Thanksgiving is the perfect time to gather with family and friends to share a delicious meal - and some fun facts! These Turkey Day tidbits will add some fun to your festivities. Get ready to feed your mind!
#1: Some turkeys can fly 55 miles per hour
While domesticated turkeys (the kind we eat on Thanksgiving) can’t fly or run, wild turkeys (the ones the pilgrims ate) are much smaller and more agile. They can run up to 20-25 miles on the ground and fly for short distances up to 55 miles per hour. That’s 5 miles per hour faster than the top speeds of lions, gazelles, and wildebeests! And only male turkeys say “gobble gobble”. Female turkeys cackle instead!
#2: President Calvin Coolidge almost ate raccoon for Thanksgiving
In November 1926, someone gave President Calvin Coolidge a live raccoon to eat for his Thanksgiving main dish! Fortunately for the raccoon, Calvin didn’t think she looked very appetizing, so he named her Rebecca and kept her as a pet instead. Calvin and his wife Grace were animal lovers with several unusual pets - Rebecca joined a bear, a wallaby, a pygmy hippo, and lion cubs!
#3: Cranberries were a Native American staple
For thousands of years, Native American tribes in the Northeastern United States have cultivated and used cranberries. These red berries were most popular in pemmican, a cross between jerky and energy bars made from meat, animal fat, and dried fruit. Cranberries were also boiled in water to make tea or clothing dye, eaten as medicine for fever, swelling, and infection, and applied as a poultice to heal arrow wounds!
#4: The first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade starred real animals
The iconic holiday parade made its debut in 1924 under the name “Macy's Christmas Parade”. This wild procession included monkeys, bears, camels, and elephants borrowed from the Central Park Zoo! Later, the zoo animals were replaced with balloons shaped like popular characters, creating the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade we enjoy today. Of all the balloon characters, Snoopy from Peanuts has appeared in balloon form in the parade the most times: eight!
#5: Some people celebrate Thanksgiving with a footrace
Sometimes called “Turkey Trots”, races ranging from 1 mile to a half marathon are held in many American cities around the time of Thanksgiving. Participants enjoy running through the crisp fall air while burning some of the calories they consumed at their big meal! The Buffalo Turkey Trot, an annual 8K (4.97 miles) footrace held in Buffalo, New York, claims to be the oldest continually running public footrace in North America. It was established in 1896 and has been held every year since, even during the two World Wars and the 1918 flu pandemic!
#6: Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving too
In Canada, people celebrate a Thanksgiving holiday by gathering with family, eating turkey, and watching sports. But their Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Sunday and Monday of October! Canadian Thanksgiving was inspired by English explorer Martin Frobisher’s third voyage to Canada in 1578. When he and his crew arrived in Newfoundland while searching for the Northwest Passage, they enjoyed a meal of salt beef, biscuits, and mushy peas (yum?) to celebrate and give thanks for their safe arrival.
Now that you’re a Thanksgiving expert, it’s time for you start enjoying the festivities! What Thanksgiving activity are you most excited for? Click the blue button below to vote! 👓