5 Fun Facts For The Week of November 21st
1) Americans Eat 704 Million Pounds Of Turkey Every Thanksgiving
According to the National Turkey Federation, around 44 million turkeys were served at Thanksgiving in the United States in 2017. The average weight of each turkey was 16 pounds, indicating that we eat around 704 million pounds of turkey nationwide. Just for reference, that would equate to approximately 173827 yards, or 99 miles of concrete!
2) The Busiest Travel Day Of The Year
Most weeks of the year, Fridays are the busiest days to fly, and Tuesdays are the least busy. But during the holidays, that trend doesn’t necessarily hold true. In most years, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is actually the busiest travel day for U.S. airports, according to the Transportation Security Administration, which tracks the numbers of passengers screened daily. Two days before Christmas and one day before Thanksgiving also tend to draw big airport crowds.
3) On Black Friday, the Average American Spent $430 Last Year
Retailers across the country are already starting to roll out Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. It’s no wonder! Last year, Americans spent an eye-popping $8.9 billion dollars on Black Friday — an average of $430 per person!
4) The US and Canada both celebrate Thanksgiving, but on different days
Canadian Thanksgiving happens a full month and a half before American Thanksgiving, on the second Monday in October (Monday, October 10, 2022). Because the holiday takes place in early October, the weather is usually still suitable for a Thanksgiving Day hike or vacation – a tradition that many Canadians readily take part in ahead of the long winter. Plus, because the holiday falls on a Monday, the Thanksgiving feast may instead take place on Saturday or Sunday.
5) Ben Franklin Never Abandoned the Bald Eagle
Don’t let your friends/family fool you! There’s a MYTH, just one of many in American history, that Benjamin Franklin preferred the turkey – a bird he held in much higher esteem than the bald eagle – as a replacement for America’s official avian representative. The misconception likely stems from a letter he wrote to his daughter in which he lamented that the “bald eagle is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly… he is too lazy to fish for himself,” while the turkey is “a much more respectable bird.” But that’s as far as his turkey fandom went.
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