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Thanksgiving is coming this month. As we all know, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 by the Mayflower Pilgrims to give thanks to God for having an abundant fall harvest and the fact that less than half of them died from starvation, scurvy or the plague during their first year here.

The Pilgrims shared their first Thanksgiving with local Indians who had taught them how to plant, hunt and find edible fruits and berries that first year, which contributed to their survival.

And that's pretty well all most of know about the first Thanksgiving. To prove it, I've created a little Thanksgiving quiz for you.

1. The first Pilgrim Thanksgiving was in?

a) a McDonald's

b) Lions stadium in Detroit between halves

c) Plymouth, Mass.

2. Deer was likely served at the first Thanksgiving, but turkey became the traditional dish because?

a) you have deer leftovers for months

b) turkey fit on the table better

c) the Turkey Producers Association had a strong lobby

3. Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday in the U.S.?

a) as a way to find a use for cranberries

b) to set a standard date for the after-Thanksgiving sales

c) by President Abraham Lincoln

4. Which food was probably eaten at the first Thanksgiving?

a) chili dogs

b) Pilgrim ice cream

c) corn or maize

5. It is traditional to watch the Detroit Lions play football on Thanksgiving Day because?

a) it used to be the only thing on television

b) people need to snooze after a big meal

c) Detroit might win the game

6. The Horn of Plenty, or Cornucopia, symbolizes?

a) drawings we had to make in grade school

b) Fruit of the Loom underwear

c) abundance

7. Who led the crusade to establish Thanksgiving as a national day of thanks?

a) Pilgrims

b) Butterball

c) Sarah Josepha Hale

8. Why do Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October?

a) the Canadian calendar doesn't have November

b) Canadians have less to be thankful for so they celebrate earlier

c) who cares, they're Canadian

9. The Pilgrims had what to drink at the first Thanksgiving?

a) Mayflower cola

b) a cranberry martini

c) creek water

10. In the Thanksgiving song "Over the River and Through the Woods," to whose house are we going to?

a) House of Flavors

b) the House of the Rising Sun

c) grandmother's house

11. During the first Thanksgiving men and women did not sit together at dinner because?

a) the men where in another room watching football

b) no one thought to invite them

c) women had to cook, serve the meal and clean up leaving little time for such frivolous, time-wasting activities as eating

12. Why does the U.S. celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November?

a) to coincide with the Thanksgiving day football games

b) to give men a break from deer hunting

c) because President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set that as the day of observance of Thanksgiving as a national holiday

13. The first Thanksgiving was at the Jamestown, Virginia, settlement in 1619 but didn't catch on because?

a). they lost the recipe for turkey

b). Plymouth Pilgrims had better public relations

c). they only had a prayer service and no dinner to celebrate

14. Scallops and cranberry dressing is a favorite Thanksgiving dish for?

a) no one

b) people searching for the most obscure cranberry side dish recipe they can find

c) residents of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia

15. Giblets are?

a) garbage

b) martini drinks garnished with lemon

c) edible bird entrails

16. A wattle is?

a) an instrument played with a comb and tissue paper

b) the sound a turkey makes when it drinks water

c) the fleshy red rubbery-thing hanging from a turkey's beak

17. Stuffing got its name from?

a) the feeling you get when you eat too much

b) the culinary act of "stuffing" meat cavities with bread

c) the French word for "farce," which means "stuffing"

18. If you find the wishbone of a turkey it is?

a. not a lucky thing for the turkey

b. means you get to do the Thanksgiving dishes

c. supposedly lucky if you break it with someone and get the bigger piece of wishbone

19. President Harry Truman was the first president to do what with a turkey?

a. give a presidential pardon to the White House turkey

b. be investigated for giving a presidential pardon to a turkey

c. be indicted for abuse of power by giving a pardon to a turkey

20. Which of the following phrases best fits this day?

a. "I'm hungry. Let's eat"

b. "Happy Thanksgiving"

c. "Let us be thankful to God"

Answers 1 through 18 are C, 19 is A, and 20 is your choice.

- Myron Kukla

Myron Kukla is a professional journalist, writer and owner of the West Michigan-based marketing company WriteStuff. Kukla is the author of two books of humor, Confessions of a Baby Boomer: Memories of Things I Haven't Forgotten Yet and Guide to Surviving Life. He has also just published two ebooks on Amazon.com, Chomp andSomething in the Blood.