Happy Thanksgiving! Pass the Venison Please!

• The first Thanksgiving in America was actually in 1541 in Texas, celebrated by Francisco Coronado, the explorer.
• The Pilgrims' Thanksgiving took place in 1621, then not again until 1623, then not until 1676.
• 535 Million pounds of turkey will be eaten in the U.S. every year.

• The Pilgrims ate, celebrated, and feasted for 3 days on berries, shellfish, boiled pumpkin, fish, and deer.
• Cranberries were used as a way to dye cloth and hides red.
• Since it was autumn, the Native Americans who took part in the feast likely were wearing warm animal skins, not dressed in minimal clothing.
• The first Thanksgiving football game was played in 1876, Yale vs. Princeton.

• The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade balloon handlers are employees of Macy's and their families and friends.
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• People on the west coast of the U.S. often eat crab for Thanksgiving.
• The biggest turkey recorded, in 1989, was 86 pounds.
• Columbus named turkeys "tuka," using the Spanish word for peacock. He had heard there were numerous peacocks in the East Indies (where he thought he was) and that turkeys were some type of peacock.
• In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated the 2nd Monday in October.
• The average distance traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday is 214 miles
• Turkeys have heart attacks

How do Native Americans feel about Thanksgiving now? Some consider it a day of mourning because of the way white people have treated them, and for the fact that they brought diseases to the Native Americans that hadn't existed here before. For an interesting perspective...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-w-zotigh/do-american-indians-celebrate-thanksgiving_b_2160786.html