Thanksgiving, a national holiday embedded in American mythology, has changed over the years from an emblem of American history and unity to a day that includes eating, shopping, and watching televised football games and parades. Below are a few factoids of Thanksgivings past.

When I was a child, billboards advertising a certain brand of turkey popularized the picture on the left. Norman Rockwell’s rendition of a family Thanksgiving table was called Freedom From Want, and was one of four pictures depicting the Four Freedoms Americans fought for during World War II.

This idealized traditional Thanksgiving meal bore no resemblance to the so-called First Thanksgiving celebrated in Plymouth in 1621.

A Pilgrim Thanksgiving

Pilgrims and other New Englanders celebrated many days of thanksgiving. These were days of prayer thanking God for military victories, or a good harvest. Our enshrined Thanksgiving was a celebration survival that took place over three days some time between late September and mid-November 1621. About 52 settlers with major assistance from the Pokanoket Wampanoag people led by Ousmequin, survived the first year. Survivors included 22 men, four married women, and about 25 children and teens.

In preparation for the celebration, several Pilgrims went “fowling” to secure geese and ducks for the feast. The meal probably also included fish, eels, shellfish, and vegetables from Pilgrim gardens, including cabbages, carrots, cucumbers, leeks, lettuce, parsnips, pumpkins, and cranberries without sugar. Unexpectedly, about 90 Wampanoag made a surprise visit, contributed four or five deer, and joined the feast. This idealized feast of plenty and harmony became part of our American myth.

An annual official celebration of Thanksgiving was slow to become a national holiday. After 1798, Congress left the holiday up to individual states. Some objected that the day was a religious observance that should not be put to political use. Southern states saw the custom as specific to New England and declined to participate.

Sarah Josepha Hale’s Thanksgiving Campaign

In the early 19th century sectional tensions between northern and southern states increased. In an effort to encourage national unity, Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the popular Godey’s Lady’s Book began a campaign for a national Thanksgiving Day. Though she didn’t specifically promote feasting, a chapter in her 1827 novel Northwood; or, A Tale of New England described a Thanksgiving dinner. Highlighted foods included roasted turkey placed at the head of the table; and well did it become its lordly station, sending forth the rich odour of its savoury stuffing. For dessert there was pumpkin pie which she described as an indispensable part of a good and true Yankee Thanksgiving. Thus did two “traditional” foods gain their place on traditional Thanksgiving tables.

In 1863, during the American civil war, President Lincoln proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving that would be observed on Thursday, November 26. Succeeding presidents continued the tradition of declaring the last Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Football ? ? ?

American Thanksgiving traditions solidified in the late 19th century. The first of these to take root was Thanksgiving College Football Games. On November 30, 1876 Yale and Princeton faced off on a field in Hoboken NJ. Yale defeated their rival 2-0 while fewer than 1000 fans watched.

In the late 19th century, football resembled rugby more than today’s game. There were group tackles and flying wedges among players wearing little or no head protection.

In 1880 when the venue shifted to Manhattan’s Polo Grounds, crowds began to grow. Ten thousand fans watched the game in 1881. Vendors sold souvenirs. Scalpers sold tickets that cost $1 for $5. Gamblers placed bets.

Football fans formed an unofficial parade as they traveled from Fifth Avenue hotels to the Polo Grounds where the games were played. In 1893, more than 50,000 fans attended the annual game.

Thanksgiving Parades

The first Thanksgiving Day Parade was in Philadelphia when Gimbel’s Department Store produced a parade with fifteen people and Santa Claus at the end.

Four years later, Macy’s employees organized Macy’s Christmas Parade with animals from the Central Park Zoo. More than 25,000 people attended the parade. The first balloon appeared in 1927 featuring Felix the Cat. Floats were introduced in 1968.

Green Bean Casserole

As ubiquitous on Thanksgiving menus as turkey and pumpkin pie, green bean casserole is worth a mention if only because it was invented in 1955 as a way for Campbell’s to sell more cream of mushroom soup. The recipe became a midwestern staple and is so popular that 40% of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup sales are at Thanksgiving.

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Illustrations

Freedom From Want by Norman Rockwell.

First Thanksgiving by Jean Leon Jerome Ferris.

Sarah Josepha Hale by James Reid Lambdin.

1879 Yale-Princeton Game. Wood engraving from Harper’s Weekly.

Yale v. Princeton. 1896.

Otto Messmer’s Little Black Cat by Raoul Barre.

Green Bean Casserole by Rick Kimpel.

Sarah Josepha Hale, The Little Lady From NH Who Started Thanksgiving. New England Historical Society.

Christopher Curley. “How Thanksgiving Dinner Has Changed Over the Years.” Insider. Nov. 27, 2019.

Christopher Klein. “How The First Thanksgiving College Football Game Kicked Off a Holiday Tradition.” History. Nov. 19, 2021.

Sarah Pruitt. “Colonists at the First Thanksgiving Were Mostly Men Because Women Had Perished.” History. Aug. 9, 2023.

The post Thanksgivings Past first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

If you’re looking for silly activities after your Thanksgiving meal, why not play Thanksgiving Trivia?

Category 1: How did Thanksgiving get started?

Before Thanksgiving meant too much food, football games, and the Macy’s Day Parade, it was a day to thank God for, in the case of Pilgrims, sustenance itself. The first Pilgrims to America established a colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. They thought they were in Virginia, and by the time they realized their mistake, it was too late.

They thanked God for their safe arrival, turned up their noses at shellfish, and settled in for a cold winter. Half the settlers died. A Native American called Tisquantum taught the newbies how to plant corn, fish, and hunt. When the harvest came in, the Pilgrims celebrated with the Pokanokets people. On the menu was venison, duck, swan, geese, assorted vegetables, and indigenous berries. These probably didn’t include cranberries, since the Pilgrims lacked sugar. The event lasted three days, but wasn’t repeated the following year when relations were less cordial.

In 1817 the state of New York became the first to adopt Thanksgiving as an annual holiday, a trend opposed by Thomas Jefferson who considered giving thanks a religious action and therefore in violation of the separation of church and state. The first national celebration was in 1863 when President Lincoln gave in to constant pressure from Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey’s Ladies Book and persistent lobbyist for a national event. In 1941 Congress passed a resolution declaring Thanksgiving to be the fourth Thursday of November.

Next Question: What makes a turkey a turkey?
Could you re-phrase the question?
Why do we call turkeys, turkeys?

In apprximately the seventeenth century, or perhaps a bit before, the English liked a certain guinea fowl imported from Turkey, and called the birds turkeys. When the Spanish arrived in America, they found birds with a similar taste and exported them to Europe. The English called these birds turkeys too.

Let’s talk about the menu. How many turkeys do we eat on Thanksgiving?

According to the National Turkey Federation, Americans consume about 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving, though only 88 percent of Americans actually eat turkey.

Turkey consumption led directly to Swanson TV dinners introduced in 1953 when an unknown person ordered 260 tons of turkeys, far too many for Swanson to sell. A salesman suggested filling an aluminum tray with turkey, corn bread dressing, peas, and sweet potatoes. The new product sold for 99 cents. In one year Swanson sold 10 million dinners — convenience food had arrived.

One of the challenges for home cooks is fewer people know how to roast a turkey, which is why Butterball began its dedicated Turkey Talk Line in 1981. Consultants handle about 100,000 calls annually. I sympathize with the callers. The first time I roasted a turkey, I didn’t know there were bits stashed in the cavity. That was an interesting surprise.

Of course, not every turkey goes into a roasting pan. In 1989 President George H. W. Bush was the first president to officially pardon a White House turkey, a tradition that continues each year. This photo pictures the lucky bird with Bush II.

Where did Green Bean Casserole come from?

Campbell Soup Company developed a number of recipes utilizing their soups as short cuts. Tired of stirring a a white sauce? Add Campbells Cream of Mushroom soup instead. Campbell enlisted Cecil Brownstone to develop the recipe. Thanks to her efforts Campbell sells $20 million of soup annually.

Enough about the food. Let’s watch football.

Americans started watching professional football on Thanksgiving Day in 1934. G. A. Richards bought the Detroit Lions and needed to build up a fan base for the team. He scheduled a game with the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving. With the exception of World War II, football became part of American tradition. It got better when games became part of television programming.

Don’t want to watch football? Tune in Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade instead. The store’s first parade was in 1924 and featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Floats and balloons made their appearance in 1927. Macy’s balloons keep current. This one’s for Dora the Explorer.

Last Trivia Question
On what day do the most people call for plumber repair experts?

You guessed it. According to Roto-Rooter, the most calls for attention to sinks, garbage disposals, and even toilets occur the day after Thanksgiving.

Enjoy Thanksgiving. Eat, drink, be merry, and maybe go outside for some fresh air.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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Illustrations from Wikimedia Commons.

Pilgrim Exiles. Public Domain.

TV Dinner by Smile Lee. Creative Commons Attribution.

President George W. Bush pardoning turkey in 2006. Public Domain.

Green Bean Casserole by Rick Kimpel. Creative Commons Attribution.

Thanksgiving Day Football. Public Domain.

Dora the Explorer Balloon, Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade by Ian Gampon. Creative Commons Attribution.

Thanksgiving Card, 1923. Public Domain.

Saeed Ahmed. “There’s a Reason Turkey (the bird) and Turkey (the country) Share a Name.” CNN.com Nov. 21, 2016

Alex Heigl. “Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Thanksgiving.” People. Nov. 22, 2016.

Barbara Maranzani. “Abraham Lincoln and the “Mother of Thanksgiving.” History.com. Oct. 3, 2013.

Taylor Murphy. “17 Fascinating Things you Never Knew About Thanksgiving.” Good Housekeeping. Oct. 3, 2017.

Julie R. Thomson. “Thanksgiving Trivia.” Huffington Post. Nov. 21, 2011.

The post Thanksgiving Trivia first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.