Let’s Talk Turkey – And Other Thanksgiving Facts.

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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Yes, we are on a Thanksgiving theme this week.

So here are a few relevant facts.

Enjoy.

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The word ‘turkey’ is said to come

from the Hebrew word ‘Tukki’

which means ‘Big Bird’ or ‘Pheasant Bird’

or ‘Indian chicken’.

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The busiest travel day of the year

is the Friday after Thanksgiving.

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Turkeys can drown

if they look up in the rain.

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Historians have proven that

the pilgrims didn’t really wear those

funny hats and buckles on their shoes.

They dressed really colorfully.

No one knows how the pilgrim image began.

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The first meal eaten on the moon

by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren

was a roasted turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

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The first balloon in the

1927 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

was Felix the Cat

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Turkeys are able to adapt to a wide variety of habitats.

However, most turkeys are found

in hardwood forests with grassy areas.

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On June 20, 1998, in Bellevue, Ohio,

Dale Gasteier built a 52’ free-standing

illuminating star to celebrate

the American Thanksgiving holiday?

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It was Sarah Joesph Hale, a magazine editor

who persuaded President Lincoln

to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday.

She had previously persuaded Zachary Taylor,

Millard Filmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan.

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Almost 280 million turkeys

are consumed during Thanksgiving

celebrations in the United States.

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Turkeys have heart attacks.

When the Air Force was conducting test runs

and breaking the sound barrier,

fields of turkeys would drop dead.

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The real Plymouth rock is cracked,

it happened during the revolutionary war.

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Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation

presents a live turkey and two dressed turkeys

to the President on Thanksgiving.

The President pardons the live turkey

and it is sent to a historical farm

where it lives the rest of its days.

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Thanksgiving was not an official holiday

until Lincoln proclaimed it.

Before that, presidents would declare it

a holiday or not, depending on how they felt.

The official Thanksgiving Proclamation

was signed on October 3, 1863

by Abraham Lincoln.

According to this proclamation,

the last Thursday of November was

to be celebrated as Thanksgiving.

President Roosevelt declared Thanksgiving

one week earlier to stabilize the economy

during the Great Depression in 1939.

In 1941, the Congress passed an

official proclamation and made

Thanksgiving a national holiday

which would be observed on the

4th Thursday of November every year.

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