Fun facts about Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that tend to revolve around family and food. While those are definitely two of our favorite components, the important (and fascinating!) facts are often overlooked. Whether you’re looking for an interesting conversation starter or just really want to know more about Thanksgiving, these surprising facts will make you seem like the smartest person at the dinner table.

But before we start: did you know, the first Thanksgiving had been held in the autumn of 1621 and included 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians and lasted three days? On the top of that many historians believe that only five women were present at that first Thanksgiving, as many women settlers didn’t survive that difficult first year in the U.S.

Now we are clear with the basics, let’s start with the fact!

Fact nr. 1.

Thanksgiving is ranked as America’s second most popular holiday, after Christmas.

Fact nr. 2.

Americans eat 46 million turkeys (roughly 535 million pounds of turkey) each Thanksgiving. This might have been one of the reasons Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird, not the eagle.

Fact nr. 3.

You might consume up to 229 grams fat during the big meal. We hate to break it to you, but that’s about three to four times the amount of fat you should eat in a day. You’re probably also wondering how many calories you might eat – the average American will consume about 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day: about 3,000 for the meal and an additional 1,500 for snacking.

Fact nr. 4.

Each year, the president of the U.S pardons a turkey and spares it from being eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. The first turkey pardon ceremony started with President Truman in 1947, though Abraham Lincoln is said to have informally started the practice when he pardoned his son’s pet turkey. In 2007, George W. Bush granted a pardon to two turkeys named May and Flower. President Obama pardoned a 45-pound turkey named Courage, who has flown to Disneyland and served as Grand Marshal of the park’s Thanksgiving Day parade!