Thursday Thirteen: Thanksgiving Day

Thirteen Pieces of Thanksgiving and turkey Trivia

13. The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade tradition began in the 1920's.

12. Congress passed an official proclamation in 1941 and declared that now onwards Thanksgiving will be observed as a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday of November every year.

11. Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor with a magazine, started a Thanksgiving campaign in 1827 and it was result of her efforts that in 1863 Thanksgiving was observed as a day for national thanksgiving and prayer.

10. Californians are the largest consumers of turkey in the United States.

9. Domesticated turkeys or the farm-raised turkeys cannot fly.

8. According to an estimate, during the Thanksgiving holiday more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and around 525 million pounds of turkey is eaten.

7. The red fleshy growth from the base of the beak that hangs down over the beak is called 'snood'. It is very long on male turkeys.

6. An estimate of 50% of Americans put stuffing inside the the turkey. The other 50% keeps stuffing as a separate side dish to the meal. Which way do you prefer?

5. The Pilgrims did NOT wear big buckles on their shoes and hats. I know we all think it a trademark of the Pilgrims though somewhere along the line this was made up! Buckles were not actually in style until the late 1600s - especially during the Salem Witch Trials.

4. In 1947, the first Presidential pardon was ceremoniously given to a turkey.

3. As far back as 1000 A.D., Native American Indians raised turkeys for food. Aztec Indians in Mexico were raising them as early as 200B.C.

2. THREE is the number of places nationwide named after the holiday's tasty gobbler. Turkey, Texas, is the most populous, with 496 residents; followed by Turkey Creek, La. (357); and Turkey, N.C. (267). There also are 16 townships around the country named "Turkey," three of them in Kansas.

1. A spooked turkey can run 20 MPH.