Before you trot out the turkey for this year’s big feast, how much do you know about the original celebration that began the holiday tradition? Test your knowledge with this short quiz.

1. The Pilgrims were grateful for having survived their first year in the New World. When was the first Thanksgiving held?

A: 1492

B: 1607

C: 1621

D: 1776

Answer: C. After arriving in 1620, the first winter in Plymouth, Mass., had been especially hard for the settlers. So they commemorated their survival with a festival in 1621, most likely held sometime between Sept. 21 and Nov. 11.

2. How long did the festivities at that first Thanksgiving last?

A: One day

B: Three days

C: Five days

D: One week

Answer: B. Besides stuffing themselves with food, the Pilgrims also managed time for games, military exercises and prayers.

3. Ironically, historians believe it’s unlikely that turkey, the iconic dish of today’s Thanksgiving, was served that first time around. What was eaten instead?

A: Venison

B: Fish

C: Duck

D: All the above

Answer: D. According to a contemporaneous account by Pilgrim leader Edward Winslow, the Wampanoags brought deer, while the Pilgrims prepared “fowle,” likely easy-to-catch game birds like ducks and geese, not turkey.

4. Speaking of those Native American guests, who was their leader?

A: Massasoit

B: Squanto

C: Tonto

D: Geronimo

Answer: A. Massasoit, the Great Sachem (leader) of the Wampanoag, provided food to the English arrivals when the supply they brought with them dwindled. He decided that since the Pilgrims had shown up with women and children, they had not come to wage war on his people.

5. The Pilgrims originally planned to travel to America on two ships. Instead, they all arrived on the Mayflower. What was the name of the second ship?

A: Santa Maria

B: Speedwell

C: Hopewell

D: Carpathia

Answer: B. Originally intended to cross the Atlantic with the Mayflower, the Speedwell kept springing leaks, forcing both ships to turn back twice. The Pilgrims then transferred as many passengers and as much cargo as possible to the Mayflower, which then completed the voyage alone.

6. More than two centuries passed before Thanksgiving was proclaimed a holiday by which president?

A: George Washington

B: John Adams

C: Abraham Lincoln

D: William McKinley

Answer: C. Lincoln issued a proclamation for it to be observed on the last Thursday in November 1862 during the Civil War to promote Northern unity. Most subsequent presidents followed that precedent. Thanksgiving Day didn’t become an official federal holiday until 1941.

7. Which of America’s Founding Fathers wanted the turkey, rather than the eagle, to be America’s national bird?

A: John Adams

B: Alexander Hamilton

C: Patrick Henry

D: Benjamin Franklin

Answer: D. Well, sort of. The bald eagle was officially adopted as the United States’ national symbol in 1782, two years before Franklin wrote a private letter to his daughter in which he criticized the choice and praised the turkey instead. Franklin disparaged the eagle as “a bird of bad moral character” (they steal food from smaller birds, he complained) and declared the turkey “though a little vain & silly, a bird of courage.”

About the Author

J. Mark Powell is a former TV journalist. His book “Witness to War: The Story of the Civil War Told By Those Who Lived It” will be released in February and is available for pre-order from leading retailers. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.