| Show why we have thanksgiving 10 s turkey Z times a year at T THREE thanksgiving christmas a and n d new years the people of t the he united states advance upon a certain huge golden bronze fowl cut its throat strip it of its plumage and convert it into a savory dish which fairly makes the old table groan under the extra burden since we have raised this bird into a national significance which parallels to an almost equal degree that of the eagle symbol of the gove government itself it has a special interest to all americans although many folks may still be as as poo as jobs turkey says a writer in pathfinder magazine they somehow manage and contrive to have turkey for thanksgiving whether they can or cannot afford it in years gone by those families who could not afford turkey turned to chicken duck beef rabbit or even pork and were glad to get it but now lets get back to the question of why we have or try to have or would like to have or imagine we would like to have turkey for thanksgiving dinner the answer awer of course is that the turkey is strictly an american bird and serving it at feasts of thanks thanksgiving gi ving as is an old and ancient american custom some authorities will tell you that we eat turkey on thanksgiving day because after the first harvest in the fau fall of 1621 the pilgrim fathers at plymouth set aside a period for feasting and offering W A IN A the turkey Is regarded as an american bird thanks to provide food for this feast east hunters were sent out by governor bradford and they re turned returned with a large supply of game hospitality pita lity was extended to the indians 81 91 of whom attended the festival which lasted for three days conspicuous among the game gama on the tables were numerous wild turkeys then common in the woods of massachusetts achu from this circumstance nance they say arose the popular association of these birds with thanksgiving days this of course is the true origin jm of the custom so far as white man wo has been concerned with it but the origin of turkey reacts goes back much farther the millions of families who plan on enjoying hearty thanksgiving turkey dinners this year will in reality be observing a custom that prevailed ages before the pilgrims first gathered around their festive board in new england smithsonian institution records now bridge the years that veil the aboriginal civilizations and show that the indians of the southwest domesticated turkeys and fattened them for their ceremonial feasts while the pilgrim fathers grateful for good harvests a and nd a year of prosperity in the new world decided on a day of thanksgiving to be celebrated at a banquet of roast turkey really gave posterity the spirit of thanksgiving the practice of such feasts had been established long before by the cliff dwellers who actually got their birds from a pen as we do today and not from a thicket as the pilgrims did according to smithsonian records the turkey of the aboriginal indians more nearly approximated the S I 1 when the festive bird goes into the oven thanksgiving turkey of today than the scrawny wild fowl felled by the blunderbuss of the pilgrim huntsman most of our domesticated varieties of turkeys today are really descended from the Mez mexican ican wild turkey that ranged over arizona western new mexico and southern colorado virtually the dooryard of earliest american civilization the pilgrim turkey was merely the wild variety of the same bird which roamed the eastern part of the united states just as the turkey was exclusively an american bird in the time of the aboriginal indians so it is today no fowl from any foreign country approximates it in fact wherever turkeys are raised today and they have been introduced to many foreign countries the ancestral stock came from amer america ica and so far as is known turkeys are never imported to this country contrary to popular opinion t the h e turkey did not get its name from turkey the country of that name the first turkeys taken from the new world america and sold in spain were handled largely by hebrew merchants since t the h e turkey was frequently confused with the peacock it was quite natural that the hebrew trades should apply to it their name for the peacock or tukki more or less common use of this name followed which easily became in english our present name turkey X |
