Thanksgiving is our most important secular holiday. It’s a day of food, family, and thanks. But how well do you know the story behind it? Here’s a quiz you should take — and pass — by no later than Nov. 26.

1. In what year did the Pilgrims arrive in America?

a. 1492

b. 1620

c. 1776

2. Which is true of the Mayflower?

a. The Pilgrims owned it.

b. The Pilgrims paid for it to carry them to America.

c. It never returned to England.

3. Another ship, the Speedwell, left with the Mayflower but never arrived. Why not?

a. It leaked like a sieve.

b. It got captured by pirates.

c. It got lost.

4. Who were the “saints and strangers” aboard the Mayflower?

a. Catholics and Protestants

b. Normal people and weird people

c. Separatists and others

5. What is the difference between Pilgrims and Puritans?

a. The Separatists accepted the pope’s authority.

b. The Separatists saw no hope for the Church of England.

c. The Separatists kept the Puritans separate from Plymouth.

6. How many Mayflower passengers arrived at Plymouth?

1. 2,394

2. 102

3. 0

7. What were the major decisions expressed in the Mayflower Compact?

a. The Pilgrims established a constitutional government.

b. The Pilgrims decided to share everything.

c. The Pilgrims agreed to be loyal their king and stick together.

8. About how much room did each passenger have on the Mayflower?

a. Less than the space of a single bed.

b. Roughly a two-car garage.

c. An Economy cabin on a Princess cruise.

9. Which is true of the Pilgrims?

a. They were financially independent aristocrats.

b. They were working class and deeply in debt.

c. They wanted to found a new nation.

10. How many Native Americans did the Pilgrims kill to settle Plymouth?

a. None

b. Just a couple.

c. About 300.

11. Which statement is true?

a. The Pilgrims said the Lord’s Prayer every day.

b. The Pilgrims introduced the Native Americans to fish hooks.

c. The Pilgrims drank a lot of beer.

12. How many Pilgrims died in their first winter?

a. All of them.

b. About half of them.

c. 13, all children.

13. Who had crossed the Atlantic four times before the Mayflower arrived?

a. Master Christoper Jones

b. William Bradford

c. Squanto

14. They shot an eagle. What did it taste like?

a. Chicken

b. Mutton

c. Freedom

15. What did the Mayflower carry back to England?

a. Half the surviving Pilgrims

b. Lumber, salted fish, furs

c. Rocks

16. When Winslow and Hopkins got in bed with 4 Pokonoket, what happened?

a. They got bit by fleas.

b. They got chased away.

c. They spooned the Massachusetts way.

17. Which was aboard the Mayflower?

a. Cows

b. Bees

c. Dogs

18. Who lived at Plymouth when the Pilgrims arrived?

a. Pequots

b. Pokonokets

c. No one

19. Which was not served at the famous harvest feast?

a. Venison

b. Turkey

c. Cranberry sauce

20. Who betrayed both Native and Immigrant Americans?

a. King James

b. God

c. Squanto

Answers

1. B. They arrived on Nov. 21, 1620.

2. B. They basically leased the Mayflower and its crew.

3. A. The Speedwell leaked and had to go back.

4. C. The Separatist religious group and people seeking land.

5. B. The Separatists wanted to separate from the Church of England; the Puritans thought they could purify it.

6. B. 102 left England. (On the way, one died, one was born.)

7. C. They agreed to be loyal and to pay back their debts together.

8. A. They barely had enough space to lie down at the same time.

9. B. They were working class people who owed investors for their passage.

10. A (see 18 below)

11. C. Beer was nutritious and safer than English water.

12. A. 45 of the 102 passengers died of respiratory illness by spring.

13. C. Squanto had been captured and sold as a slave in Spain, then returned as a guide, then returned to stay.

14. B.

15. C. Rocks, for ballast.

16. A. The fleas kept them awake all night.

17. C. A spaniel and a mastiff.

18. C. Disease had killed all the Patuxet but one: Squanto.

19. C. No sugar, so no sauce.

20. C. Squanto tried to pull a fast one.

Glenn Alan Cheney is the author of “Thanksgiving: The Pilgrims’ First Year in America.” He can be reached at glenn@nllibrarium.com.