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Thanksgiving Trivia Questions
Where the holiday actually came from, how the American and Canadian versions differ, and why the story most people learned is only half right. Play the round, then read every question and answer below.
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Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays where the popular story and the documented record pull in different directions, which makes it excellent quiz material. There was a harvest gathering at Plymouth in 1621, and the Wampanoag were there, but almost everything else in the schoolroom version was added later. The holiday only became annual and national in the 1860s, after a magazine editor spent decades lobbying for it, and the date was not settled in law until the 1940s. Canada's version has a separate history and a different date. Alongside the history sit the traditions that grew up in the twentieth century: the department store parade, the football fixtures, the pardoned bird at the White House. This round keeps history and custom clearly apart so nothing here rests on a legend.
Origins and history: thanksgiving trivia questions
Which ship carried the English settlers to New England in 1620?
Answer: Mayflower EasyA companion ship turned back after proving unseaworthy.
The 1621 harvest feast took place at which colony?
Answer: Plymouth EasyThe settlement was on the coast of what is now Massachusetts.
Which Indigenous nation took part in the 1621 harvest gathering?
Answer: Wampanoag EasyTheir homeland covered much of present-day southeastern Massachusetts.
Which president made Thanksgiving an annual national observance in 1863?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln MediumHe issued the proclamation during the Civil War.
Which magazine editor campaigned for decades to make Thanksgiving a national holiday?
Answer: Sarah Josepha Hale MediumShe wrote to a succession of presidents before Lincoln agreed.
In which year was the Plymouth harvest feast held?
Answer: 1621 MediumIt came a year after the settlers landed.
Which president issued the first national thanksgiving proclamation in 1789?
Answer: George Washington MediumIt was a one-off day of thanks, not an annual holiday.
Whose letter is the main firsthand account of the 1621 harvest feast?
Answer: Edward Winslow HardIt was printed in London in a pamphlet known as Mourt's Relation.
Which Wampanoag leader attended the 1621 gathering with a large party of men?
Answer: Massasoit HardHe had agreed a treaty with the colonists earlier that year.
Which meat does the 1621 account specifically record the Wampanoag bringing?
Answer: Venison HardFive deer were contributed to the meal.
Which English-speaking Wampanoag man acted as go-between for the Plymouth colonists?
Answer: Tisquantum HardHe had learned the language after being taken to Europe.
Since 1970, a National Day of Mourning has been held each Thanksgiving in which town?
Answer: Plymouth, Massachusetts HardIt is organised by United American Indians of New England.
The Plymouth colonists became widely known as Pilgrims mainly during which century?
Answer: The 19th HardThe label spread as New England writers built up the founding story.
Food and the table: thanksgiving trivia questions
Which bird is the centrepiece of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner?
Answer: Turkey EasyRoast goose was the older English festive bird it displaced.
Which tart red berry is served as a sauce alongside the turkey?
Answer: Cranberry EasyIt grows in low bogs across the northern United States and Canada.
Which pie is most closely associated with Thanksgiving dessert?
Answer: Pumpkin EasyIt is usually spiced with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
Which turkey bone is traditionally pulled apart by two people for luck?
Answer: Wishbone EasyThe custom of pulling a fowl's forked bone predates the holiday by centuries.
In the American South, which grain commonly replaces bread in the stuffing?
Answer: Cornbread MediumThe dish is usually baked separately and called dressing there.
Which sweet vegetable casserole is often topped with marshmallows?
Answer: Sweet potato MediumMarshmallow manufacturers promoted the pairing in the early 1900s.
Commercial cranberry growers harvest the fruit by flooding what?
Answer: Bogs HardThe berries have air pockets inside, so they float to the surface.
Which of these foods was almost certainly absent from the 1621 table?
Answer: Potatoes HardPotatoes had not yet become a staple in English colonial cooking.
Which amino acid in turkey is popularly blamed for post-dinner sleepiness?
Answer: Tryptophan HardTurkey contains no more of it than many other meats, so the size of the meal is the likelier cause.
Parade and football: thanksgiving trivia questions
Which New York department store gives its name to the famous Thanksgiving parade?
Answer: Macy's EasyThe parade ends outside the store's Herald Square building.
Which sport is traditionally watched on American television on Thanksgiving?
Answer: American football EasyProfessional games have been part of the day since the 1920s.
Which NFL team has hosted a Thanksgiving Day game since 1934?
Answer: Detroit Lions MediumThe tradition began as a way to draw crowds to the team.
Which second NFL team has hosted a Thanksgiving game every year since 1966?
Answer: Dallas Cowboys MediumThe league added the game to widen its holiday audience.
The Macy's Thanksgiving parade began in which decade?
Answer: The 1920s MediumLive zoo animals appeared in the earliest editions instead of balloons.
Which Philadelphia department store ran a Thanksgiving parade from 1920, before Macy's?
Answer: Gimbels HardIts parade predates the New York one by four years.
Traditions and the calendar: thanksgiving trivia questions
In which month do Americans celebrate Thanksgiving?
Answer: November EasyCanadians hold theirs a month and a half earlier.
On which day of the week does US Thanksgiving always fall?
Answer: Thursday EasyThat fixed weekday is what creates the long holiday weekend.
The shopping day immediately after US Thanksgiving is known as what?
Answer: Black Friday EasyRetailers adopted the name from an older, less flattering use of it.
In which month is Canadian Thanksgiving held?
Answer: October EasyThe earlier date reflects Canada's earlier harvest.
Which horn-shaped basket spilling fruit and grain is a Thanksgiving symbol?
Answer: Cornucopia EasyThe name comes from Latin words meaning horn of plenty.
US Thanksgiving is fixed to which Thursday of November?
Answer: The fourth MediumIn most years the fourth Thursday is also the last one.
Canadian Thanksgiving falls on which day?
Answer: The second Monday of October MediumIt gives Canadians a three-day weekend in mid-autumn.
Which president moved Thanksgiving a week earlier in 1939, prompting the nickname Franksgiving?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt MediumThe aim was to lengthen the Christmas shopping season.
Which English explorer's 1578 Arctic voyage is often cited as an early Canadian thanksgiving?
Answer: Martin Frobisher MediumHis crew gave thanks for surviving the crossing.
Which annual White House ceremony spares a bird from the dinner table?
Answer: The turkey pardon MediumThe spared birds are sent to a farm or educational site.
Which president first used the word pardon for the White House turkey ceremony in 1989?
Answer: George H. W. Bush HardPresidents had received turkeys for decades before the wording stuck.
In which year did Congress fix Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November?
Answer: 1941 HardThe law settled the confusion caused by the 1939 change.
Canada fixed Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October in which year?
Answer: 1957 HardBefore that the date moved around from year to year.
Which president said in 1963 that a turkey presented to him would be allowed to live?
Answer: John F. Kennedy HardThe remark is often treated as an early version of the pardon.
Answer key
- November
- Turkey
- Thursday
- Black Friday
- Cranberry
- Pumpkin
- October
- Macy's
- American football
- Mayflower
- Plymouth
- Wampanoag
- Cornucopia
- Wishbone
- Abraham Lincoln
- Sarah Josepha Hale
- The fourth
- The second Monday of October
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 1621
- Cornbread
- George Washington
- Martin Frobisher
- Detroit Lions
- Dallas Cowboys
- Sweet potato
- The 1920s
- The turkey pardon
- George H. W. Bush
- 1941
- Edward Winslow
- Massasoit
- Venison
- 1957
- Tisquantum
- Plymouth, Massachusetts
- Gimbels
- Bogs
- John F. Kennedy
- Potatoes
- The 19th
- Tryptophan
How to play
- Pick a mode: multiple choice, true or false, a 60-second sprint, or the daily quiz.
- Answer with a tap, or press 1 to 4 on a keyboard. The right answer appears straight away with a line explaining it.
- Finish the round to see your score, copy the result grid, and step up a difficulty.
- Hosting a night? The full thanksgiving list and a separate answer key are printed below, and the print layout drops the game and keeps the paper.
Tiebreaker questions
Closest guess wins. Read one out when two tables finish level.
In what year did the Mayflower reach Cape Cod?
Answer: 1620 The passengers spent that first winter aboard ship and ashore at Plymouth.
In what year did Abraham Lincoln proclaim a national day of thanksgiving to be kept each November?
Answer: 1863 Sarah Josepha Hale had campaigned for the holiday for decades before it.
According to Edward Winslow's account, how many days did the 1621 Plymouth harvest celebration last?
Answer: 3 days His letter is the only firsthand description of the gathering.
Common mistakes in thanksgiving trivia
- The 1621 feast was the first Thanksgiving ever held.
Days of thanksgiving were long-standing English religious observances, and Indigenous nations held harvest celebrations of their own. The 1621 gathering was later adopted as the holiday's founding story.
- Turkey makes you sleepy because it is unusually high in tryptophan.
Turkey holds no more tryptophan than chicken or cheese. The drowsiness comes from a large meal, carbohydrates and often alcohol.
- The Pilgrims wore black clothes with buckled hats.
Buckled hats are a later illustration convention. Colonists wore ordinary clothing of the period in a range of colours.
- Thanksgiving has always been the fourth Thursday of November.
The date was set by presidential proclamation and varied. Congress fixed it on the fourth Thursday in 1941 after Franklin Roosevelt's earlier date caused confusion.
- Cranberries are grown underwater in flooded bogs.
The vines grow on dry sandy beds. Growers flood the bogs only at harvest, because the fruit floats and can be gathered off the surface.
Running this round at a quiz night
Mix the history in early and save the food for the middle, when the table is warmed up and wants easy points. Alternate an origins question with a food or parade one so nobody feels they are sitting through a history lecture. Two disputes come up every year. Canadians will point out that their Thanksgiving is a different holiday in October, so name the country in every question rather than assuming. And the 1621 feast attracts strong opinions, so word answers around what Edward Winslow actually recorded and avoid claims about what was on the table. A fixed year makes the cleanest tiebreaker, since dates here never move.
Frequently asked questions
Was the 1621 gathering really the first Thanksgiving?
Not in the sense the phrase suggests. Harvest thanksgivings were common in England and among Indigenous nations long before 1620, and the Plymouth colonists themselves did not call the 1621 meal a Thanksgiving. It was linked to the holiday's origin story only in the nineteenth century.
Why do the United States and Canada use different dates?
The two holidays grew separately. Canada's is tied to an earlier harvest in a colder climate and was fixed to the second Monday of October in 1957, while the American date settled on the fourth Thursday of November in 1941.
Does turkey actually make you sleepy?
Not on its own. Turkey contains tryptophan, but no more than chicken or beef. The drowsiness comes from a very large meal, plenty of carbohydrates and, often, alcohol.
Not in a quiz mood?
The question games are a different kind of round: no right answers, just prompts you read out and argue about. Would You RatherNever Have I EverTruth or DareThis or That