It’s almost that time of year, you know, the one where we gorge ourselves on all the stuff that the pilgrims, and Native Americans ate together: brined turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, gravy, pecan pie…
Or not.
Buzzfeed’s got the things you don’t know about the first Thanksgiving, and we’re not gonna lie, it might throw off your idea of the day, just a little.
1. The meal was cooked by only four women because all the other women pilgrims had died. Most of the Native Americans had died, too.
So then there’s that.
2. There was probably no turkey.
Instead the feasted on venison organs. Yum.
3. Everyone was drunk, even the children.
Sounds like our kind of party (except for the whole drunken toddler part.) Beer was looked upon as safer than water (which, to their credit, it probably was.) They served it for basically every meal.
4. It smelled terrible.
So, apparently the pilgrims thought that bathing spread disease, so they stank up the joint. At least they were drunk?
5. They didn’t call it Thanksgiving.
Actually, we have Abraham Lincoln to thank for its modern calendar placement. In 1863, he declared it a nationwide holiday. It’s thought that he set it to coincide with the Mayflower in Cape Cod on November 21, 1620.
