
18. Congress Fixed The Date In 1941 
17. Benjamin Franklin Praised Wild Turkeys 
16. The Football Tradition Started In 1869 
15. The Detroit Lions Tradition Began In 1934 - AdvertisementSwipe or tap ▶ to continue countdown
14. The Turkey Pardon Was Formalized In 1989 
13. Snoopy Has The Most Balloon Appearances 
12. Cranberries Are Tested By Bouncing Them 
11. Pumpkin Pie Was Missing In 1621 - AdvertisementSwipe or tap ▶ to continue countdown
10. Wampanoag Guests Outnumbered The Settlers 
9. Forks Were Not Present At The Feast 
8. Canada Celebrates Six Weeks Earlier 
7. Green Bean Casserole Was Born In A Test Lab - AdvertisementSwipe or tap ▶ to continue countdown
6. Wild Turkeys Can Fly 55 Miles Per Hour 
5. Thomas Jefferson Refused To Proclaim It 
4. The First Parade Took Place In Philadelphia 
3. Over 46 Million Turkeys Are Eaten Annually - AdvertisementSwipe or tap ▶ to continue countdown
2. Astronauts Feast On Turkey In Orbit 
1. Minnesota Leads The Nation In Turkey Farming - Advertisement🔥 UP NEXT IN THIS SERIES◫ 26 Slides
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From accidental TV dinner inventions to live zoo animal parades, explore 25 surprising historical facts behind America's holiday tradition.
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©Wikimedia / Frank Schulenburg & Wikimedia / Rembrandt Peale
25. Turkey Was Not On The 1621 Menu
Historical records from Edward Winslow note that Governor Bradford sent four men on a fowling expedition, while Wampanoag guests brought five deer. Turkey is never mentioned in surviving colonial journals.
©Pixabay / PublicDomainPictures
24. Sarah Josepha Hale Saved The Holiday
Magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale wrote relentless letters to five American presidents between 1827 and 1863, arguing that a national day of thanks would help bind a fractured nation.
©Wikimedia / Sarah Josepha Hale
23. Lincoln Made It A National Holiday
During the height of the American Civil War, President Lincoln established Thanksgiving as an annual national holiday, calling on citizens to heal the wounds of the nation.
©Wikimedia / Alexander Gardner
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22. TV Dinners Were Invented By Accident
Swanson miscalculated holiday demand and ended up with 260 tons of leftover frozen turkey. Salesman Gerry Thomas suggested packing sliced turkey into aluminum trays with cornbread dressing and peas.
©Unsplash / Ana Maltez
21. Live Zoo Animals Marched In 1924
Before giant helium balloons were introduced, the Central Park Zoo loaned live animals to march six miles through Manhattan during the inaugural 1924 Macy's Christmas Parade.
©Wikimedia / Dr. Md. Sarwar Uddin
20. Early Balloons Were Released Into The Air
In the late 1920s, parade organizers simply released giant helium balloons into the sky at the end of the route. Citizens who recovered them and returned them received a 100 dollar reward.
©Wikimedia / National Photo Company Collection
19. FDR Moved The Date For Holiday Shopping
To give retailers more shopping days before Christmas during the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up one week, prompting widespread public confusion.
©Wikimedia / Franklin D. Roosevelt
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18. Congress Fixed The Date In 1941
After two years of public debate over Roosevelt's schedule shift, Congress passed a joint resolution signed into law that permanently anchored Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday.
©Wikimedia / Diliff
17. Benjamin Franklin Praised Wild Turkeys
In a 1784 letter to his daughter, Franklin criticized the bald eagle as a bird of bad moral character and praised the wild turkey as a courageous native American creature.
©Wikimedia / David Martin
16. The Football Tradition Started In 1869
Just weeks after the first intercollegiate football contest between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869, teams began scheduling championship matchups on Thanksgiving afternoon.
©Wikimedia / EJ Hersom
15. The Detroit Lions Tradition Began In 1934
To build a fan base in their inaugural Detroit season, team owner George Richards convinced NBC to broadcast a holiday matchup against the undefeated Chicago Bears across 94 stations.
©Wikimedia / Bowman
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14. The Turkey Pardon Was Formalized In 1989
While Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy had spared presentation turkeys in earlier decades, President George H.W. Bush turned the lighthearted pardon into an official annual White House tradition.
©Wikimedia / David Valdez
13. Snoopy Has The Most Balloon Appearances
Since his parade debut as an astronaut in 1968, Charles Schulz's Snoopy has appeared more times than any other character balloon in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade history.
©Unsplash / Rain Wu
12. Cranberries Are Tested By Bouncing Them
Cranberry growers use bounce boards to sort fruit. Sound cranberries contain four small internal air chambers that cause them to ricochet over barriers while damaged berries fail to bounce.
©Wikimedia / Lance Cheung
11. Pumpkin Pie Was Missing In 1621
Early English colonists enjoyed pumpkins and squashes, but they stewed the pulp or roasted hollowed gourds filled with milk and spices over open embers rather than baking pastry pies.
©Pixabay / Daria-Yakovleva
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10. Wampanoag Guests Outnumbered The Settlers
Historical eyewitness accounts indicate that Wampanoag leader Ousamequin, known as Massasoit, arrived with roughly 90 warriors, far outnumbering the surviving European settlers.
©Wikimedia / Massasoit
9. Forks Were Not Present At The Feast
Forks were not widely adopted in England or colonial America until the late seventeenth century. Guests in 1621 relied on pocket knives, wooden spoons, and large linen napkins.
©Unsplash / Phil Hearing
8. Canada Celebrates Six Weeks Earlier
Rooted in English explorer Martin Frobisher's 1578 voyage to find the Northwest Passage, Canadian Thanksgiving honors the northern harvest before winter freezes the landscape.
©Wikimedia / After Hieronimo Custodis
7. Green Bean Casserole Was Born In A Test Lab
Working in the Campbell Soup Company home economics kitchen, Dorcas Reilly combined canned green beans, mushroom soup, and fried onions to create a staple side dish for millions.
©Wikimedia / Stephanie Clifford from Arlington, VA, USA
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6. Wild Turkeys Can Fly 55 Miles Per Hour
Domesticated farm turkeys are bred too heavy for flight, but wild turkeys can fly in short bursts up to 55 miles per hour and regularly roost high in oak and pine branches at night.
©Wikimedia / Frank Schulenburg
5. Thomas Jefferson Refused To Proclaim It
Staunchly committed to the separation of church and state, President Thomas Jefferson declined to issue any national Thanksgiving proclamations during his two terms in the White House.
©Wikimedia / Rembrandt Peale
4. The First Parade Took Place In Philadelphia
The Thanksgiving parade tradition started in Philadelphia in 1920 when department store giant Gimbels organized fifty employees and a horse-drawn Santa to parade down Market Street.
©Wikimedia / Philadelphia
3. Over 46 Million Turkeys Are Eaten Annually
According to the National Turkey Federation, Americans consume roughly 46 million turkeys every Thanksgiving, totaling over 700 million pounds of poultry on a single day.
©Wikimedia / Jim, the Photographer
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2. Astronauts Feast On Turkey In Orbit
Crews aboard the International Space Station enjoy vacuum-sealed thermostabilized smoked turkey, rehydrated mashed potatoes, and freeze-dried green beans in microgravity.
©Wikimedia / National Aeronautics and Space
1. Minnesota Leads The Nation In Turkey Farming
Minnesota ranks as the top turkey-producing state in the country, with hundreds of family-run farms generating around 18 percent of all turkeys raised in the United States.
©Wikimedia / Lewis Hine
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25 Oldest Continuously Inhabited Cities Still Thriving Today, Ranked
Long before modern borders were drawn, merchants and families walked these ancient streets. Discover twenty-five extraordinary cities that have remained continuously inhabited. Long before modern borders were mapped, pioneering communities built enduring urban centres that never fell silent.
