pollipops: 3 Little Known Facts About Thanksgiving
Image courtesy of debspoons/freedigitalphotos.net
Now I’m going to start you off with a doozy. I hope you’re sitting down for this!
Pilgrims didn’t wear buckled hats!
I know. I know. This must hurt. I must admit that in doing my research for this blog, when I saw this fact about pilgrims not wearing buckled hats, it stung. It’s still stinging. But the truth is that buckles didn’t become fashionable until later in the 17th century. And to top it off, they hardly wore black and white, because black fabric was extremely expensive at that time.
Ok, the hard news it over. I wanted to get that out of the way first thing. Let’s continue!
Do you know who Sarah Josepha Hale is?
Neither did I!
She was a magazine editor who spent 17 years of her life campaigning for Thanksgiving to be a nationally recognized holiday. She wrote letters to at least five presidents including Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln.
Finally Lincoln made it a national holiday in 1863. If only Millard Fillmore had done it, maybe I would have known his name too.
This Sarah Josepha Hale was one impressive chick!! On top of helping create arguably the best American holiday she wrote the classic Mary Had a Little Lamb! Yes, that’s right! One of my favourite songs when I was young and secretly now. Well I guess it’s not a secret anymore…
Now, one more for you, Are you still with me? Feeling tired?! I hope you didn’t eat any turkey before reading this…
We all know that turkey makes you sleepy, right??
Or does it?!
I’m sorry to crush your ultimate excuse for feeling sleepy after eating that third helping of stuffing, with potatoes and extra mulled wine followed by a gigantic slice of pumpkin pie smothered in whipped cream. Not to mention a boring ass parade!
But, I just can’t stand idly by and watch turkey take the wrap for this anymore!
While it’s true that turkey does contain tryptophan, a dietary supplement to help you sleep, it contains very little. In fact, chicken and ground beef contain about the same amount of tryptophan in it, while cheese and pork have even more!
On top of this, if you go to the pharmacy and read the side of the tryptophan box, you will see that it is recommended to be taken on an empty stomach. That’s because tryptophan is poorly absorbed with food, especially a big Thanksgiving feast.
So, the next time you hear a relative or friend mention this myth of turkey being responsible for their yawns, send them here to The Guest Room!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! If you enjoyed this post or the many others on the site, please be sure to like and share with your friends and family. Also, don’t hesitate to follow! We really appreciate the support!
Have a great weekend and I’ll see you again on Tuesday with a new pollipops.
Mr. J
sources
http://www.history.com/topics/mayflower-myths
http://suite101.com/a/how-did-thanksgiving-start-giving-thanks-for-creators-gifts-a272845
http://www.livescience.com/4723-thankgiving-myth-turkey-sleepy.html
The Guest Room 
Happy Thanksgiving Joyful bloggers 🙂 !
Thanks Adrien!