Challenger

Many of you like myself have the tradition of eating Turkey on Thanksgiving. Buy do you know the real mystery behind the turkey? Before there was medicines in the Americas turkeys were believed to bring bad luck. Many people believed that turkeys also had healing powers if killed during the third week of November, and eaten on the fourth Thursday of the month. Because the people didn’t’ want bad luck they began killing and eating the bird.

There were so many turkeys around that it became tradition to end the bird on the fourth Thursday. While there were eating the bird they would give thanks that they had gotten rid of the bad luck. And those who were sick would give thanks that they were healed. This is how it came to be called “Thanksgiving” day.

Sorry that was just a dream. So you want to know the real background of the Thanksgiving turkey? Well here it is. Thanksgiving Day is a time to offer thanks and be with family. Many of us eat turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce; because we have always been told it was what the pilgrims feasted on during the first Thanksgiving. Well believe it or not there is no real evidence that turkey was served at the first thanksgiving. The tradition of turkey is rooted in the ‘History of Plymouth Plantation’, written by William Bradford at least twenty-two years after the actual celebration.

Benjamin Franklin once commented, “I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country: He is bird of bad moral character: like those among men who live by sharping and robbing. He is generally poor and very often lousy. The turkey is much more respectable bird, and a true original native of North America.”

So there you have it. Turkey, the true bird of Thanksgiving. So this November 25th, as you dine with family and friends and you feast on turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and deserts, think about the turkey and how it came to be the bird of thanksgiving.
Also remember that the mystery of the turkey has officially been solved.