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Groo groo: The sound a happy brain makes testing its Thanksgiving knowledge?

by Sarah Jenkins
Yakima Herald-Republic

At my cousin's house in Kennewick, where we will all gather for our family's traditional Thanksgiving feast, there will be football on in the background.

Lots of football, in fact.

With three back-to-back-to-back games, woe be to the cousin who doesn't appreciate the NFL.

But even in my football-fan family, there are a few who still believe talking is more important than touchdowns, that family gatherings should focus on catching up rather than catching passes.

This is for them.

This Thanksgiving quiz is a random collection of trivia, gathered from a variety of Web sites. If you have abandoned the TV (read, football) for some actual thought, it may give you something to do. Or it may just fill those awkward and empty minutes between the end of the traditional Detroit Lions game (kick off is at 9:30 a.m.) and the beginning of the Seattle-Dallas match (set to start at 1:15). The answers appear at the end of the column.

 

1. Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States; when is it celebrated in Canada?

a) Second Monday in October

b) First Thursday in November

c) Last Sunday in October

d) Canada celebrates Thanksgiving?

 

2. Which group began the American tradition of Thanksgiving?

a) The Vikings

b) The Pilgrims

c) The Conquistadors

d) The Choctaw

 

3. When did that group first set foot in America?

a) July 4, 1776

b) Oct. 12 , 1492

c) Dec. 25, 1522

d) Dec. 11, 1620

 

4. They celebrated the first Thanksgiving in the fall of

a) 1492

b) 1523

c) 1621

d) 1776

 

5. How many colonists were on board the Mayflower?

a) 89

b) 102

c) 185

d) 219

 

6. Of those aboard the Mayflower, how many survived to celebrate that first Thanksgiving?

a) All of them

b) All but two of them

c) Half of them

d) Only three of them

 

7. Where was the turkey first domesticated?

a) Canada

b) Mexico and Central America

c) New Zealand

d) India

 

8. The drink the colonists brought with them from England was

a) Milk

b) Wine

c) Beer

d) Whiskey

 

9. What great American statesman lobbied to make the turkey the national symbol?

a) Benjamin Franklin

b) Thomas Jefferson

c) John Adams

d) Andrew Jackson

 

10. What Native American tribe celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the colonists?

a) The Wampanoag tribe

b) The Sioux tribe

c) The Choctaw tribe

d) The Arapaho tribe

 

11. Can wild turkeys fly? If so, how fast?

a) No

b) Yes, up to 25 mph

c) Yes, up to 40 mph

d) Yes, up to 55 mph

 

12. Which president issued the first national Thanksgiving Day Proclamation?

a) Abraham Lincoln

b) Thomas Jefferson

c) Ronald Reagan

d) George Washington

 

13. And in what year was it issued?

a) 1789

b) 1795

c) 1863

d) 1980

 

14. In English, turkeys say "gobble gobble." What do turkeys say in Portuguese?

a) Cluck cluck

b) Groo groo

c) Gluglu gluglu

d) Krull krull

 

15. Each year the president would issue a proclamation specifying the day on which Thanksgiving would be held. But eventually a president officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day of Thanksgiving. Who was he?

a) Woodrow Wilson

b) Calvin Coolidge

c) Abraham Lincoln

d) Ronald Reagan

 

16. About how many feathers, roughly, does a mature turkey have?

a) 1,500

b) 2,000

c) 3,500

d) 5,000

 

17. It took an act of Congress -- literally -- to make Thanksgiving a legal holiday that would be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year. When was that federal act passed?

a) 1865

b) 1941

c) 1957

d) 1976

 

18. How fast can wild turkeys run?

a) 5 mph

b) 15 mph

c) 25 mph

d) 45 mph

 

19. Which of the following were considered acceptable table manners at the first Thanksgiving?

a) To spit on the ground

b) To throw bones into the hearth

c) To eat with your hands

d) All of the above

 

20. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the widely read Godey's Lady's Book, crusaded for more than 20 years -- and petitioned four presidents -- to establish a national Thanksgiving day, rather than have individual states celebrate their own. But she also has another claim to fame. What is it?

 

* Sarah Jenkins, who is thankful for both football and turkey, is editor of the Yakima Herald-Republic. If you have a question or concern, you can reach her at 577-7703; P.O. Box 9668, Yakima WA 98909; or sjenkins@yakimaherald.com. You can also comment on this column in the "Inside the Newsroom" blog, at editor.yakimablogs.com.

 

 

ANSWERS

1. a

2. b

3. d

4. c

5. b

6. c

7. b

8. c

9. a; Thomas Jefferson opposed him, and supported the eagle.

10. a

11. d

12. d

13. (Trick question) Both a) and b) are correct; Washington issued the first proclamation in 1789 and then re-issued it in 1795.

14. c

15. c

16. c

17. b

18. c

19. d

20. She wrote the poem we know as "Mary Had a Little Lamb.

 

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