Category Archives: Thanksgiving

Black Friday: History, Myths, and Facts

Embed This Infographic: Source: Today I Found Out How the Black Friday Tradition Got Started While it wasn’t called “Black Friday” until the 1960s, and then not popularly called such until the last two decades, retailers have been trying to push people to shop the Friday after Thanksgiving since the late 19th /early 20th century.  Around this time, it was […]

Read more

The Song “Jingle Bells” Is Thought to Have Been Written for a Thanksgiving Sunday School Program

One Horse Open Sleigh Painting

Today I found out the song Jingle Bells is thought to have been written for a Thanksgiving Sunday school program. Jingle Bells was originally called One Horse Open Sleigh and was written by James Pierpont sometime between 1853 and 1857. At the time, Pierpont was working as an organist and music director in Savannah, Georgia.  Pierpont was hired on by […]

Read more

The Pilgrims Did Not Celebrate the First Thanksgiving in America

Myth: The Pilgrims Celebrated the First Thanksgiving in America. The Pilgrims did not celebrate the first Thanksgiving in America. In fact, the particular Pilgrim event that is often cited as the first Thanksgiving wasn’t even the Pilgrim’s first Thanksgiving. They had several before then at various times and none of them were an annual thing. These days were simply a […]

Read more

Sarah Hale, Author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, Was Largely Responsible for the Establishment of the United States’ Thanksgiving Holiday

Sarah Hale

Today I found out Sarah Josepha Hale, author of Mary Had a Little Lamb, was largely responsible for the establishment of the United States’ Thanksgiving Holiday. Hale, one of the great women in American history, campaigned for nearly 20 years to get Thanksgiving made a national holiday.  It previously was only celebrated, as we think of it, in New England; […]

Read more

How the Tradition of the Detroit Lions Playing on Thanksgiving Got Started

Lions Eating Turkey

Today I found out how the tradition of the Detroit Lions playing on Thanksgiving got started. In 1934, radio executive G.A. Richards bought the Portsmouth, Ohio Spartans NFL team, moved them to Detroit, and renamed them the Lions.  Unfortunately for him, nobody in Detroit cared much for watching the Lions.  Despite winning all their games but one before Thanksgiving, having […]

Read more

The Pilgrims Didn’t Wear All Black and White Clothing with Buckled Top Hats

Myth: Pilgrims wore black and white clothing with buckled top hats. The myth that they dressed like this stems from the popular clothing style of the day in England in the late 17th century, which carried over to 18th and 19th century depictions. Artist depictions, at that time, depicted Pilgrims having worn the same style clothing that had become the […]

Read more