A Thanksgiving Quiz –The Thanksgiving Legacy

A Thanksgiving Quiz –The Thanksgiving Legacy

A Thanksgiving Quiz with AnswersThe Legacy of Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving Quiz took a bit of time to develop. So it’s rather discouraging to have just discovered that the story of the early relationship between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans is only loosely based on historical facts. A Thanksgiving Quiz with Answers

Yet the legacy of that first meal shared in gratitude remains with us as we enjoy our meal this Thanksgiving Thursday.

Even without hard facts, Thanksgiving remains a holiday that brings us together around food and appreciation. This alone is reason to celebrate and to learn a little more about the loosely-based Thanksgiving story. And besides, it’s my favorite holiday.

A Thanksgiving Quiz

Rather than offer you another recipe for yet one more dish for your Thanksgiving table, I’d like to share a ritual with you that my family and friends have often enjoyed these past years.

We take a moment during dinner for a Thanksgiving Quiz to spark our memories of the details of the Thanksgiving story.  Amazing how much we forget from year to year let alone from elementary school to the present.

Fifteen years ago when we took our first quiz, my score was barely passing, if that. This year, I’m hoping to have an advantage. I created the quiz below from rereading the Thanksgiving story and from a few other quizzes I found on the web including one from National Geographic and another from About.com Puzzles.

BTW
Here’s the two ways we’ve taken the Thanksgiving Quiz around our table:

  • We’ve each taken the quiz separately and then compared our answers.
  • My favorite way, as it’s more interactive, is to have one person (the one with the answers) asking the questions of the whole group at the same time.

When you print out the quiz, be sure to also print out the answer sheet😉

May you and your family enjoy
a most healthy and delicious Thanksgiving!

 A Thanksgiving Quiz

1.  How Many days did the first Thanksgiving celebrations last?
A. Two
B. Three
C. Five
D. Seven

2.  In what year was the first nationwide Thanksgiving celebrated?
A. 1621
B.  1899
C.  1777
D.  1925

3.  Who was the first U.S. President to declare a national day of Thanksgiving?
A.  George Washington
B.  Abraham Lincoln
C.  Franklin D. Roosevelt
D.  Theodore Roosevelt

4.   After their first disastrous winter in the colony, the Pilgrims were assisted by a Patauxet Indian who taught them how and where to catch fish and how to fertilize their crops. What was his name?
A. Powhaten
B. Squanto
C. Massawippi
D. Pocahontas

5.  What did the Pilgrims call their new colony?
A.  Jamestown
B.  Plymouth
C.  Roanoke

6.   Local Native Americans from which tribe were invited to the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving celebration?
A.  Wampanoag
B.  Iroquois
C.  Patauxet
D.  Algonquin

7.  What was the name of the leader of the Wampanoag at the time of the first Thanksgiving?
A.  Tsquantum
B.  Crazy Horse
C.  Massasoit
D.  Benjamin Franklin

8.  How long had the Wampanoag been living in the Cape Cod area when the English settlers arrived?
A.  100,000 years
B.  500 years
C.  12,000 years
D.  10 years

9.  What year did the Pilgrims celebrate the first Thanksgiving?
A.  1620
B.  1621
C.  1622
D.  1630

10.  Which of the following foods may not have been a part of the first Thanksgiving?
A.  Deer
B.  Turkey
C.  Clams
D.  Cranberries
E.  Ducks
F.  Pumpkin
G.  Corn
H.  Plums
I.  None of the above

11. What was the name of the ship the Pilgrims took to reach America?
A.  The Speedwell
B.  The Bounty
C.  The Godspeed
D.  The Mayflower

12. In 1941, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution making Thanksgiving Day the fourth Thursday in November rather than the last Thursday of the month. What was the purpose of the change?
A.  To avoid potential snowstorms in the North East
B.  To put it in line with the original Thanksgiving celebration
C.  To extend the Christmas shopping season
D.  All of the above

13. Who was the governor of the Plymouth Colony at the time of the first Thanksgiving celebration?
A.  Miles Standish
B.  John Alden
C.  Edward Southworth
D.  William Bradford

14. Which U.S. President established Thanksgiving as an annual holiday?
A.  George Washington
B.  Abraham Lincoln
C.  Franklin D. Roosevelt
D.  Rutherford B. Hayes

15. What woman writer is credited with persuading President Lincoln in 1863 to make Thanksgiving a national holiday?
A.  Louisa May Alcott
B.  Joyce Carol Oates
C.  Harriet Beecher Stowe
D.  Sarah Josepha Hale

16. True or False Thanksgiving is the biggest travel day of the year in the U.S.?
True
False

17. What animal does the President traditionally “pardon” each Thanksgiving?
A.  A dog
B.  A turkey
C.  A goose
D.  A pig

Click for the Answers
Click to print  the Quiz

A Thanksgiving Quiz with Answers

 


2 thoughts on “A Thanksgiving Quiz –The Thanksgiving Legacy”

    1. Glad you enjoyed the quiz, though I’m totally surprised (as you must have been) that you missed any at all–especially after reading your excellent post last night on Thanksgiving and George Washington’s proclamation. Have a most wonderful Thanksgiving, Janet,

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