50 Thanksgiving Trivia Questions and Answers

1. The 1621 harvest celebration at Plymouth brought the English colonists together with people of which Native nation?

2. Which Wampanoag leader arrived at the 1621 celebration with about 90 of his men?

3. Which president proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving in October 1863?

4. Which magazine editor spent years lobbying presidents to make Thanksgiving a national holiday?

5. Who issued the first national Thanksgiving proclamation under the U.S. Constitution, in 1789?

6. Since a 1941 act of Congress, U.S. Thanksgiving falls on which Thursday of November?

7. Tisquantum, also called Squanto, could talk with the Plymouth colonists because he had learned English while living where?

8. Roughly how many English colonists took part in the 1621 harvest celebration?

9. Thanksgiving football began with an 1876 college game between Yale and which school?

10. New York City's famous Thanksgiving Day parade, run by a department store, first marched in which year?

11. In a 1784 letter, Benjamin Franklin called which bird "a much more respectable bird" than the bald eagle?

12. Which president made the White House turkey pardon an annual tradition, starting in 1989?

13. The colonists' 1621 celebration followed an English harvest tradition known by what name?

14. Historians place the 1621 harvest celebration in which season?

15. Germany's harvest thanksgiving, usually held on the first Sunday of October, is called what?

16. Families in Korea share half-moon rice cakes called songpyeon during which autumn harvest holiday?

17. Which round, filled pastry is the signature treat of the Mid-Autumn Festival?

18. The Tamil harvest festival Pongal is named after a dish of what, cooked until it boils over?

19. During the harvest festival of Sukkot, many Jewish families eat meals in a temporary outdoor hut called what?

20. Before sailing on the Mayflower, many of the Pilgrims lived for over a decade in which Dutch city?

21. Liberia celebrates its national Thanksgiving Day on which Thursday of November?

22. Which Thanksgiving side dish was created in 1955 by home economist Dorcas Reilly?

23. Cranberries share which distinction with blueberries and Concord grapes?

24. Which of these foods is actually documented at the 1621 harvest celebration?

25. Potatoes were first domesticated thousands of years ago in which region?

26. The pecan, star of a classic holiday pie, is the official state tree of which state?

27. Which three crops make up the Indigenous planting trio known as the Three Sisters?

28. The corn-and-bean dish succotash gets its name from a word in which Native language?

29. Corn was domesticated about 9,000 years ago in Mexico from which wild grass?

30. As autumn days shorten, leaves stop making which green pigment, letting yellows and oranges show through?

31. A male wild turkey is also nicknamed what?

32. What is the fleshy flap that dangles over a turkey's beak called?

33. An excited male turkey's bare head can shift between which colors?

34. Each fall, eastern monarch butterflies migrate to mountain forests in which country?

35. In most of the U.S., clocks fall back one hour on which Sunday of November?

36. Pumpkins belong to which plant family, along with squash and gourds?

37. Which event marks the start of astronomical autumn in the Northern Hemisphere?

38. Which pigments give some autumn leaves their bright reds and purples?

39. The layer of cells that seals a leaf off so it can drop in autumn is called the what layer?

40. Governor William Bradford wrote that in autumn 1621 there was a "great store" of which wild bird?

41. About how many passengers sailed on the Mayflower in 1620?

42. According to Edward Winslow, how many deer did the Wampanoag bring to the 1621 celebration?

43. Edward Winslow wrote that the governor sent how many men out "fowling" before the 1621 feast?

44. The Wampanoag have lived in what is now Massachusetts and Rhode Island for more than how many years?

45. The wishbone you snap after dinner is made of two fused what?

46. What nickname is given to the shopping day right after U.S. Thanksgiving?

47. How many days did the Mayflower's 1620 Atlantic crossing take?

48. Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on which Monday of October?

49. Which Plymouth colonist wrote the only surviving eyewitness account of the 1621 harvest celebration?

50. Long before 1621, Native People in the region held many thanksgivings, including one named after which fruit?