Guest guest Posted November 23, 2001 Report Share Posted November 23, 2001 Hi y'all, I've read a dozen tales about how and when the Thanksgiving holiday began and there's likely some truth to most of them since it's one of the oldest festivals in the world. But lemme tell you about the Turkey. Most likey, the Pilgrims ate this with the Indians before they eventually wiped them out .. around 1620 or so, cause it was the biggest bird fit to eat in the USA then and now. It's also the ONLY type of poultry that originated in the Americas .. in North and Central America. When the Spanish conquered Mexico, they found that this bird had been domesticated .. so they introduced it to Europe in the early 1500s. More than 250 years later, Ben Franklin unsuccessfully (good show) tried to make it the US National Bird instead of the Bald Eagle. Would'a made it hard to eat the National Bird on Thanksgiving - huh? The reason this bird wound up being called a Turkey in English instead of a Gobble-Gobble or Humma-Humma or whatever, is sorta for the same reason it's called a Hindi in Turkish - confusion over the identity and origin of the bird. Hindi comes from the word Hindustan - or India. When the English first saw this bird after it was introduced from Mexico, it reminded them of the Guina Fowl - which Ottoman Turkish traders had been bringing to Europe from Africa. Accordingly, the English called both these birds Turkey. On the other hand, the Turks thought the bird came from India so they called it a Hindi. Why did they confuse the origin? Cause at that time, the land mass the bird came from was widely believed to be India .. not the New World. You will recall that ol' Christopher Columbus was looking for shortcut to the West to get to the Orient when he stumbled upon America in 1492 ... if he had asked the Vikings or the Welsh where America was they could have told him but I reckon they didn't consult afore his trip. Anyway, Christopher stepped off that boat and immediately proclaimed that the native folks he saw were Indians .. and some folks grabbed onto his mistake and called the bird things like Bird of India and Calicut for a long time - which is why the Turks got confused. Anyway .. Turkey is a bird and I live in a place called Turquie .. ;-p Y'all keep smiling, Butch http://www.AV-AT.com PS: More trivia .. the Chukar Partridge, commonly found in California and more specifically all over Apple Valley, California (Roy Rogers old haunt) is originall from Turkey .. called a Keklik here. Two pairs were given to Teddy Roosevelt long ago and he liked that bird so much he had hundreds of them brought in from Turkey. They liked hills, etc, so the Wildlife folks decided Apple Valley was the best place to turn'em loose and they did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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