Let us get down to some interesting facts and myths of Thanksgiving 2012. As per reports obtained from US Agriculture Department, about 254 million turkeys are going to be slaughtered in the US in Thanksgiving 2012. This is 2% more than last year and the total value of birds was five billion dollars.
In last year, about 246 million turkeys were served on the US dinner tables. This amounted to around 736 million pounds in terms of weight. Minnesota is the leading state in turkey production, where the others which are leading just behind include North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana, Virginia and Arkansas. These six big states count for two third of turkey produced in the entire US during Thanksgiving.
It is interesting to know the history of Thanksgiving dinner. The first Thanksgiving dinner was held in Pilmoth in October 1621. The dinner was attended was 50 English colonists and about 90 Wampanoag American Indian men whose descendants are now staying in Massachusetts.
Wampanoag men killed five deer which were served in the feast and the colonists killed wild fowl and it could have been either duck or turkey. Indian corn was also served in some form. The idea of first Thanksgiving was to celebrate the harvest season with a grand feast thanking the super power God for helping in their survival and well being.
Finally, Thanksgiving Day was declared as a holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in the year 1863. In 1941, the then President Roosevelt fixed the Thanksgiving day as the fourth Thursday of November.
