147 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving Trivia for Kids

In which month is Thanksgiving celebrated in the United States?

American Thanksgiving is a federal holiday held on the fourth Thursday of November every year.

American Thanksgiving always falls on which day of the week?

Thursday every year; the day straight after has its own nickname, Black Friday, and the weekend is one of the busiest of the year.

The Pilgrims' famous 1621 harvest feast took place at which settlement?

After bringing in their first good harvest, the colonists celebrated at Plymouth for three days in the autumn of 1621.

Which Native American people joined the Pilgrims at that 1621 feast?

The Wampanoag had made a mutual protection agreement with the colonists, and their farming and hunting know-how had produced much of the food at the feast.

Which ship carried the Pilgrims across the Atlantic in 1620?

The Mayflower was an English merchant sailing ship. It transported the group of English families we now call the Pilgrims to the New World.

Which president made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863?

Lincoln set it for the 26th, the final Thursday of November 1863.

Which department store puts on the huge Thanksgiving Day parade through New York City, with giant character balloons?

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the world's largest parade; its giant balloons first appeared in 1927.

Which roasted bird is the centrepiece of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner?

Thanksgiving dinner is a large meal built around a big roast turkey, usually with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy alongside.

Which pie is the most traditional Thanksgiving dessert?

Pumpkin pie is widely regarded as the most popular and most traditional Thanksgiving dessert, though apple pie and pecan pie are common favourites too.

Which small red berry is made into a sauce served beside the turkey?

Cranberry sauce is a relish made out of cranberries and is a standard side dish at Thanksgiving dinner in North America.

When two people snap a turkey's wishbone, what does the one with the bigger piece get to do?

The custom of two people pulling on the bone, with the one holding the larger part making a wish, goes back to the early 17th century.

Canada celebrates its own Thanksgiving in which month?

Canadian Thanksgiving is held on the second Monday in October, more than a month before the American holiday.

Which NFL team has hosted a Thanksgiving Day game since 1934?

The Detroit Lions began the tradition in 1934 by hosting the Chicago Bears. The Dallas Cowboys started hosting their own Thanksgiving game much later, in 1966.

What is a grown male turkey called?

A male turkey is called a tom, or sometimes a gobbler. The female is called a hen and is much smaller.

From which country did the Pilgrims sail to America?

The Mayflower was an English ship, and it carried a group of English families from England to the New World in 1620.

What is a baby turkey called?

Poults can walk and leave the nest within a day of hatching, which is why turkey chicks are called precocial.

What is the tuft of stiff, hair-like feathers on a male turkey's chest called?

Male turkeys grow a beard, a tuft of coarse, bristle-like feathers hanging from the chest; on a mature tom it can reach about ten inches long.

The fleshy flap that hangs over a turkey's beak is called what?

The snood is the fleshy flap that hangs over a turkey's beak; a male's snood lengthens to several inches and flushes red when he is excited.

A wild turkey's gobble can be heard from about how far away?

A wild turkey's gobble carries about one mile; males gobble in early spring to announce themselves to hens and to rival toms.

Where do wild turkeys usually spend the night?

Wild turkeys roost in trees, flying up to the branches at dusk; sleeping high off the ground in a group keeps them safer from predators that hunt after dark.

Most turkeys raised on farms have feathers of which colour?

Most farm turkeys are bred white because the tiny pin feathers left after plucking are hard to spot on pale skin, so the dressed bird looks cleaner.

Which of these can wild turkeys do that heavy farm turkeys mostly cannot?

Wild birds usually fly low and for no more than about a quarter of a mile, but they are quick and nimble in the air.

Squanto, who helped the Pilgrims, had earlier been kidnapped and sold in which European country?

Squanto was kidnapped in 1614 and sold at Malaga, Spain; he later reached England, learned English, and got home in 1619 to find his village empty.

Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to catch eels and grow which crop?

Squanto showed the Pilgrims how to plant corn, burying fish in each hill as fertiliser, and where to catch eels; the 1621 corn harvest was the colony's first real success.

Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who campaigned for a national Thanksgiving, also wrote which nursery rhyme?

Hale's 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' was published in 1830, and her years of letters to presidents earned her the nickname 'Mother of Thanksgiving'.

In 1939, the US president moved Thanksgiving a week earlier to give people more time for what?

The 1939 move was meant to lengthen the Christmas shopping season; it caused such confusion that some states kept the old date, and Congress settled the matter two years later.

Which president signed the 1941 law that fixed the date of Thanksgiving for good?

Critics of his 1939 experiment with the date had nicknamed the moved holiday 'Franksgiving'.

Which president made pardoning a turkey an official yearly White House tradition in 1989?

George H. W. Bush granted the first official presidential turkey pardon in November 1989; the spared bird is sent to live out its days on a farm, in a park or at a university.

The first big New York City Thanksgiving parade in 1924 had live animals borrowed from where?

Macy's first parade in 1924 borrowed live animals, including bears and camels, from the Central Park Zoo; the crowd was so big the store promised to hold it every year.

Which cartoon character was the very first giant balloon in the Macy's parade?

Felix the Cat was the first giant character balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, in 1927, the year balloons took over from borrowed zoo animals.

Which cartoon character got his first New York parade balloon in 1934?

Mickey Mouse got his first Macy's balloon in 1934, made with Walt Disney's studio; later balloons have had bad days, such as the Cat in the Hat hitting a lamppost in high winds in 1997.

Who arrived at Herald Square at the very end of the first New York Thanksgiving parade in 1924?

Santa Claus closed the very first parade in 1924; he was seated on the store balcony at Herald Square and crowned 'King of the Kiddies'.

The New York parade was cancelled from 1942 to 1944 because rubber and helium were needed for what?

The parade was cancelled from 1942 to 1944 because rubber and helium were needed for the World War II war effort; it returned in 1945 and first appeared on network television in 1948.

Green bean casserole was invented in 1955 by a cook working for which food company?

Dorcas Reilly created green bean casserole in the Campbell's test kitchen in 1955; Campbell's has estimated that it appears at some 20 million Thanksgiving dinners a year.

What do the red berries in Thanksgiving sauce do when farmers flood the fields at harvest?

Farmers then herd the floating berries into a corner of the field and pump them out.

Which US state grows the most cranberries?

Wisconsin grows well over half of the whole US cranberry crop, mostly in marshes in the centre of the state; Massachusetts, New Jersey and Oregon come next.

The Pilgrims were religious separatists who had broken away from which church?

The Pilgrims were Separatists who had left the Church of England, believing it could not be reformed from within, and were persecuted for worshipping apart from it.

In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, what does Snoopy serve the guests instead of a proper dinner?

Snoopy serves buttered toast and jelly beans, dealing the plates like a casino dealer; the full menu also includes popcorn, pretzel sticks and ice cream sundaes.

In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which character invites herself to Charlie Brown's house for dinner?

Peppermint Patty invites herself, then Marcie and Franklin, to Charlie Brown's for dinner, leaving him to improvise a meal with Snoopy's help.

Police in which city first used the name 'Black Friday' for the crowded shopping day after Thanksgiving?

Philadelphia police used 'Black Friday' in the 1950s and 60s for the traffic and crowds before the Army-Navy game; in 1961 the city tried to rebrand it 'Big Friday', but nobody used the new name.

What kind of event is a Thanksgiving 'turkey trot'?

A turkey trot is a running race held on Thanksgiving morning before the big meal, often with runners dressed up in turkey costumes.

The horn-shaped basket overflowing with fruit and vegetables at Thanksgiving is called what?

In Greek myth it was the horn of Amalthea, the goat who fed baby Zeus with her milk.

The wishbone people snap after dinner is formed from which two fused bones of the bird?

The wishbone is the bird's two collarbones fused into one; scientists call it the furcula, Latin for 'little fork', and some dinosaurs had one too.

In North America, soft orange sweet potatoes are often sold under the name of which unrelated vegetable?

True yams belong to a completely different plant family and are grown mostly in Africa and Asia.

About how many passengers sailed on the Pilgrims' ship to America in 1620?

The Mayflower carried 102 passengers plus a crew of about thirty, crammed into a ship built for cargo; they anchored off the tip of Cape Cod in November 1620.

What is the earliest day of the month American Thanksgiving can fall on?

As the fourth Thursday of November, Thanksgiving falls earliest on the 22nd, when the month starts on a Thursday, and latest on the 28th.

Who was the first governor of Plymouth Colony?

John Carver was chosen as Plymouth Colony's first governor in November 1620 and died in April 1621, a few months after the first winter.

About how many men came with Massasoit to the 1621 feast at Plymouth?

Edward Winslow's account says Massasoit arrived with about ninety men, outnumbering the roughly fifty surviving colonists, and the Wampanoag party stayed for the whole celebration.

Which animal did the Wampanoag guests bring five of to the 1621 feast?

Winslow's account says the Wampanoag went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the feast; the Pilgrims also had wild fowl, including turkeys, on the table.

Roughly how many turkeys were eaten in America on Thanksgiving Day in 2019?

More than 40 million turkeys, about 46 million by industry estimates, are eaten in the United States each Thanksgiving; most are roasted, though some families deep-fry theirs.

The Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest times of the whole year for doing what?

Travelling to visit family makes Thanksgiving weekend one of the busiest travel periods of the year, with families journeying long distances for the meal.

Which ship brought 35 more settlers to Plymouth in November 1621?

The Fortune reached Plymouth in November 1621 with 35 new settlers but almost no supplies, stretching the colony's food through a second winter.

The nickname 'Franksgiving' was coined in 1939 by the mayor of which New Jersey resort?

The mayor of Atlantic City blended 'Franklin' and 'Thanksgiving' into 'Franksgiving' to mock the president's 1939 decision to move the holiday a week earlier.

Which president was the first to proclaim a Thanksgiving holiday, in 1789?

George Washington issued the first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789, naming Thursday, November 26, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.

A wild turkey is the heaviest member of which order of birds?

Turkeys belong to the Galliformes, the order that includes chickens, pheasants and grouse, and the wild turkey is the heaviest bird in it; big toms can top 10 kilograms.

Which country is the type locality of the wild turkey species named by Linnaeus?

The domestic turkey descends from a southern Mexican subspecies.

What does the turkey's genus name Meleagris mean in Ancient Greek?

Meleagris is the Ancient Greek word for the guineafowl, an African bird Europeans confused with the turkey; the species name gallopavo combines the Latin for cockerel and peacock.

About how much does an average adult male wild turkey weigh?

An adult male wild turkey averages about 7.6 kilograms, though big toms can top 11 kilograms; females average only about 4.3 kilograms.

Which small animals do wild turkeys sometimes eat besides seeds and insects?

Wild turkeys are omnivores that sometimes snap up salamanders and lizards, and even small snakes, especially near swamps where such prey is common; most of their diet is seeds, nuts, berries and insects.

About how many eggs does a wild turkey hen lay in one clutch?

A wild turkey hen lays a clutch of about 12 eggs, typically 10 to 14, in a shallow nest on the ground, one egg a day, and sits on them for about 28 days.

Whose 1784 letter began the myth that he wanted the turkey as America's national bird?

Benjamin Franklin's 1784 letter to his daughter praised the turkey over the bald eagle, but he never publicly proposed the turkey as a national symbol.

Which is the second living species of the bird, found in the Yucatán Peninsula?

The ocellated turkey, Meleagris ocellata, lives in the forests of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala and Belize, and is named for the eye-like spots on its tail feathers.

Roughly how long ago did the earliest turkeys evolve in North America?

Fossils show the earliest turkeys evolved in North America over 20 million years ago; they share a recent common ancestor with grouse and pheasants.

Roughly how many years ago did indigenous peoples domesticate the turkey?

Indigenous peoples of Mexico domesticated the turkey roughly 2,000 years ago; domestic birds later reached Europe in the Columbian exchange of the 1500s.

Plymouth, where the Pilgrims settled, is in which present-day US state?

Plymouth is on the coast of Massachusetts, south of Boston; the Pilgrims' colony there was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.

In French, the turkey was originally named after which country?

'Poule d'inde', chicken of India, later became simply 'dinde'.

What was the Nahuatl word for the turkey in Aztec Mexico?

Huehxolotl was the Nahuatl name for the turkey; it survives in Mexican Spanish as 'guajolote', though the general Spanish word for the bird is 'pavo'.

What are male turkeys called in the United Kingdom and Ireland?

In the United Kingdom and Ireland male turkeys are called stags; North Americans call them toms or gobblers.

What is the bumpy, bare red skin on a turkey's head and neck called?

The bumpy, bare skin on a turkey's head and neck is made of caruncles, which fill with blood and turn bright red when a tom is excited.

Which fleshy flap hangs from the underside of a turkey's beak?

The wattle is the flap of loose red skin hanging under a turkey's beak and chin; it flushes bright red when a male is excited or angry.

Which variety is the most common on big farms and usually gets the presidential pardon?

The Broad Breasted White is the breed behind almost every supermarket turkey and most pardoned birds; it grows so large and heavy that it cannot fly.

Which group presents the president with a live bird each year before the holiday?

The National Turkey Federation has presented a live turkey to the president every year since 1947; pardoned birds go to live on a farm or at a university.

Before the 1970s, what usually happened to the turkey presented to the president?

Until the 1970s the presented turkey was not spared: it was eaten at the White House. Sparing the bird became common from the 1970s and an official yearly tradition in 1989.

A story says Lincoln pardoned a Christmas turkey belonging to which son?

Tad Lincoln is said to have begged his father to spare a turkey named Jack meant for Christmas dinner in 1863; the tale appeared in print only after Lincoln died, so it may be embellished.

Which spices are usually in the seasoning blend for pumpkin pie?

Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves (or allspice) season a filling that is really a custard of pumpkin, eggs, evaporated milk and sugar.

Sugar pumpkins used for pies are about the size of what?

Sugar or pie pumpkins are small, roughly the size of a large grapefruit, and weigh only a few pounds; they are much smaller and sweeter than the pumpkins carved into jack-o'-lanterns.

Which US state grows 95 percent of the pumpkins used for processing?

Illinois grows about 95 percent of the pumpkins processed into canned pumpkin, much of it around the Libby's plant at Morton; Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California are the other top growers.

How heavy was the record pumpkin set in October 2023?

Travis Gienger's pumpkin weighed about 1,247 kilograms, or 2,749 pounds, at the Half Moon Bay weigh-off in October 2023, roughly the mass of a small car.

Which African country, settled by freed Black Americans, keeps a national Thanksgiving holiday?

Liberia, settled from 1822 by freed Black Americans, celebrates its own national Thanksgiving Day on the first Thursday of November.

What colour are cranberry flowers?

Cranberry flowers are dark pink, with petals bent sharply back from a pointed centre; the berries start out light green and turn red when ripe.

Which three countries grew 97 percent of the world's cranberries in 2020?

The US, Canada and Chile grew 97 percent of the world's cranberries in 2020; most of the crop becomes juice, sauce, jam or sweetened dried berries.

Which Revolutionary War veteran first farmed cranberries on Cape Cod around 1816?

Henry Hall, a Revolutionary War veteran, began cultivating cranberries in Dennis, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, around 1816, after noticing wild vines fruited better when sand blew over them.

Which cookbook of 1796 first mentions cranberry sauce with turkey?

Amelia Simmons's American Cookery (1796), the first known cookbook written by an American, recommended serving roast turkey with cranberry sauce.

Which people introduced French settlers in Nova Scotia to cranberries in 1606?

The settlers called them 'small red apples' in letters home.

In the United States, stuffing is also commonly called what?

Dressing is the American word, dating from about 1850; older names include 'farce' and 'forcemeat', and 'stuffing' itself goes back to 1538.

Sweet potatoes belong to the same plant family as which garden flower?

The sweet potato belongs to the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae, and its vines bear similar trumpet-shaped flowers; it is only distantly related to the ordinary potato.

The sweet potato is native to the tropical parts of which continent?

The sweet potato is native to tropical South America and Central America; remains found in Peru date back thousands of years, and the crop reached Polynesia long before Columbus.

Which region of the United States is pecan pie a specialty of?

It became closely tied to Southern culture in the 1940s and 1950s.

Which syrup company helped make pecan pie popular in the 1930s?

Karo, the corn syrup brand, promoted a pecan pie recipe in the 1930s, claiming a sales executive's wife had 'discovered' the pie as a new use for corn syrup.

Which two other American cities had Thanksgiving parades before or alongside New York's?

Philadelphia's parade is four years older than the 1924 New York and Detroit parades.

In 1928 the parade switched from filling balloons with air to which gas, so they float?

Helium shortages later forced the parade to pause during World War II.

Which 1947 movie showed footage of the New York parade and made it famous nationwide?

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) opens with scenes shot at the real 1946 Macy's parade, with Edmund Gwenn's Kris Kringle riding Santa's sleigh, and showed the parade to audiences nationwide.

Which famous dance troupe has performed at the New York parade every year since 1957?

The Rockettes, the Radio City Music Hall precision dance troupe, first performed in the Macy's parade in 1957 and became a fixture of the show in front of the store at Herald Square.

Snoopy's first parade balloon in 1968 dressed him as what?

Snoopy's first balloon in 1968 showed him as the World War I Flying Ace, complete with goggles and scarf; he has since appeared in many different versions.

The 100th New York Thanksgiving parade falls in which year?

The 100th Macy's parade falls in November 2026 because the parade was cancelled from 1942 to 1944, leaving the count three behind the 1924 anniversary.

About how long was the Mayflower?

It carried 102 passengers and about 30 crew.

How many weeks did the Mayflower spend crossing the Atlantic in 1620?

The Mayflower spent about 10 weeks, 66 days, crossing from Plymouth, England, and anchored off the tip of Cape Cod on 21 November 1620 (11 November by the old calendar).

Which second ship was meant to sail with the Mayflower but leaked too badly?

The Speedwell leaked so badly on two attempts that it was left behind at Plymouth, England; its passengers crowded onto the Mayflower, delaying the whole voyage.

Before sailing to America, the Pilgrims had lived for years in which country?

The Pilgrims had lived in the Netherlands, mostly in Leiden, from about 1608 to worship freely; they left partly because their children were growing up Dutch.

Which agreement did 41 men sign aboard the Pilgrims' ship on 21 November 1620?

The Mayflower Compact, signed by 41 men while the ship lay off Cape Cod, was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony and bound the signers to obey its laws.

Where had the Pilgrims originally intended to land?

The Pilgrims held a patent for land in the Colony of Virginia, near the mouth of the Hudson River, but storms and shoals forced them to anchor at the hook of Cape Cod instead.

Who first claimed in 1741 that Plymouth Rock was the Pilgrims' landing spot?

Thomas Faunce, aged 94 and a church elder, pointed out the rock in 1741, saying his father had heard it from the first settlers; the Pilgrims never mentioned the rock in their own writings.

What happened to Plymouth Rock in 1774 when people tried to move it?

In 1774 it broke in half as townspeople tried to haul the rock to the town square; souvenir hunters later chipped away hundreds of pounds of stone.

Which date is carved into Plymouth Rock?

1620 was inscribed in 1880, when the top portion of the rock was returned to the shoreline; the first Thanksgiving feast came a year later.

Who named the area New Plymouth in 1614, before the Pilgrims arrived?

Captain John Smith explored the coast in 1614, and 'New Plimouth' appeared on his 1616 map of New England; it shared its name with Plymouth, Devon, the Pilgrims' final departure port.

Squanto belonged to which tribe of the Wampanoag people?

Squanto was a Patuxet, a Wampanoag band whose village stood where Plymouth was later built; disease had wiped it out before the Pilgrims arrived.

Which English sea captain kidnapped Squanto in 1614?

Thomas Hunt, a captain with John Smith's 1614 expedition, lured Squanto and about twenty other men aboard his ship and carried them off to be sold; Squanto learned English and got home by 1619.

Why did the seeds the Pilgrims brought from England matter so little?

The wheat and pea seeds the Pilgrims brought from England mattered little because they mostly failed to grow; Squanto's lessons in sowing and fertilising native crops kept the colony fed.

Which Native American man walked into Plymouth and greeted the Pilgrims in English?

Samoset, an Abenaki from Maine who had learned English from fishermen, walked into Plymouth in March 1621 and greeted the settlers with 'Welcome, Englishmen!'

How many Pilgrims died during the first terrible winter at Plymouth?

About 45 of the settlers died in the winter of 1620-21, mostly from disease and cold; they were buried on Cole's Hill, above the shore.

What does the word Massasoit actually mean?

Massasoit means 'Great Sachem', a title for a paramount chief; his own name was Ousamequin, but English colonists took the title for his name.

Which enemy nation did Massasoit want protection from when he allied with the Pilgrims?

The Narragansetts, untouched by the epidemics that had killed many Wampanoag, were Massasoit's powerful neighbours to the west, so he sought English allies against them.

William Bradford served as Governor of Plymouth Colony for about how many years?

He was also a signer of the Mayflower Compact.

Which Governor General issued the 1957 proclamation that fixed Canada's Thanksgiving date?

Vincent Massey, the first Canadian-born Governor General, issued the 1957 proclamation fixing the holiday's date; Canada's first national Thanksgiving had been held in 1879.

Which explorer's safe arrival in 1578 is often called Canada's first Thanksgiving?

Martin Frobisher's fleet reached Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island in 1578, and the service of thanks held for its safe arrival is often called Canada's first Thanksgiving.

In Greek myth, the cornucopia is the horn of which goat that fed baby Zeus?

Amalthea was the goat whose milk fed the infant Zeus, hidden in a cave on Crete from his father Cronus; her broken horn became the cornucopia.

What do the Latin words 'cornu' and 'copia' in cornucopia mean?

Harvesters once wore horn-shaped baskets on their backs to keep hands free.

Which city holds the oldest turkey trot, dating back to 1896?

The Buffalo, New York, turkey trot, organised by the city's YMCA, was first run in 1896, making it the oldest turkey trot in the country.

Which distance do most turkey trot races cover?

Most turkey trots are fun runs of 5 kilometres held on Thanksgiving morning, and many runners dress up in costumes, especially as turkeys.

Which network first aired A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving in 1973?

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving premiered on CBS on 20 November 1973, the network that had carried the Peanuts specials since 1965, and won an Emmy the following year.

Which two Peanuts holiday shows came before A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?

A Charlie Brown Christmas aired in 1965 and the Great Pumpkin in 1966.

In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which bird helps Snoopy cook the meal?

Snoopy and his small yellow bird friend Woodstock cook the improvised dinner in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and the two later share a turkey dinner of their own in the doghouse.

Which two turkeys travel back in time in the film Free Birds?

Reggie and Jake, a pardoned turkey and a gung-ho rebel, take a time machine back to 1621 in Free Birds to get turkeys off the first Thanksgiving menu.

What year was the animated film Free Birds released?

Free Birds was released in cinemas on 1 November 2013, with Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson voicing the two turkeys; it had first been announced under the title Turkeys.

Thanksgiving is the biggest event of the year in America measured by what?

A 2015 poll found it was America's second most popular holiday after Christmas.

Which is NOT native to the Americas among traditional Thanksgiving foods?

Wheat for bread rolls is the odd one out: wheat was domesticated in the Middle East and came with Europeans, while turkey, sweet potato, corn, squash, green beans and cranberries are native to the Americas.

What is a turducken?

A turducken is a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, each bird deboned and stuffed into the next; the Louisiana speciality was popularised in the 1980s.

Which soup is the key ingredient in green bean casserole?

Cream of mushroom soup binds the green beans; the dish was invented in 1955 in the Campbell's test kitchen.

Which cook's 1747 book The Art of Cookery gave an early mashed potato recipe?

Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747) included mashed potatoes, boiled and then mashed in a saucepan with milk, salt and butter.

Which 14th-century English recipe book gives one of the earliest mentions of gravy?

The Forme of Cury, a recipe collection compiled by Richard II's cooks around 1390, is one of the earliest texts to mention gravy; the word comes from the Old French 'grave', a meat or fish broth.

Which meat company employee bought the Butterball trademark in 1951?

Leo Peters, who worked for Swift and Co., bought the Butterball name in 1951 from Ada Walker of Ohio, who had trademarked it in 1940.

About how many pounds of turkey does Butterball sell each year?

Butterball sells over one billion pounds of turkey a year, and its Turkey Talk-Line has answered home cooks' questions every November since 1981.

Which Korean harvest festival falls on the full moon of the eighth lunar month?

Chuseok, Korea's harvest festival, falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month; families share songpyeon rice cakes and visit ancestral graves.

Which Ethiopian people celebrate the harvest thanksgiving festival Irreecha?

Irreecha is the Oromo thanksgiving festival, celebrated at lakes such as Hora Arsadi near Bishoftu at the end of the rainy season to thank the creator Waaqa for the harvest.

Which sport does Lucy tempt Charlie Brown with at the start of the Thanksgiving special?

The special opens with Lucy holding a football for Charlie Brown to kick and, as always, pulling it away at the last second.

Which magazine did Sarah Josepha Hale edit while campaigning for Thanksgiving?

Hale edited Godey's Lady's Book from 1837 to 1877 and used its pages to campaign for a national Thanksgiving; she also raised funds to finish the Bunker Hill Monument.

Which state was Sarah Josepha Hale born in?

Sarah Josepha Hale was born in Newport, New Hampshire, in 1788, not the better-known Newport in Rhode Island, and lived there until her move to Boston in 1828.

Which wild grass was corn bred from about 9,000 years ago?

Corn was bred from teosinte, a wild grass of southern Mexico, by indigenous farmers about 9,000 years ago; a teosinte ear holds only a handful of hard kernels.

Which part of the turkey is known as the drumstick?

The drumstick is the lower part of the turkey's leg, shaped like the stick used to beat a drum; the thigh sits above it and the wing is a separate joint.

Which online shopping day comes right after the Thanksgiving weekend?

Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, was coined by the National Retail Federation in 2005 to promote online shopping deals.

Which Asian country marks Labor Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday on 23 November?

Japan's Labor Thanksgiving Day, Kinro Kansha no Hi, falls on 23 November and honours work and production; it grew out of the ancient harvest rite Niinamesai.

Botanically, a pumpkin is what kind of fruit?

The pumpkin's type of berry is called a pepo, with a thick shell around its seeds and pulp.

What are roasted pumpkin seeds, a popular snack, also called?

Pepitas, from the Spanish for 'little seeds', are pumpkin seeds; the flat, light-green kernels are about 1.5 centimetres long and in most pumpkins sit inside a white husk.

In which mountain range did people first grow potatoes, thousands of years ago?

Potatoes were first cultivated in the Andes, in the area of present-day southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia, some 7,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Who wrote the 1844 Thanksgiving poem now sung as 'Over the River and Through the Wood'?

Lydia Maria Child published the poem in 1844 as 'The New-England Boy's Song about Thanksgiving Day'; her words were 'to grandfather's house we go', though most people sing 'grandmother's'.

In 2020, the living-history museum of the Pilgrims' village in Plymouth was renamed what?

Founded in 1947 as Plimoth Plantation, the museum became Plimoth Patuxet in 2020 to recognise the Wampanoag village that stood on the site; its costumed interpreters portray the year 1627.

The nickname 'spud' for a potato originally referred to what kind of object?

The 15th-century word spudde meant a short, stout blade, and the sense of 'short and thick' passed to the tuber around 1840.