GoCertify Wishes You a Happy Thanksgiving

Here at the GoCertify world headquarters, we're preparing to shut things down for a day in observance of the American holiday of Thanksgiving. Because we're nice people, however, we aren't about to just walk away and let the site go dark.

To help all our readers, both in the United States and elsewhere, learn a little bit more about Thanksgiving and some of the things connected to it, we've prepared a festive quiz. Test your knowledge, and then go have some turkey and mashed potatoes.

NOTE: There will be no new content on Thursday, but normal operations will resume with Ed Tittel's regular column on Friday.

1) What is the date of the first national Thanksgiving Day holiday observed in the United States?

2) Who was the first Native American tribesman to contact the Pilgrims after they established Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts?

3) Which team won the first Dallas Cowboys football game played on Thanksgiving Day, and who was the opponent?

4) Which came first, Turkey the country, or turkey the bird?

5) As of 2015, what was the average spending per U.S. household on Thanksgiving dinner?

6) How many of the five highest-grossing movies ever to open over Thanksgiving weekend were released by the Walt Disney Company?

7) What is America's most popular pie?

8) Who was the first U.S. President to formally pardon a turkey?

9) How many Americans will travel during the Thanksgiving holiday this year?

10) How many people attended the first Thanksgiving feast at Plymouth Colony in 1621?

See Page 2 for answers!

ANSWERS

1) Nov. 26, 1789. The first formal Thanksgiving Day was proclaimed by President George Washington as "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God."

2) Samoset. An Abenaki tribesman and "sagamore" (subordinate chief), Samoset entered the Pilgrim encampment alone on March 16, 1621. He greeted the Pilgrims in their own language, using words learned from fishermen, and asked them for beer. Six days later, Samoset returned with Squanto, a Patuxet tribesman who had spent a number of years as a captive in European countries and spoke much better English.

3) Dallas Cowboys. Though their first professional season was in 1960, the Dallas Cowboys did not play a football game on Thanksgiving Day until 1966, when they defeated the Cleveland Browns by a final score of 26-14.

4) Turkey the country. Reports conflict as to the exact chain of events by which the American game fowl now called a wild turkey got its name, but there's general agreement that some form of association with Turkish merchants and their nation of origin was involved. Though the modern Republic of Turkey wasn't founded until 1923, the name "Turk" began to be used for people in the region in the 700s, and the English word "Turkey" first appeared in the late 1300s.

5) $56.18. Research firm Statistic Brain reported that figure on Sept. 2, 2015.

6) All five of them. Four, Frozen ($93.5 million, Wednesday through Sunday), Toy Story 2 ($80.1 million), Tangled ($68.7 million), and The Good Dinosaur ($55.5 million) are animated features, while the fifth, Enchanted ($49.1 million), is a live-action film with a handful of animated characters and scenes.

7) Apple pie. You can't have Thanksgiving dinner without pie, right? In 2012, radio news titan NPR surveyed more than 14,000 Americans to determine the nation's most popular pie. The runners-up, in order: strawberry-rhubard pie, pumpkin pie, cherry pie and blueberry pie.

8) Ronald Reagan. The custom of presenting a turkey to the President began in 1947 under President Harry Truman, and a number of Truman's successors released the birds presented to them. It was not until 1987, however, during Reagan's second term in office, that a turkey was formally pardoned. That fortunate fowl, named Charlie, was sent to a petting zoo. Beginning in 1989 with President George H.W. Bush, it became customary for the President to formally pardon a turkey each year.

9) 48.7 million. Insurance firm AAA estimated that 48.7 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles between today (Wednesday, Nov. 23) and Sunday (Nov. 27).

10) 143. The first Thanksgiving harvest feast, held over threes in 1621, was attended by 53 English colonists and 90 Native Americans of the Wampanoag tribe.