7 Things You May Not Know about Thanksgiving
November 3, 2017   //   By:   //   Articles   //   Comments are off

For National Gratitude Month, we thought it appropriate to share these little known facts about the history of Thanksgiving, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and Plymouth Rock! Share them with your students, and at your Thanksgiving table.

  • Celebrating the harvest in 1621, the first Thanksgiving was held for three days.
  • Until the Wampanoag Indians changed their minds, the early settlers were planning for thanksgiving to be a fast, not a feast!
  • 1924 was the first year of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade , which was then the “Macy’s Christmas Parade” celebrating the expansion of Macy’s flagship Manhattan store.
  • Among entertainers and bands in the first iteration of the parade, hundreds of Macy’s employees marched as well as animals from the Central Park Zoo.
  • The Mayflower was a merchant vessel used for trading between England and France, and not meant transporting people.
  • Upon departing England, the pilgrims’ desired destination was the mouth of the Hudson River, which would have been good for farming.  Rough waters drove them north where they settled at Plymouth Rock.
  • The Pilgrims did not name Plymouth Rock after the Mayflower’s departure point, the port of Plymouth. The land was named by explorer John Smith prior to their arrival.
About the Author :

Related News