6. Fact or Fiction: Native Americans used cranberries, now a staple of many
Thanksgiving dinners, for cooking as well as medicinal purposes.
Fact. According to the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association, one of the
country’s oldest farmers’ organizations, Native Americans used cranberries
in a variety of foods, including “pemmican” (a nourishing, high-protein
combination of crushed berries, dried deer meat and melted fat). They also
used it as a medicine to treat arrow punctures and other wounds and as a dye
for fabric. The Pilgrims adopted these uses for the fruit and gave it a
name-”craneberry”-because its drooping pink blossoms in the spring reminded
them of a crane.
7. Fact or Fiction: The movement of the turkey inspired a ballroom dance.
Fact. The turkey trot, modeled on that bird’s characteristic short, jerky
steps, was one of a number of popular dance styles that emerged during the
late 19th and early 20th century in the United States. The two-step, a
simple dance that required little to no instruction, was quickly followed by
such dances as the one-step, the turkey trot, the fox trot and the bunny
hug, which could all be performed to the ragtime and jazz music popular at
the time. The popularity of such dances spread like wildfire, helped along
by the teachings and performances of exhibition dancers like the famous
husband-and-wife team Vernon and Irene Castle.
8. Fact or Fiction: On Thanksgiving Day in 2007, two turkeys earned a trip
to Disney World.
Fact. On November 20, 2007, President George W. Bush granted a “pardon” to
two turkeys, named May and Flower, at the 60th annual National Thanksgiving
Turkey presentation, held in the Rose Garden at the White House. The two
turkeys were flown to Orlando, Florida, where they served as honorary grand
marshals for the Disney World Thanksgiving Parade. The current tradition of
presidential turkey pardons began in 1947, under Harry Truman, but the
practice is said to have informally begun with Abraham Lincoln, who granted
a pardon to his son Tad’s pet turkey.
9. Fact or Fiction: Turkey contains an amino acid that makes you sleepy.
Fact. Turkey does contain the essential amino acid tryptophan, which is a
natural sedative, but so do a lot of other foods, including chicken, beef,
pork, beans and cheese. Though many people believe turkey’s tryptophan
content is what makes many people feel sleepy after a big Thanksgiving meal,
it is more likely the combination of fats and carbohydrates most people eat
with the turkey, as well as the large amount of food (not to mention
alcohol, in some cases) consumed, that makes most people feel like following
their meal up with a nap.
10. Fact or Fiction: The tradition of playing or watching football on
Thanksgiving started with the first National Football League game on the
holiday in 1934.
Fiction. The American tradition of college football on Thanksgiving is
pretty much as old as the sport itself. The newly formed American
Intercollegiate Football Association held its first championship game on
Thanksgiving Day in 1876. At the time, the sport resembled something between
rugby and what we think of as football today. By the 1890s, more than 5,000
club, college and high school football games were taking place on
Thanksgiving, and championship match-ups between schools like Princeton and
Yale could draw up to 40,000 fans. The NFL took up the tradition in 1934,
when the Detroit Lions (recently arrived in the city and renamed) played the
Chicago Bears at the University of Detroit stadium in front of 26,000 fans.
Since then, the Lions game on Thanksgiving has become an annual event,
taking place every year except during the World War II years (1939-1944).
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
bob@grif.net www.grif.net
“Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!”
