Hi there! Did you know that the Pilgrims didn’t actually wear those famous buckled hats? It’s true! Buckles didn’t become fashionable until the 18th century. That’s just one of the many surprising facts about Thanksgiving that we’re going to explore today.
Thanksgiving didn’t start as a religious holiday, making it a great way to kick off the holiday season. It’s often confused with a harvest festival, but it’s not quite the same. The confusion usually comes from mixing up Pilgrims and Puritans. Pilgrims were the original settlers of Plymouth, while Puritans are the ones you might have read about in “The Scarlet Letter.”
Harvest festivals existed long before Europeans arrived in America, so Thanksgiving didn’t really start here. In fact, there were several “first” Thanksgivings celebrated by different groups of colonists along the East Coast.
We often trace Thanksgiving back to a three-day festival in 1621 celebrated by the Pilgrims. They may have invited some Wampanoag Indians to join them. Contrary to popular belief, the Pilgrims probably didn’t wear black and white clothing, as black fabric was very expensive. And the Native Americans weren’t wearing loincloths because November in New England is quite chilly!
At these early harvest festivals, you wouldn’t have found turkey, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, or cranberry sauce. Instead, they likely had goose or duck, and maybe even swans or passenger pigeons. Seafood, nuts, corn, and pumpkin were probably on the menu, but not in pie form. So, if you want to celebrate like the Pilgrims, maybe try some passenger pigeon (just kidding, they’re extinct now!).
Back then, forks hadn’t been invented yet, so they used knives and spoons. There’s a myth that Native Americans taught Pilgrims about popcorn, but that’s not true. So, why do we celebrate Thanksgiving today? We have Sarah Josepha Hale to thank. She was a magazine editor who spent 17 years campaigning for a national Thanksgiving holiday.
She wrote letters to several presidents, and it was Abraham Lincoln who finally made Thanksgiving an official holiday in 1863. Fun fact: Sarah also wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
Before it became a national holiday, Thomas Jefferson called Thanksgiving “the most ridiculous idea.” In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to move Thanksgiving earlier to boost holiday shopping during the Great Depression. To prevent this from happening again, Congress declared Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November in 1941.
Now, let’s talk turkey! You might think turkey makes you sleepy, but it’s not really the tryptophan’s fault. In 2012, Americans ate 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving, which is 736 million pounds of turkey! Minnesota produces the most turkeys in the U.S.
Football on Thanksgiving has been a tradition since 1876 when Yale played Princeton. The NFL continued this tradition in 1920, and the Detroit Lions have been playing on Thanksgiving since 1934, except during World War II.
There’s a Thanksgiving Parade older than the famous Macy’s Parade. The first one was in Philadelphia in 1920, now called the 6ABC Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade. Macy’s Parade started in 1924 with animals from the Central Park Zoo and no balloons. In the early days, they released balloons at the end of the parade, but they don’t do that anymore. During World War II, the Macy’s Parade was canceled, and the balloons’ rubber was used for the war effort.
Thanks for joining us on this journey through Thanksgiving history! Remember, Thanksgiving is about being grateful, so take a moment to appreciate the things you have. Happy Thanksgiving, and as they say, don’t forget to be awesome!
Research the key events mentioned in the article and create a timeline. Include the origins of Thanksgiving, the first Thanksgiving in 1621, and the declaration of Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Use images and short descriptions to make your timeline visually appealing and informative.
Imagine you are planning a Thanksgiving meal in 1621. Based on the article, list the foods that would have been available at that time. Then, compare it to a modern Thanksgiving menu. Discuss with your classmates how the menu has evolved over time.
Divide into groups and debate the importance of different Thanksgiving traditions mentioned in the article, such as parades, football, and the traditional meal. Each group should present arguments for why their assigned tradition is the most significant part of Thanksgiving.
Create a quiz based on the myths and facts presented in the article. Include questions about Pilgrim clothing, the first Thanksgiving, and the role of Sarah Josepha Hale. Test your classmates’ knowledge and see who can distinguish between myth and fact.
Start a gratitude journal where you write down things you are thankful for each day leading up to Thanksgiving. Reflect on the historical significance of Thanksgiving and how it relates to gratitude. Share your entries with the class and discuss the importance of being thankful.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
—
Hi, I’m John Green. Welcome to my salon. This is Mental Floss on YouTube, and did you know that pilgrims did not actually wear buckled hats? I know your whole life is a lie! Buckles didn’t even become fashionable until the 18th century, and that is the first of many little-known facts about Thanksgiving that I’ll be sharing with you today.
Thanksgiving didn’t have religious origins, so it actually is a great way to kick off your holiday season. Sadly, it’s not the kind of harvest festival that features Lil’ Sebastian from “Parks and Rec.” This confusion usually comes from a failure to distinguish between Pilgrims and Puritans. Both celebrated Thanksgiving on the North American continent, but “Pilgrims” refers to the original settlers of Plymouth, whereas “Puritans” are what your English teacher kept trying to tell you about when you were studying “The Scarlet Letter.”
For a better understanding of that distinction, I made you a crash course video. Harvest festivals predated European colonists arriving in America, meaning that Thanksgiving didn’t really originate in America. Plus, there was more than one first Thanksgiving. These celebrations that colonists brought over from Europe probably took place all over America, or at least the East Coast, at different times with different people.
We generally trace Thanksgiving back to a 1621 three-day festival celebrated by the Pilgrims, who may have possibly invited some Wampanoag Indians to join. So not only did the Pilgrims not wear buckles, they also probably were not wearing black and white, especially considering that black fabric was extremely expensive at the time. Additionally, the American Indians were not wearing loincloths. If you’ve been to New England in November, you’ll note that it’s cold.
Here are some items that you probably wouldn’t have seen at one of these harvest festivals back in the 1600s: turkey, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. They probably had goose or duck instead of turkey. The meals might have even included swans or passenger pigeons, and also seafood. There were probably nuts and corn and pumpkin, but no pumpkin pies. So this year, I challenge you to celebrate like real Pilgrims and share a lovely meal of passenger pigeon with your family on Thanksgiving.
As for logistics, forks had not yet been invented, so the only silverware that could have been found at the meal were knives and spoons. Here at Mental Floss, we’re all about educating, so I am now going to do a historically accurate demonstration of what the Pilgrims looked like at their harvest festivals.
For a long time, a misconception has persisted that Native Americans taught Pilgrims about popcorn and even brought it to the first Thanksgiving, but sadly that is untrue, which explains why they were eating passenger pigeon. So why do we celebrate this functionally random festival that didn’t even involve loincloths? Well, we have Sarah Josepha Hale of New Hampshire to thank for that. She was a magazine editor who spent seventeen years of her life campaigning for a nationally recognized Thanksgiving.
The campaigning included writing letters to at least five presidents, including Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and finally Abraham Lincoln. It was Lincoln who made Thanksgiving an official national holiday in 1863. If you’re not already grateful to Sarah Josepha Hale for giving us all a day off from school and work, she is also awesome because she wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
Before Thanksgiving became a national holiday and was merely celebrated by some Americans, Thomas Jefferson called it “the most ridiculous idea,” and FDR tried to move Thanksgiving one week earlier in 1939 to quicken post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping because of the depression. Then, to prevent this from ever happening again, in 1941, Congress officially declared Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November.
Now, of course, we can’t have an episode about Thanksgiving without talking a little bit about turkey. You probably already know that turkey and tryptophan are not actually responsible for your post-meal sleepiness. For more on that, check out Dr. Erin Carroll discussing this very topic.
A couple of stats about Thanksgiving and turkey: Minnesota is the state that produces the most turkeys. In 2012, 46 million turkeys were eaten on Thanksgiving, which is 736 million pounds of turkey. Those statistics come from the National Turkey Federation.
Football on Thanksgiving has been played since 1876 when Yale played Princeton, but the tradition continued with the NFL’s first season in 1920 when six different games were played on Thanksgiving Day. The Detroit Lions are most typically associated with Thanksgiving games. In 1934, G.A. Richards bought the Lions and scheduled a Thanksgiving game against the Bears. The only time the Lions have failed to play on the holiday since was during World War II.
There’s actually a Thanksgiving Parade that’s older than the one run by Macy’s. 1920 saw the first annual Thanksgiving Parade in Philadelphia, previously known as the Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade, but it now has a much less commercial name: the 6ABC Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade. Four years after Philadelphia’s first parade, in 1924, came the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which featured animals from the Central Park Zoo and no balloons.
In the early days, the balloons were actually released at the end of the parade so that they could float around for a while. Of course, they don’t do this anymore, which is why you rarely see an 80-foot tall Kermit the Frog flying over New Jersey. By the way, the Macy’s parade did not occur during World War II; it was canceled, and the rubber from the balloons was given to help the war effort.
Thanks for watching Mental Floss here on YouTube, which is made with the help of all of these nice people. Every week, we endeavor to answer one of your fascinating questions. This week’s question comes from YouTube user Hatsue, who asks how do garden snails survive winter temperatures? They don’t; they hibernate.
Thanks again for watching Mental Floss on YouTube. You know, Mental Floss isn’t just a YouTube thing; it’s also a real-life magazine, and there are lots of amazing t-shirts you can get at the Mental Floss store. If you use the code “youtube,” you can get 15% off. Happy Thanksgiving, and thanks to all of you for giving us here at Mental Floss so much to be grateful for. As we say in my hometown, don’t forget to be awesome!
—
Let me know if you need any further modifications!
Thanksgiving – A holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada to give thanks for the harvest and blessings of the past year. – Every year, families gather to celebrate Thanksgiving and enjoy a meal together.
Pilgrims – A group of English settlers who founded the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620. – The Pilgrims sailed on the Mayflower to seek religious freedom in the New World.
Harvest – The process or period of gathering crops. – After the harvest, the community held a festival to celebrate the abundance of food.
Traditions – Customs or beliefs passed down from generation to generation. – Many families have unique traditions that they follow during the holiday season.
Menu – A list of dishes to be served at a meal. – The Thanksgiving menu included turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie.
History – The study of past events, particularly in human affairs. – Learning about the history of ancient civilizations helps us understand how societies have evolved.
National – Relating to a nation; common to a whole nation. – Independence Day is a national holiday in the United States, celebrated on July 4th.
Holiday – A day of festivity or recreation when no work is done. – During the holiday season, people often travel to visit family and friends.
America – A continent comprising North and South America, or more commonly, the United States of America. – The United States of America declared its independence from Britain in 1776.
Colonists – People who settle in a new country or region, often establishing control over the indigenous people. – The colonists faced many challenges as they established new settlements in America.
