Thanksgiving Facts and Myths

The first Thanksgiving lasted three days.

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• Myth

Answer explanation

The event commonly referred to as the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in October 1621. It was organized by Governor William Bradford of Plymouth, Massachusetts, to celebrate the recent immigrants' first successful corn harvest in the New World. While the meal lacked much of what is now common Thanksgiving fare—there's no record of turkey being served, for example—there were at least five deer carcasses present, and the event lasted a full three days.

It’s called Black Friday because it’s the day stores’ numbers are in the black

• Fact

• Myth

Answer explanation

Dictionary.com says Black Friday was first used by factory managers in the 1950s because so many workers called in sick the day after Thanksgiving. It then says that Black Friday was how Philadelphia traffic cops referred to the day in the 1960s because they had to work 12-hour shifts in terrible traffic.

Eating turkey makes you sleepy

• Fact

• Myth

Answer explanation

An amino acid in the turkey called L-tryptophan gets turned into the chemical serotonin by the brain, which can calm people down and make them sleep. But L-tryptophan can only make people sleepy right away if it’s eaten or taken by itself without any other amino acids, which turkey has plenty of.

Frozen had the biggest Thanksgiving opening of any movie.

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Answer explanation

As of today, the 2013 Disney animated musical Frozen is the No. 1 Thanksgiving release of all time, pulling in $93 million domestically.

Thanksgiving has been celebrated every year since the nation’s founding

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Answer explanation

According to the National Archives, George Washington issued a proclamation that named Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a "Day of Publick Thanksgivin". 

At that point, however, Thanksgiving wasn’t codified into law as an annual holiday. It was up to the sitting president to declare a day of “Thanksgiving and Prayer” and set the day and month for the holiday. And there were some years where no such day was declared.

The woman who got Thanksgiving reinstated as a national holiday also wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

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Answer explanation

Sarah Hale is known as the "Mother of Thanksgiving" because, at a time when the holiday was only celebrated in the Northeast, she spent four decades campaigning for a national day of thanks. In 1863, she finally persuaded then-President Abraham Lincoln to reinstate the holiday nationwide. In addition, Hale was also a successful editor and poet, penning the famous "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and retiring at the ripe age of 90.

Pilgrims Dressed in Black

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Answer explanation

Not only did they not dress in black, they did not wear those funny buckles, weird shoes, or black steeple hats. So how did we get the idea of the buckles? Plimoth Plantation historian James W. Baker explains that in the nineteenth century, when the popular image of the Pilgrims was formed, buckles served as a kind of emblem of quaintness.

The Pilgrims Landed on Plymouth Rock

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Answer explanation

According to historian George Willison, who devoted his life to the subject, the story about the rock is all malarkey, a public relations stunt pulled off by townsfolk to attract attention.

They first made landfall at Provincetown. Of course, the people of Plymouth stick by hoary tradition. Tour guides insist that Plymouth Rock is THE rock.

"Jingle Bells" might be thought of as a Christmas song now-a-days, but it was actually written to be sung on Thanksgiving Day.

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Answer explanation

Created in 1857 by James Pierpont, it was so popular during the Christmas season that the name officially changed from "One Horse Open Sleigh" to "Jingle Bells" in 1859.

Benjamin Franklin nicknamed turkeys "Tom" after Thomas Jefferson.

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Answer explanation

Supposedly, ol' Ben wanted the turkey to be our national bird, but Thomas Jefferson thought the more noble eagle should represent the United States. It's said that after Franklin lost out he dubbed the turkey "Tom" in honor of his nemesis. It's a good story—good enough, in fact, that we kind of wish it were true. Instead, the less interesting reality is that occasionally male animals, including cats, for example, are labeled "Tom."