"Thanksgiving Factoids" — November 1999

1. When was the first Thanksgiving?
The exact date is not known, but it was sometime between September and November of the year 1621. It wasn't celebrated again for quite a few years. It didn't even become a national holiday until President Lincoln proclaimed it as such in 1863.

2. When is Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November. President F.D. Roosevelt set this date in 1939. President Lincoln had originally set the date as the last Thursday of the month. Roosevelt thought this was too close to Christmas and moved it back a week to lengthen the Christmas shopping season. Congress formerly approved the change in dates in 1941.

3. Do other countries celebrate Thanksgiving?
No. Thanksgiving is an American holiday much like the 4th of July. Other countries also have their own specific holidays to celebrate certain events that took place in their countries. For example, Mexico's Independence Day is September 16th. Mexicans celebrate it in America as well as in Mexico.

4. Is it true that Turkey wasn't the main dish served?
Yes. Turkey was a side dish. It did not become a Thanksgiving staple until about 1854. The first Thanksgiving meal mainly consisted of venison (deer meat), lobster, Indian corn, fish (bass and cod) and wild turkey.

5. What does a common Thanksgiving meal include today?
Have you ever eaten lobster for Thanksgiving? Probably not. Today's meals don't resemble the original feast much. Most Thanksgiving feasts today include: turkey, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberries, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.

6. What's a cornucopia?
Originally a curved goat's horn (horn of plenty) overflowing with fruit and ears of grain that was used as a decorative symbol of abundance.

7. What is a pilgrim?
The Pilgrims were English Puritan Separatists, a group of people who wished to escape religious persecution in England. Their escape was the voyage to America where they founded the Plymouth Colony.

8. Did they always wear those black and white outfits we see in the pictures?
No, the Pilgrims didn't always wear black and white. The popular colors of the day were Earth tones of red, green, brown, gray and lavender. Black was worn on Sunday and special occasions. Did you know that children, both boys and girls, wore dresses until around the age of eight?

9. What was the name of the ship the pilgrim's sailed?
The Mayflower. 102 Pilgrims sailed on this ship on their voyage to America.

10. Who was Squanto?
Also known as Tisquantum, Squanto was a native of the Patuxet tribe. He had lived amongst the English for many years prior to the Pilgrims arriving in America. Being able to speak English, he was used as a guide and interpreter for the Pilgrims. He negotiated a peace treaty between the Wampanoag Indians and the Pilgrims.