Greetings, from guest blogger Geno Bonaventura, aka my darling husband.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
I did not grow up celebrating Thanksgiving in Brazil, but, nowadays I enjoy it with my American family members and friends.
Here are some of the facts about Thanksgiving facts that I have learned, to get you into the mood:
- The first Thanksgiving feast, held in 1621, was actually spread out over the course of three days.
- Turkey may not even have been eaten then – the colonists ate things like fish, lobster and veal and the Native Americans from the Wampanoag Tribe may have brought deer.
- Prior to this, people celebrated Thanksgiving by fasting.
- The NFL joined the Thanksgiving tradition in 1920.
- While Thanksgiving is usually the fourth Thursday in November, President Franklin Roosevelt bumped it up a week in 1939 to try to help sales. People were not fond of it, especially calendar makers and it soon went back to its usual date in 1942.
- People cook about 46 million turkeys a year on Thanksgiving – about twice what people have during Christmas.
- Male turkeys are the only ones that make the “gobble-gobble” sound.
- George H.W. Bush was the first president to pardon a turkey. He did it in 1989*.
Again, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
*Note from editor: George H.W. Bush was the first “formal” pardoning, but the history of pardoning turkeys goes back a litter further.
