“We gather together to ask the lord’s blessings…”
…and give thanks for all that we have.
Thanksgiving is a festive family event, and to keep everyone, including your grandchildren, engaged, here’s a list of Thanksgiving trivia to share with friends and family alike as well as questions to consider and discuss around the table.
Did you know?
1. The first Thanksgiving celebration in 1621 lasted for three days. It included not only food, but also games. The Pilgrims gave thanks for the bountiful harvest with the Wampanoag Indians.
What do you give thanks for on Thanksgiving?
2. Pulling the “wishbone” is an ageless Thanksgiving tradition. Two people pull the turkey’s breastbone apart and only the person who has the larger piece of bone is allowed to make a wish.
If you got the largest piece of the wishbone, what would you wish for?
3. A full-grown turkey has over 3,000 feathers.
If you were a full-grown turkey, what would you want to have done with your feathers?
4. Firkee (or furky) is the Native American name for this tasty bird. Firkee sounds a bit like turkey.
How do you say turkey in French? Italian? German? The native language of your ancestors?
5. When a Tom turkey [male turkey] gobbles, it can be heard from as far away as a mile. In fact, only the Tom turkeys gobble. Female turkeys make a clucking or clicking sound.
Why do you think that is? If you were a female turkey, what sound would you make?
6. Puritans from the Mayflower drank beer. This was probably weak ‘boy’s beer’ and safer to drink than transporting water on a ship.
What would make beer safer to drink that water? What would you drink if you were on the Mayflower?
7. Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States. Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October in Canada.
What’s your favorite thing to celebrate on Thanksgiving?
8. Benjamin Franklin, proposed that the turkey should become the official bird of the United States, but the Bald Eagle became the official USA bird.
If you had your choice, would you rather have the turkey or the eagle as the official bird of the United States? Why?
9. According to the National Turkey Federation, 87% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving. During any given year, the average American eats 17 pounds of turkey, or the weight of a decent sized bird.
Do you eat turkey any other time of the year besides Thanksgiving? Could you eat a whole turkey by yourself? How would you feel if you did?
10. On the first Thanksgiving the Pilgrims ate deer and not turkey.
Why do you think they didn’t eat turkey?
