5 Interesting Facts about Thanksgiving
As we prepare for the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving celebration, I thought it would be fun to cover a few lesser known historical facts related to America’s second favorite holiday.
Here are 5 interesting facts about the history of Thanksgiving
1. The first Thanksgiving meal did not include turkey
As the Native Americans and Pilgrims came together for a three days long feast, turkey was not on the menu. According to historical accounts, the meal consisted of deer, duck, lobsters, mussels, cabbage, corn, beans, and other crops native to New England.
2. The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924
Featured live animals on loan from the Central Park Zoo including elephants, bears, and monkeys.
3. The author of Mary had a Little Lamb helped make Thanksgiving a national holiday
Magazine editor and author of the nursery rhyme “Mary had a Little Lamb” Sara Josepha Hale was instrumental in making Thanksgiving a national holiday. She spent decades lobbying for the holiday, writing letters to governors, congressmen, and presidents. She was finally successful in 1863 when President Lincoln would make Thanksgiving a national holiday.
4. The song Jingle Bells was originally written to celebrate Thanksgiving
The song, originally titled “One Horse Open Sleigh” was written by James Pierpont in 1857 to be sung at a Sunday school during Thanksgiving. The lyrics would later be changed and the song would become an iconic part of Christmas tradition.
5. President Jefferson did not endorse Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
Jefferson would object on the grounds of separation between church and state. He felt it violated the first amendment. Though he did not see a conflict when as governor of Virginia he declared a day of Thanksgiving and prayer. Jefferson believed that declaring such days was the responsibility of individual states and not the federal government.
