Hard Thanksgiving Trivia — 75 Challenging Questions

St. Peter's in Leiden, Netherlands (after fleeing England). The Pilgrims were Separatists who first fled to the Netherlands before sailing to America.

About 40 Separatists and 62 'strangers.' The 'strangers' were not religious dissenters but skilled workers and settlers.

The Brownists, after Robert Browne. Browne founded the Separatist movement in the 1580s; his followers became the Pilgrims.

The Speedwell. The Speedwell was meant to accompany the Mayflower but leaked twice and was abandoned at Plymouth, England.

Christopher Jones. Jones captained the Mayflower for its famous voyage and died in 1622.

The epidemic of 1620-1621 that killed half the colonists. Scurvy, pneumonia, and possibly typhus or leptospirosis devastated the settlers.

William Butten, a teenage servant. Butten died on November 16, 1620, during the voyage.

Oceanus Hopkins. Born at sea in late 1620, he died before age two.

The Pilgrims' first hostile meeting with Native Americans at Cape Cod in December 1620. The Nauset attacked the exploring party.

Samoset. Samoset, an Abenaki sagamore, walked into Plymouth on March 16, 1621, and greeted them in English.

Patuxet. Patuxet had been abandoned after the 1616-1619 epidemic, allowing the Pilgrims to settle there.

He was captured by Thomas Hunt in 1614 and sold into slavery. Hunt kidnapped 20-27 Natives, sold them in Spain; Squanto escaped to England.

The joint-stock company that held the Pilgrims' land patent. It replaced the Virginia Company of Plymouth in 1620.

The mouth of the Hudson River (then Virginia Colony). Storms and navigation errors pushed the ship to Cape Cod instead.

A Nemasket warrior killed by Myles Standish in 1623. Standish's preemptive attack at Wessagusset soured Pilgrim-Native relations.

George Morton (spelled 'Mourt'), who published it. Morton was a Pilgrim agent in London who arranged publication in 1622.

Nathaniel Morton, George Morton's son. Published in 1669, it compiled early Plymouth history from colony records.

A social club founded in 1769 that celebrated 'Forefathers' Day.' The club helped preserve Pilgrim memory before Thanksgiving became national.

1820. The Pilgrim Society was established to preserve Plymouth Rock and Pilgrim memory during the Revolutionary generation's nostalgia.

Founded in 1919 to preserve Pilgrim and colonial artifacts. It operates historic houses in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

George Washington, with multiple. While Lincoln made it national, Washington issued several during his presidency.

Mississippi, in the post-Civil War era. Deep Southern states resisted the 'Yankee' holiday until Reconstruction.

A day of 'fasting, humiliation, and prayer.' The Confederacy had its own thanksgiving observances, distinct from Union celebrations.

1941, after the congressional resolution. Before then, some states refused FDR's 1939 date and observed different days.

None directly. However, challenges to school holiday schedules and religious observance have reached lower courts.

President Ulysses S. Grant in 1873. Live turkeys were sent to presidents long before the formal pardon tradition.

He did not pardon it — he ate it. The 'pardon' narrative was retroactively applied to Truman, but he actually consumed the birds.

1989. Bush declared the turkey 'granted a presidential pardon as of right now' during a Rose Garden ceremony.

Liberty and Bell. These names reference patriotic symbols; pardoned turkeys have had increasingly elaborate names since 1989.

Gobbler's Rest at Virginia Tech, or similar university farms. Modern pardoned turkeys retire to educational facilities.

Typically 40-50 pounds. These specially raised birds are much larger than average market turkeys.

They went to Disneyland. From 2005 to 2009, pardoned turkeys were sent to Disneyland or Disney World as 'honorary grand marshals.'

All presidents since 1989 have pardoned two per year. The total is roughly 70+ turkeys pardoned as of 2024.

No major scandal exists. The presidential turkey presentation has been largely ceremonial and apolitical.

The turkey presentation involves the National Turkey Federation. Since 1947, the NTF has presented a turkey to the president.

A day of fasting during crises, distinct from Thanksgiving feasts. The Puritans held more fast days than thanksgiving days.

Sukkot. The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles is a week-long harvest thanksgiving mentioned in the Torah.

The Thesmophoria, honoring Demeter. This women's festival celebrated the grain harvest and agricultural cycles.

Ceres. The Cerealia festival honored the goddess of agriculture and included games and processions.

Harvest Home was an English tradition the Pilgrims likely knew. It involved feasting after the grain harvest, similar to American Thanksgiving.

A medieval English harvest festival on August 1. 'Loaf Mass' involved blessing the first bread made from the new wheat crop.

They banned it. The Puritans and Pilgrims viewed Christmas as a pagan-influenced holiday and outlawed its observance in early Massachusetts.

None directly. This Christmas Eve service at King's College, Cambridge, is unrelated to American Thanksgiving traditions.

None. The 325 CE council addressed the date of Easter, not harvest festivals or modern Thanksgiving.

Protestant rejection of Catholic saints' days reduced holiday celebrations. Separatists sought a simpler, scripture-based faith without ecclesiastical hierarchy.

The Pilgrims rejected it. The Church of England's prayer book was one reason Separatists left — they wanted extemporaneous worship.

The home of William Brewster where Separatists first met in England. Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, was the birthplace of the Pilgrim congregation.

He founded the Baptist tradition and influenced Separatist theology. Smyth's ideas about believer's baptism and church independence shaped Pilgrim beliefs.

None direct. However, 2 Maccabees describes a Jewish purification and thanksgiving festival that some scholars compare.

A Connecticut law regulating religious observances. New England colonies legislated days of fasting and thanksgiving in response to events.

No reliable figure exists, but it was minimal. Employees marched voluntarily; animals came from the Central Park Zoo.

1939 locally, 1948 nationally. NBC began national broadcasts in 1948, making it a nationwide tradition.

Approximately $5-10 for a family meal (about $180-$350 today). Turkey was cheaper relative to wages, but many items were more labor-intensive.

1986. The AFBF began tracking the cost of a standard Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people annually.

About $61 for 10 people. This was actually a decrease from 2022 due to lower turkey prices.

No precise figure exists. However, potato consumption spikes in November, with russets being the most popular variety.

1981. The hotline began with six home economists answering calls; it now handles over 100,000 annually.

Supermarkets discounted turkeys to attract holiday shoppers. Some stores sold turkeys below cost as a loss leader for other groceries.

Approximately $25-30 billion annually. This includes airfare, gas, hotels, and meals for the holiday weekend.

About 15-20% of annual wine sales occur in November-December. Thanksgiving marks the beginning of peak wine-buying season.

The 1970s saw the rise of Stove Top and similar mixes. Kraft's Stove Top, introduced in 1972, revolutionized the market.

Libby's, introduced in the 1920s. Libby's developed a proprietary pumpkin variety and canning process.

Approximately 50 million. About one-third of all pumpkin pie consumption occurs on Thanksgiving.

98 cents. Swanson's 1953 TV dinner sold for 98 cents, about $11 in today's dollars.

Relatively little. The U.S. consumes most of its production; Mexico and China are top export markets.

A replica of the Mayflower, launched in 1956. Built in Devon, England, it sailed to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and is now a museum ship.

1897. The hereditary organization requires documented descent from a Mayflower passenger.

Approximately 25-30 of the 102 passengers. Millions of Americans claim descent from these few survivors.

1774 — patriots tried to move it and broke it in half. The broken half was moved to Pilgrim Hall; the remaining portion stayed at the waterfront.

An effort to locate the original 1620 settlement. Archaeological work since 2013 has found artifacts from the first Pilgrim homes.

A debunked theory that the Pilgrims buried treasure. No evidence supports this; it was a 19th-century romantic fabrication.

A Christian allegory by John Bunyan (1678), unrelated to the Pilgrims. Despite the similar name, Bunyan was an English Baptist, not a Pilgrim.

A commemorative coin issued in 1920-1921. The U.S. Mint produced 152,000 coins to mark the 300th anniversary.

A granite canopy erected over Plymouth Rock in 1920. The Tercentenary celebration funded the structure that now shelters the rock.

Approximately 250,000 words. The manuscript covers the colony's history from 1620 to 1646.