Well, it’s that time of the year again and Turkey-day is just around the corner. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to put the smack down on a juicy, oven-roasted thunder chicken. But before we all indulge in the feast of the year, here are 10 interesting facts about thanksgiving I bet you didn’t know.
Number 1. Turkey Run!! Did you know that a spooked turkey can run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour? That’s right, 20 miles per hour. From there, they can simply burst into flight approaching speeds between 50-55 miles per hour in a matter of seconds.
Number 2. Ever heard of a Turducken!!! Turducken is a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken and is quickly becoming more popular during Thanksgiving. Originating in Louisiana, a turducken is often filled with, at the very least, a highly seasoned breadcrumb mixture (although some versions have a different stuffing for each bird).
Number 3. TV Dinner?? In 1953, someone at Swanson misjudged the number of frozen turkeys it would sell that Thanksgiving by a whopping 26 TONS! From there, someone came up with a brilliant plan – “Why not slice up the meat and repackage with some trimmings on the side?” Thus, the first TV dinner was born!
Number 4. Black Friday is busy for other reasons!!! If you’re a plumber, then Black Friday may not be a good day for you to venture off to the store for some deals. Instead, the deal for you is unclogging lavatories. According to Roto-Rooter, the nation’s largest plumbing service, Black Friday is the busiest day of the year for them. After all, someone has to clean up the mess.
Number 5. Canadians celebrate too?? Did you know that the Canadians also celebrate Thanksgiving? Therefore, it’s not just an American holiday. The only difference is that celebrate it on the second Monday in October instead of the 3rd Thursday in November.
Number 6. A turkey grabber ain’t no joke!!! Did you know that turkeys have heart attacks? That’s right, the ol ticker can just stop and they’re done. In fact, when the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead from being spooked by the noise.
Number 7. The turkey almost became the national bird! Benjamin Franklin believed the turkey should have been declared the national bird. He felt that the bald eagle was a scavenger and not the sort of animal that should represent America. Can you imagine being called a bunch of Turkeys from foreign countries?
Number 8. Well documented!! Turkeys were first discovered and documented over two thousand years ago in Central America and Mexico. Mostly, the bird is associated with being an American ancestry; however, other latin countries discovered the bird before we did.
Number 9. Does the name Sarah Josepha Hale sound familiar? If not, don’t worry. She’s only the person, a magazine editor in fact, who campaigned to make Thanksgiving a National Holiday in 1827 and actually succeeded.
Number 10. I can’t eat that much!! Did you know that the First Thanksgiving lasted for three days? That’s right, 3 days!! Talk about a lot of food. Can you imagine all of the cooking that needed to be completed for a 3 day festival? Most of us wouldn’t make the cut!
So there you have it, 10 interesting facts about thanksgiving. Have a great turkey day this year!!