Turkey Trivia
Native American History
It Happened in November
Food Food Food
Thanksgiving
100
Turkeys Gobble for this reason.
What is To attract a Female?
Only male turkeys, or toms, can make a call known as a “gobble,” and they mostly do it in the spring and fall. It is a mating call and attracts the hens. Wild turkeys gobble when they’re surprised by loud sounds and when they settle in for the night. The wild turkey can make at least 30 different calls!
100
this Shoshone woman, accompanied the Luis and Clarke expedition as an interpreter and traveled with them for thousands of miles from St Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Northwest.
She was featured on the U.S. Dollar Coin in 2000
Who was Sacagawea?
100
November 1st 1848, the first US medical college for women opens in this city.
What is Boston.
The first medical school for women opened in Boston. The Boston Female Medical School was founded by Samuel Gregory with just twelve students. In 1874, the school merged with the Boston University School of Medicine, becoming one of the first co-ed medical schools.
100
Potatoes were first cultivated on this continent.
What is South America?
Many people assume potatoes are Irish, or, at least, come from Idaho. While they grow in both places, the Inca Indians in Peru were the first to cultivate potatoes around 8,000 BC to 5,000 BC. This vegetable made its way to Europe aboard the Spanish conquistador ships around 1570, and though they planted potatoes in Spain, they mainly used the crop as livestock feed.
100
This city (serving as our national capital until 1800) is home to the oldest Thanksgiving Day Parade.
What is Philadelphia?
The Philadelphia Gimbel Brothers Department Store parade in 1920 had only 50 people, 15 cars and a fireman dressed as Santa Claus. The parade ended with Santa on his sleigh, signifying the arrival of the holiday season. Today, it’s much bigger and called the 6abc Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade instead. It was the inspiration behind the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Day Parade which started in 1924.
200
This founding father preferred the Turkey as our national bird rather than the Bald Eagle.
Who is Ben Franklin?
“For my own part, I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; he does not get his living honestly…like those among men who live by sharping and robbing…he is generally poor, and often very lousy. Besides, he is a rank coward; the little king-bird, not bigger than a sparrow, attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district…For in truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America. Eagles have been found in all countries, but the turkey was peculiar to ours…”
200
This Shawnee warrior chief organized a Native American confederacy in an effort to create an autonomous Indian state and stop white settlement in the Northwest Territory (modern-day Great Lakes region). He was a key player in the war of 1812
Who was Tecumseh?
200
November 2, 1947 saw the first and only flight of Howard Hughes' flying boat occurred in Long Beach Harbor, California. What was the name of the "flying boat"
What is the Spruce Goose?
It flew about a mile at an altitude of 70 feet. Costing $25 million, the 200-ton plywood eight-engine Hercules was the world's largest airplane, designed, built and flown by Hughes. It later became a tourist attraction alongside the Queen Mary ship at Long Beach and has since been moved to Oregon.
200
Carrots as we know them were cultivated from this weed.
What is Queen Anne's Lace?
200
This early president refused to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday.
Who was Thomas Jefferson?
Presidents originally had to declare Thanksgiving a holiday every year, up until Lincoln made it a national holiday during his tenure. However, Jefferson refused to recognize the event, because he believed so firmly in the separation of church and state. Since Thanksgiving involved prayer and reflection, he thought designating it a national holiday would violate the First Amendment. He also thought it was better suited as a state holiday, not a federal one.
300
This is the official name of the dangly bit on a turkey's neck.
What is a Wattle.
The loose red skin attached to the underside of a turkey’s beak is called a wattle. When the male turkey is excited, especially during mating season, the wattle turns a scarlet red. The fleshy flap of skin that hangs over the gobbler’s beak is called a snood and also turns bright red when the bird is excited. The wobbly little thing on the turkey’s chest is the turkey’s beard and is made up of keratin bristles. Keratin is the same substance that forms hair and horns on other animals.
300
Among the most famous women in early American history, this Powhatan princess is credited with having helped the struggling English settlers in Virginia survive in the early 1600s, including John Smith.
Who was Pocohantas?
300
November 4, 1922, this "boy king's" tomb is discovered in Luxor Egypt.
Who was King Tut?
The child-King Tutankhamen became pharaoh at age nine and died around 1352 B.C. at age 19. The tomb was found mostly intact, containing numerous priceless items now exhibited in Egypt's National Museum in Cairo.
300
This food item is actually a kind of winter squash.
What are pumpkins?
Pumpkins and other squashes are actually a kind of fruit, along with cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini's, and avocados.
300
A Thanksgiving turkey mix-up inspired this popular meal trend after a Swanson Employee ordered a colossal shipment of thanksgiving turkeys.
What is the TV dinner?
(it was 260 tons of turkey, to be exact). To deal with the excess, salesman Gerry Thomas took inspiration from the prepared foods served on airplanes. He came up with the idea of filling 5,000 aluminum trays with the turkey – along with cornbread dressing, gravy, peas and sweet potatoes to complete the offering. The 98-cent meals were a hit, especially with kids and increasingly busy households.
400
A baby turkey is called this.
What is a Poult? Chick, and Turklette are also acceptable.
A male is called a Tom and a female is called a Hen.
400
This native leader is known most famously for uniting the Five Nations—Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk—into a political confederacy.
He was also featured in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Who was Hiawatha?
400
Best known for his rousing marches including The Stars and Stripes Forever, Semper Fidelis, and El Capitan, this composer was born November 6th 1854
400
this thanksgiving staple can be classified as a Vegetable, a fruit, AND a grain.
What is corn?
Corn, still attached to its cob, is considered a vegetable.
Corn kernels individually are classified as fruit by botanists.
Corn that is harvested when fully mature and dry is considered a grain. It can be milled into cornmeal and used in such foods as corn tortillas and cornbread. Popcorn is also harvested when mature, and is considered to be a whole grain
400
This cartoon cat is the oldest Balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Who is Felix the Cat?
Imagine seeing your first giant balloon at the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving day. That's what happened in 1927 -- this Felix the Cat balloon was the first of its kind to fly.
500
Turkeys are originally native to this country.
What is Mexico?
Yes, turkeys originated in the “New World.” Specifically, wild turkeys are native to Mexico. It’s a funny history. European explorers brought wild turkeys home with them in the early 1500s. The birds were domesticated in Europe and later brought to North America by English colonists. Note that domesticated turkeys have white-tipped tails; wild turkeys have dark-tipped tails.
500
This Native American Leader was the political and spiritual leader of the Sioux warriors who destroyed General George Armstrong Custer's force in the famous battle of Little Big Horn. Years later he joined Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show.
Who was Sitting Bull?
500
This famous address happened November 19th 1863
What is the Gettysburg Address?
500
No thanksgiving dinner is complete without this bready prepared side. Versions of this date back as far back as 2nd century BC.
What is stuffing?
Some time around the 2nd century BC, a chef by the name of Apicius created a cookbook entitled, “Apicius de re Coquinaria.” In its pages are recipes for stuffed chicken, rabbit, pig, and even dormouse
500
President Calvin Coolidge famously received this as a Thanksgiving gift.
What is a live raccoon?
In November 1926, Vinnie Joyce of Nitta Yuma, Mississippi, sent the 30th President of the United States a live raccoon to be served as Thanksgiving dinner. However, the President became so smitten with the furry animal that he pardoned it and adopted it as a pet. He named it Rebecca.