Okay, some facts about Thanksgiving. Hopefully not fake facts, you know, 'fake news,' info we must discount, disparage if it's inconvenient or inglorious. Although, there is a lot of bullshit out there; I've complained about that myself, so much 'news' is sensationalized, inflammatory crap; 24-hour, non-stop, red-faced crap! But bullshit and opinions have always been around, since the beginning of time, so I should probably get over it. There are facts too. Truth exists. Let's hope this Thanksgiving trivia is derived from historian consensus and accurate! From allparenting.com:
The first Thanksgiving was held in the autumn of 1621 and included 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians and lasted three days.
Thanksgiving didn't become a national holiday until over 200 years later. Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who actually wrote the classic song “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” convinced President Lincoln in 1863 to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, after writing letters for 17 years campaigning for this to happen.
What was on the menu? Not turkey. Likely venison, ducks, geese, oysters, lobster, eel, and fish. They probably ate pumpkins, but no pumpkin pies.
The first Thanksgiving was eaten with
spoons and knives, no forks. Forks weren't introduced to the Pilgrims until 10 years later and weren't a popular
utensil until the 18th century.
Thanksgiving is the reason for TV dinners. (Which I mentioned, coincidentally, in #382!) In 1953, Swanson had 260 tons of extra turkey and a salesman suggested they package it onto aluminum trays with other sides like sweet potatoes. The first TV dinner was born.
Thanksgiving was almost a fast, not a feast. The early settlers gave thanks by praying and abstaining from food, which is what they planned on doing to celebrate their first harvest. But then the Wampanoag Indians joined them and turned their fast into a three-day feast.
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