Thanksgiving is the holiday to be thankful. Families gather around a delicious feast where turkey has the most important role in the menu. Find out some fun facts about this holiday celebrated today all around the world by American families.

• Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be their national bird instead of the eagle. In a letter to his daughter he claimed that eagles “had a more bad character” and turkeys were “much more respectable birds”.
• Turkeys were one of the first animals to be domesticated in the Americas.
  We all know where they end up now!

• Turkey have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.
• For 36 years, Sarah Josepha Hale, editor, writer and authour of the nursery “Mary had a little lamb”, campaigned to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. It was in 1863, that President Lincoln finally declared it as a national holiday.
• Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October.

• 4,500 is the average number of calories you might eat during Thanksgiving. (Calorie Council Control).
  Why am I not that surprised! Just look at this table!

• 69% of fires during Thanksgiving Day are caused by cooking.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger once said “I love Thanksgiving turkey. It’s the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts!”
• Black Friday, the day that follows Thanksgiving, is the day where retailers start their incredible sales. In some cases people camp outside the stores in order to be sure they’ll get the perfect deal.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Pictures : bagera3005, Loren Javier, Wikipedia