Ten Things You Didn't Know About Thanksgiving

1.  Algonquian Indians were among the first to harvest wild cranberries.  They used them as food, medicine and a symbol of peace.

2.  Although pumpkin pies are a staple of North American Thanksgivings, they did not become popular until the early 19th Century.

3.  Oktoberfest, which is celebrated in Kitchener, Ontario, originated in Germany in 1810 after King Ludwig I married Therese.

4.  Canadians purchased 3 million turkeys in 2011 which accounts for 32% of yearly sales.

5.  Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in most Canadian provinces with the exception of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I.

6.  Martin Frobisher held the first Canadian Thanksgiving in 1578 to celebrate his safe arrival to the new land.

7.  In 1953, Swanson, after overestimating the need for Thanksgiving dinner, had 260 tons of frozen turkeys to get rid of.  They ordered 5000 aluminum plates with separated sections and filled them with turkey, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes and peas, creating the first TV dinners.

8.  Only about half of the 102 people aboard the Mayflower that sailed to America in 1620 were actually Pilgrims.  The other half were "Strangers", simply people wanting to come to the New World.

9.  The average weight of turkeys purchased for Thanksgiving dinner is 15 pounds.  Turkeys will have 3500 feathers at maturity.

10.  The first Thanksgiving, celebrated by the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts, lasted three days.

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