We’ve been celebrating Thanksgiving as an American holiday for 158 years. Established by Abraham Lincoln during one of America’s darkest times in 1863, shortly after the devastating Gettysburg battle during the Civil War, in both good times and in bad, Thanksgiving has always been a gathering to celebrate our biggest blessing—that of beloved friends and family.
But how do you feel about your Turkey Day intelligence? Let’s see…
1) Where was the Mayflower headed?
A. Virginia
B. New York
C. Cape Cod
D. Disneyland
2) What year did the Pilgrims first feast at Thanksgiving?
A. 1624
B. 1621
C. 1702
D. 1671
3) Which food was probably not on the menu for the first Thanksgiving feast?
A. Potatoes
B. Lobster
C. Venison
D. Pumpkin
4) True or false: The first feast was a three-hour meal?
5) Who led a letter-writing campaign to set aside an annual and national day for thanksgiving and prayer?
A. Sarah Jessica Parker
B. Sara Lee
C. Sarah Josepha Hale
D. Sarah Ferguson
6) True or False: The date of Thanksgiving was moved once to lengthen the Christmas shopping season.
7) What early leader wanted the turkey, not the bald eagle, to be the national symbol?
A. Thomas Jefferson
B. Abraham Lincoln
C. George Washington
D. Benjamin Franklin
8) Which president opposed a day of thanksgiving?
A. Abraham Lincoln
B. George Washington
C. Thomas Jefferson
D. Franklin Roosevelt
9) True or false: Turkeys pardoned by the President of the United States are sent to live their lives at Frying Pan Park?
10) True or False: Astronauts ate a turkey dinner on the moon in 1969?
See answers below.
TRIVIA ANSWERS
Here are the answers to our Thanksgiving Day quiz.
1. B. New York. The Pilgrims planned to settle in part of the Virginia Company, which had the rights to most of the United States’ Eastern seaboard. Their destination was the Hudson River region in New York State, also known as “Northern Virginia.” But they landed in Cape Cod instead, and violent seas prevented the journey from continuing south.
2. B. 1621.
3. A. Potatoes. The newly discovered potato was still labeled poisonous by Europeans. Pilgrims didn’t have any flour for baking, or dairy for milk and butter. And, well, what’s a potato without butter?
4. False. The original feast – sometime between Sept. 21 and Nov. 11 – lasted three days. If your meal is three hours, you’ve got it easy.
5. C. Sarah Josepha Hale. Hale, a magazine editor, led a 40-year campaign of magazine editorials and letters to governors and presidents urging that Thanksgiving be declared, not only an annual holiday, but a national holiday.
6. True. President Franklin Roosevelt pushed it up one week. Public opposition caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later and in 1941 Congress sanctioned the legal holiday as the fourth Thursday in November.
7. D. Benjamin Franklin.
8. C. Thomas Jefferson.
9. True. Since 1947 the President has pardoned The National Thanksgiving Turkey and its alternate. For the last 16 years, the turkeys have gone to Frying Pan Park in Virginia, a 1930s replica farm operated by the Fairfax County Parks Department.
10. True. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin ate roast turkey and all the trimmings, tucked in foil packets of course.
Trivia Courtesy Niceville.com
