Thanksgiving Trivia Questions and Answers: 66 Sourced Facts

How to play thanksgiving trivia

Set up the round. Choose 1 to 8 teams, a topic (or All topics) and 10, 20 or every question. Add team names if you like.
Read the question. The phone names the team whose turn it is. Whoever holds the phone reads the question out loud.
Let the team answer. Give them a moment to talk it over, then tap Show the answer.
Score it. Tap Got it if the team was right and Missed it if not. Each correct answer is one point.
Pass the phone. The next team gets the next question. After the last question the phone shows the final scores.

Playing alone? Set the teams to 1 and the game counts your score out of the number of questions.

All 66 thanksgiving trivia questions and answers

Every question in the game with its answer and the fact behind it. Read them straight from this page, print a few, or let the game above deal them in random order and keep score.

Jump to History Presidents Food Parades and football Traditions World

Stuck for a question? Let the phone choose one from the lists below.

Pilgrims, the Wampanoag and the first Thanksgiving

The 1620 voyage, the 1621 harvest celebration described in Edward Winslow’s letter, and the Wampanoag people who were there. 12 questions.

In what year did the Mayflower leave Plymouth, England, for North America?Answer: 1620. The Mayflower left England in September 1620, and only half of its original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring.
In his 1621 letter, how many days did Edward Winslow say the English entertained and feasted their Wampanoag guests?Answer: Three days. Winslow, the only known eyewitness to record the event, wrote that the English entertained and feasted their guests for three days.
Which Wampanoag leader does Edward Winslow's 1621 letter say arrived with some ninety men?Answer: Massasoit. Winslow's letter names Massasoit as the leader who came with some ninety men.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is also known as the People of the what?Answer: First Light. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe says it has lived in present-day Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island for more than 12,000 years.
About how many passengers were aboard the Mayflower?Answer: 102. The Mayflower carried 102 passengers, and roughly a third of them were children.
In Winslow's 1621 letter, how many deer did the Wampanoag guests bring to the colony?Answer: Five. Winslow wrote that the guests went out, killed five deer, and gave them to the governor, the captain and others.
From which village, on the site of present-day Plymouth, did Tisquantum (Squanto) come?Answer: Patuxet. The colonists' own 1622 account calls him 'the only native of Patuxet, where we now inhabit', and when he returned in 1619 he found that plague had killed the people of Patuxet.
In 1614, an English captain took Tisquantum and other Native men across the Atlantic to which country?Answer: Spain. Captain Thomas Hunt took the captives to Málaga, Spain, and Tisquantum later lived in London before returning to New England in 1619.
According to William Bradford, Tisquantum told the colonists to plant their corn in the old fields together with what?Answer: Fish. Bradford wrote that Tisquantum showed the colonists how to set, dress and tend corn, and warned that without fish it would come to nothing.
The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard the ship while it was anchored off which cape?Answer: Cape Cod. The Compact was signed on November 21 by 41 of the 50 adult males aboard.
Edward Winslow's letter about the 1621 harvest celebration was first printed in 1622 in a pamphlet with what title?Answer: Mourt's Relation. Mourt's Relation was the colony's first promotional pamphlet, and it also holds the earliest surviving text of the Mayflower Compact.
According to the National Park Service, a Mass of Thanksgiving and a shared meal took place in 1565 in which Florida city?Answer: St. Augustine. The National Park Service says this St. Augustine thanksgiving came 56 years before the one at Plymouth, though it never became the basis of a yearly national tradition.

Presidents, proclamations and the national holiday

From the 1789 proclamation to the 1941 law that fixed the date, plus the history of the turkey pardon. 12 questions.

Which president issued a proclamation in 1789 naming Thursday, November 26, as a day of thanksgiving?Answer: George Washington. Washington issued the proclamation in 1789, and the nation celebrated its first Thanksgiving under its new Constitution.
What nickname did critics give to Franklin D. Roosevelt's earlier Thanksgiving date in 1939?Answer: Franksgiving. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week to spur retail sales during the Great Depression, and the change became known derisively as 'Franksgiving'.
In 1941, Congress passed a law fixing Thanksgiving on which Thursday of November?Answer: The fourth Thursday. Roosevelt signed the bill into law on December 26, 1941, and the fourth Thursday has been the legal date since.
What nickname did Sarah Josepha Hale earn for her long campaign for a national Thanksgiving holiday?Answer: Mother of Thanksgiving. Hale, a magazine editor and writer, campaigned for decades for a national day of thanksgiving.
Lincoln's 1863 proclamation invited citizens to observe "the ___ Thursday of November next" as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise. Which word fills the blank?Answer: last. Lincoln's 1863 proclamation set apart "the last Thursday of November next" as a day of thanksgiving.
Which magazine did Sarah Josepha Hale edit while she campaigned for a national Thanksgiving?Answer: Godey's Lady's Book. Hale wrote directly to President Lincoln on September 28, 1863, asking for a national day of thanksgiving.
In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to move Thanksgiving earlier by how long?Answer: One week. He announced the move in 1939, hoping to lengthen the Christmas shopping season.
Which president said 'We'll just let this one grow' while sparing a Thanksgiving turkey in 1963?Answer: John F. Kennedy. Newspapers ran the headline 'Merciful President Pardons Turkey', though Kennedy himself only said 'We'll just let this one grow'.
Two presidential Thanksgiving proclamations, one in 1789 and one in 1863, were issued on the same date of the year. What is it?Answer: October 3. Washington issued his proclamation on October 3, 1789, and Lincoln made Thanksgiving a yearly national observance on October 3, 1863.
Which Secretary of State wrote the text of Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation?Answer: William Seward. Lincoln issued the proclamation, but Secretary of State William Seward wrote it.
Congressional proclamations of thanksgiving began in 1777, before the Constitution existed. Which body issued them?Answer: The Continental Congress. The Library of Congress traces congressional thanksgiving proclamations back to 1777, and the Continental Congress issued the first national proclamation of Thanksgiving that year.
Which president is often wrongly credited with starting the turkey pardon, although his library found no record that he ever pardoned a turkey?Answer: Harry Truman. The Truman Library found no records of him pardoning a turkey, and George H. W. Bush made the pardon formal in 1989.

Turkey, pie and the Thanksgiving table

What was and was not on the 1621 table, and the turkey, cranberry and casserole facts that came later. 11 questions.

William Bradford wrote that in autumn 1621 there was great store of which wild bird near Plymouth?Answer: Wild turkeys. Bradford recorded 'great store of wild turkeys' that autumn, while Winslow's letter about the feast names only fowl.
Plimoth Patuxet says which popular Thanksgiving dessert was probably not on the 1621 table?Answer: Pumpkin pie. Pumpkin was very likely on the table in some form, but the colony probably lacked enough butter and wheat flour to make pie crusts.
What is a baby turkey called?Answer: A poult. Adult male wild turkeys are called gobblers or toms, females are hens, and the young are poults.
To what minimum internal temperature in degrees Fahrenheit should a whole turkey be cooked, according to the USDA?Answer: 165. The USDA says to check the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast with a food thermometer.
Plimoth Patuxet says that by 1621 which kind of potato was still "the purview of the botanist and gardener" rather than part of the English diet?Answer: White potatoes. Plimoth Patuxet says that by 1621 both sweet and white potatoes had reached England but neither was generally part of the English diet; sweet potatoes were a rare dainty for the wealthy and white potatoes were the purview of the botanist and gardener.
In what year did the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line first open?Answer: 1981. Butterball says the line debuted in November 1981 with 6 operators, who fielded 11,000 calls that season.
In what year did Dorcas Reilly create the green bean casserole at the Campbell's headquarters in Camden, New Jersey?Answer: 1955. Her recipe card now belongs to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio.
USDA advice says to allow about how many hours of refrigerator thawing for each 4 to 5 pounds of turkey?Answer: About 24 hours. The USDA says to keep the refrigerator at 40 °F or below while a turkey thaws.
In 1816, Captain Henry Hall of Dennis, Massachusetts, noticed that wild cranberries grew better when what blew over them?Answer: Sand. Hall moved vines to new spots and covered them with sand, and other growers soon copied him, starting commercial cranberry cultivation in Massachusetts.
In 1621, Bradford wrote that men near the settlement fished for cod and which other fish?Answer: Bass. Bradford wrote that the men took good store of cod, bass and other fish.
According to the Smithsonian's National Zoo, wild turkeys were domesticated in which country more than 2,000 years ago?Answer: Mexico. The wild turkey is one of only two bird species domesticated from the Americas, along with the Muscovy duck.

Parades, football and TV

The Macy’s parade, the Lions and Cowboys games, and the TV specials that fill the afternoon. 12 questions.

In what year was the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade held in New York City?Answer: 1924. Macy's employees organized the first parade on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1924, to boost holiday sales and promote the company's new store.
Which cartoon character was the first balloon in the Macy's parade in 1927?Answer: Felix the Cat. The first balloons could not be deflated, so they were let go at the end of the parade and burst as they rose.
In what year did the Detroit Lions first play on Thanksgiving Day?Answer: 1934. Lions owner G.A. Richards scheduled the 1934 game, and it was an NFL first as a national radio broadcast.
In what year did the Dallas Cowboys first play on Thanksgiving Day?Answer: 1966. The league added a second Thanksgiving game in 1966 at the request of the television networks.
What was the Macy's Thanksgiving parade originally called?Answer: The Macy's Christmas Parade. Time notes that the early parade featured employees in costume walking alongside zoo animals and floats.
Animals from which New York City zoo took part in the first Macy's parade?Answer: Central Park Zoo. Macy's employees organized the parade to boost holiday sales.
Which team beat the Lions 19 to 16 in their first Thanksgiving game?Answer: The Chicago Bears. The defending champion Bears won in front of about 26,000 fans at University of Detroit Stadium.
In what year did 'A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving' first air on CBS?Answer: 1973. It first aired on CBS on November 20, 1973, and won an Emmy Award the following year.
In what year did NBC first broadcast the National Dog Show on Thanksgiving Day?Answer: 2002. The show airs at noon on Thanksgiving after the parade.
Which team did the Cowboys beat 26 to 14 in their first Thanksgiving game?Answer: The Cleveland Browns. The game was played at the Cotton Bowl in front of 80,259 spectators.
How many radio stations were in the NBC network that carried the Lions' first Thanksgiving game?Answer: 94. Graham McNamee and Don Wilson announced the game on the 94-station NBC Radio network.
Thanksgiving football dates to at least 1876, when Yale defeated which college team 2 to 0?Answer: Princeton. That game was played in Hoboken, New Jersey, and by the 1890s many college and high school teams played on the holiday.

Traditions, symbols and word origins

Black Friday, the cornucopia, the wishbone, Plymouth Rock and where the word Friendsgiving comes from. 10 questions.

According to History.com, police in which US city used the term "Black Friday" in the 1950s for the chaos on the day after Thanksgiving?Answer: Philadelphia. Philadelphia police used the term in the 1950s and early 1960s for the traffic and crowd chaos on the day after Thanksgiving.
What does the word 'cornucopia' mean in English?Answer: Horn of plenty. The word comes from the Latin 'cornu copiae', which means 'horn of plenty'.
Crowds heading to which Saturday football game helped inspire police to call the day after Thanksgiving 'Black Friday'?Answer: The Army-Navy game. Suburban shoppers and tourists poured into the city ahead of the annual Army-Navy game held that Saturday.
What cheerful name did merchants unsuccessfully try to use instead of 'Black Friday'?Answer: Big Friday. By 1961 the name had spread, and the merchants wanted to remove its negative sound.
In Greek myth, the first cornucopia was linked to the goat Amalthea, who helped raise which god?Answer: Zeus. In the myth, Rhea hid the infant Zeus in Crete so that his father Kronos could not swallow him, and Amalthea raised him there.
What is the scientific name for a bird's wishbone?Answer: Furcula. The furcula is formed from the fused collarbones of a bird, and it works like a spring during flight.
Merriam-Webster dates the first known use of the word 'Friendsgiving' to which year?Answer: 2007. Merriam-Webster defines Friendsgiving as a celebration or meal shared among friends on or near Thanksgiving Day.
Before it described shopping, the name 'Black Friday' was given to a September 1869 crash in which market?Answer: The gold market. On Friday, September 24, 1869, the investors Jay Gould and Jim Fisk tried to corner the gold market, and the price crashed when the government sold gold.
Which ancient Italian people are traditionally credited with starting the custom of wishing on a wishbone?Answer: The Etruscans. According to tradition, the Etruscans dried chicken wishbones in the sun and stroked them while making wishes, and the later habit of breaking the bone is credited to the Romans.
In what year did 94-year-old Thomas Faunce first claim that Plymouth Rock was the Pilgrims' landing place?Answer: 1741. Faunce spoke up 121 years after the Mayflower arrived, when residents planned to build a wharf that would bury the rock.

Thanksgiving beyond the United States

Canada, Liberia, Grenada, Norfolk Island and other harvest and thanks days, plus the Dutch city the Pilgrims lived in first. 9 questions.

On which Monday of October is Thanksgiving celebrated in Canada?Answer: The second Monday. Canada's Thanksgiving falls on the second Monday of October, which was Monday, October 12 in 2026.
Japan's Labor Thanksgiving Day is held every year on which date?Answer: November 23. Labor Thanksgiving Day is the modern name for an ancient harvest festival called Niiname-sai; a 1948 national holiday law renamed the holiday and kept the date (observed on the Monday when November 23 falls on a Sunday).
Which English explorer and his crew held a thanksgiving observance in what is now Nunavut in 1578?Answer: Martin Frobisher. The Canadian Encyclopedia says the crew gathered at an anchorage in Frobisher Bay, where the chaplain's sermon urged them to be thankful for their deliverance.
From 1609, many of the Pilgrims lived in which Dutch city before the Mayflower voyage?Answer: Leiden. The Pilgrims arrived in Leiden in 1609 and lived there for almost twelve years, and Americans in the Netherlands still hold a Thanksgiving service in the Pieterskerk each year.
What is the name of the German harvest thanksgiving festival that many places hold on the first Sunday of October?Answer: Erntedankfest. Erntedankfest is observed in both Catholic and Protestant churches, whose altars are decorated with the fruits of the harvest.
In what year did Canada's Parliament proclaim the date on which Thanksgiving is observed each year?Answer: 1957. Canada's History says Parliament made its proclamation on January 31, 1957, and before that the date had varied.
Which West African country marks National Thanksgiving Day on the first Thursday of November under an 1883 law?Answer: Liberia. Liberia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says each year's proclamation follows an 1883 Act of the National Legislature.
On which day of the week is Thanksgiving held on Norfolk Island, an Australian territory?Answer: Wednesday. Norfolk Island holds Thanksgiving on the last Wednesday of November, a tradition linked to visiting American whalers.
On what date is Thanksgiving Day observed each year in Grenada?Answer: October 25. Grenada's Thanksgiving Day marks the arrival in 1983 of forces from the United States and its regional allies.

Tips for running a trivia round at the table

Make two to four teams. Put a young reader and an older relative on each one, so the easy and the hard questions both have someone to answer them.
Play one topic per round. History suits the time before dinner, and Parades and football suits the hour with the pie.
Choose 10 questions for a quick round and 20 for a full one. Pick All to go through the whole set.
Break a tie with one more question. Start a new game with one team each and play a single question from All topics.
Read the line under the answer. Each answer comes with the fact that explains it, and that line is where the conversation starts.

Some familiar Thanksgiving stories are legends. The questions here ask only what a named source records, such as a 1621 letter or a proclamation, and leave out the parts historians dispute.

Where the answers come from

Each answer was checked against a page from one of these publications or institutions on October 15, 2026. Where sources disagreed, the question was dropped or worded to match one named source.

Frequently asked questions

How many questions are in this Thanksgiving quiz?

66 questions in six topics, from easy to hard. The game deals 10, 20 or all of them in random order.

Are the answers checked?

Yes. Each answer was checked against a page from a named publication or institution on October 15, 2026, and the sources are listed on this page. Questions where sources disagreed were left out.

Can kids play?

Yes, from about age 8. The questions run from easy to hard, so mix young and older players on the same team and let the youngest read the question aloud.

Do I need a phone for every team?

No. One phone passes around the table. It reads out which team is up, hides each answer until you tap, and keeps the score.

Does the site save my scores?

No. Team names and scores exist only on the page while you play. The privacy page lists what the site stores.

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Thanksgiving Trivia Questions and Answers

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