Thanksgiving Trivia

Posted by Admin on November 26th, 2008 filed in Uncategorized

A little assorted trivia in the spirit of Thanksgiving.

In 1939 to facilitate retail sales, Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to move Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November. There was much controversy as some Americans celebrated “Franksgiving” and some kept the original Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. Some even celebrated both!
The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade was held in 1927. The original characters included a drum major, a dragon, and Felix the Cat. They were filled with air (not helium) and were tied down with sticks and ropes.
The tradition of tugging the wishbone to bring good luck stemmed from an old English custom. The folklore is that the person left holding the larger part would be the next to marry.
Benjamin Franklin pushed for the turkey to be the national bird of the United States. Thomas Jefferson who opposed him, however. The legend goes that Franklin then named the male turkey a ‘tom’ to spite Jefferson.
The female turkey makes a clicking sound and it is the Toms that make the gobble sounds. These gobble sounds can be heard up to a mile away!
Turkeys raised on farms can’t fly. Wild turkeys can fly short distances at up to 55 miles per hour.

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