What are some fun facts about Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving Day is the fourth Thursday in November. The holiday dates back to 1621, when Puritans, who had just enjoyed a bountiful harvest, showed their gratitude to the Native Americans for their help by hosting a feast to give thanks. It eventually became a national holiday in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving. Later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt clarified that Thanksgiving should always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month, never on the occasional fifth Thursday, to encourage earlier holiday shopping. The Thanksgiving feast almost always includes some of the foods served at the first feast: roast turkey, cranberry sauce, corn, and pumpkin. Here are some fun facts about Thanksgiving: • The preliminary estimate of turkeys raised in the United States in 2009 is 250 million. • The forecast for U.S. cranberry production in 2009 is 709 million pounds. • Benjamin Franklin thought the wild turkey
