While learning about Thanksgiving this year my family and I came across a few Thanksgiving myths and facts that we all thought were interesting.  And just because I think you’ll find them interesting too, I plan to share them with you.  Here are the ones my kids found most interesting.

1. The first “Thanksgiving” was in 1621
2. It wasn’t actually called Thanksgiving for many years later.  At the time it was just a celebration honoring the harvest of that year.  People have been celebrating harvest bounty as far back as cultivating crops.
3. Pilgrims actually did not have buckles on their hats
4. Deer was most likely the main course, not turkey
5. The first Thanksgiving was in Plymouth, Massachusetts
6. Pilgrims didn’t have forks.  Instead they ate with their fingers (and spoons and knives)
7. Lobsters might have actually been on the menu
8. Mashed potatoes did not have a place on the Thanksgiving table.  (what a scandal!)
9. Wampanoag indians were invited to the feast because they taught the pilgrims how to harvest the land
10. Thanksgiving holiday was not made a yearly tradition until 1817
11. The original thanksgiving  feast lasted approximately three days!
12. Benjamin Franklin wanted to declare the turkey the national bird of the United States Thank goodness he lost that fight

Those are the things that we discovered this year while learning about Thanksgiving.  Happy Holidays!

-Stephanie Wright