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Tall turkey tales
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Published: November 23, 2008
Let's talk turkey!
Actually, let's talk about one particular turkey for starters. The first time I spotted this turkey, he was meandering along a busy highway all alone. I thought it was a one-time sighting. However, each time I made my way down this particular trek of road, he became a recurring spectacle. The strange aspect is there is no farm land close by — only woods and a car dealership. (It will be a nameless road, so that he will not end up on someone's Thanksgiving table.)
Other travelers were noticing, as well. Traffic would come to a stop for him to cross the road. (He's a "cocky" little turkey.) They must have been touched, as well, because people were getting out of their cars to take pictures. He was obviously not a "feathered figment" of our imaginations. Is there such a thing as a homeless turkey?
His long, flopping wattle made him easily recognizable as a definite turkey. Just in case you want the grotesque definition of a wattle, here it is: A wattle is the fleshy, wrinkled fold of skin hanging from the neck at the base of its bill and with additional wattles lower on the neck, as a prominent tuft of bristles resembling a beard. If this were the description used to describe a woman, it would be way more than enough to cause her to run screaming to the nearest plastic surgeon. Perhaps, a less expensive way would to just wear turtleneck shirts for an eternity. (Do they make bathing suits with turtlenecks, I wonder? Just thinking ahead a little.)
Benjamin Franklin obviously thought highly of turkeys when he said, "I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country. The turkey is a far more respectable bird and withal a true original native of North America."
Now, on to the broader scope of turkeys and the valuable role they play in our upcoming feasts.
The National Turkey Federation estimated that 46 million turkeys were consumed last Thanksgiving.
But did you know that there is no real evidence that turkey was even served at the first Thanksgiving?
It was, perhaps, a mixture of myth and legend—just a little "gobble-dee-goop" one might say.
For starters, the Pilgrim's first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 between September 21 and November 9. One thing for sure is that the feast did occur outside. This is based on the fact that they did not have a building large enough for the crowd who attended. Edward Winslow wrote a letter in 1622 that was published in Mourt's Relations: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. In it, he states that corn meal, barley, peas, waterfowl, five deer and fish were served. Surprisingly absent from the list were ham, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie … and turkey.
He also stated, "They four in one day killed as much fowl and served the company almost a week.
Many of the Indians coming amongst us with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted."
Current day translation: These four guys killed some birds and they had leftovers for a week. Many Indians came to party and "pigged-out" with us for three days.
As far as the attire, men wore a fashionable deerskin looped over a belt in back and front called a breech clout. Women wore a deerskin wrap-around skirts and leggings, along with fur capes made from deer, beaver, otter and bear skins. Deer skin moccasins rounded out the "wildlife" look. The men and women braided their hair and most of the men wore a feather in the back of their hair.
Upon reflection, does it even really matter whether or not the Pilgrims ate turkey in 1621? We do now.
The Thanksgiving tradition is ultimately a holiday of perfect harmony and unity with our loved ones where we come together in appreciation of all we have and of those whom we love. And that's all that really matters.
So…on this upcoming Thanksgiving, let's all party and pig-out like the Indians and the Pilgrims until the "turkeys" come home Maybe that "cocky" little turkey wandering the highway will find his way home, as well.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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