TurkeyDay Facts.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.
20 quick & dirty facts about the holiday that many people consider their favorite:

> Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States. (do other countries matter?)
> By the fall of 1621 only half of the pilgrims, who had sailed on the Mayflower, survived. The survivors, thankful to be alive, decided to give a thanksgiving feast. (with what meat?)
> Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October in Canada. (whoop-dee-do)
> The Plymouth Pilgrims were the first to celebrate the Thanksgiving. (they stole their name from the car company)
> The pilgrims arrived in North America in December 1620. (just in time for Christmas?)
> The Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to reach North America. (doi!)
> The pilgrims sailed on the ship, which was known by the name of 'Mayflower'. (uh-huh...)
> They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day in the fall of 1621.
> They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
> The drink that the Puritans brought with them in the Mayflower was the beer. (yay!!!)
> The Wampanoag Indians were the people who taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate the land. (but not beer)
> The Pilgrim leader, Governor William Bradford, had organized the first Thanksgiving feast in the year 1621 and invited the neighboring Wampanoag Indians also to the feast. (was the guy's first name "governor"?))
> The first Thanksgiving feast was held in the presence of around ninety Wampanoag Indians and the Wampanoag chief, Massasoit, was also invited there. ("invited there", I didn't write these...)
> The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days. (and we thought we ate a lot!)
> President George Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in the year 1789 and again in 1795. (he had wooden teeth... good for turkey eating?)
> The state of New York officially made Thanksgiving Day an annual custom in 1817. (do other states matter?)
> Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor with a magazine, started a Thanksgiving campaign in 1827 and it was result of her efforts that in 1863 Thanksgiving was observed as a day for national thanksgiving and prayer. (yeah, we do a lot of praying still, right?)
> Abraham Lincoln issued a 'Thanksgiving Proclamation' on third October 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving. Whereas earlier the presidents used to make an annual proclamation to specify the day when Thanksgiving was to be held. (Abe rules!!!)
> President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored Thursday before last of November as Thanksgiving Day in the year 1939. He did so to make the Christmas shopping season longer and thus stimulate the economy of the state. (should it be moved even earlier now?)
> Congress passed an official proclamation in 1941 and declared that now onwards Thanksgiving will be observed as a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday of November every year. (see, we really don't have enough time to Christmas shop with this set-up)

Now go eat your weight in fowl flesh, you Turkey!