Why Turkeys for Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is a wonderful day of family and food without all the stress and hubbub of other holidays. We give thanks to God, eat too much turkey, and sink into our couches to enjoy our calorie coma with the family. What could be better?!

But why turkey?

Probably most of us over the age of 30 can remember dressing up with construction paper feathers and pilgrim hats and reenacting the first Thanksgiving in elementary school. We remember that the pilgrims almost starved their first year on this continent for many reasons and that the friendly natives helped them learn which foods were safe to eat in this new land. 

One of those new foods was the turkey. That's right, it's a uniquely American bird. William Bradford wrote in his journal about hunting turkeys in 1621. In a letter to his daughter dated January 26, 1784, Benjamin Franklin penned the virtues of the gobbler. Following President Lincoln's official declaration of a national Thanksgiving holiday in 1863, turkey gained in popularity until it became a national staple for Thanksgiving meals by 1900.

So next Thursday, as you're slicing into a golden-brown bird, remember to thank God for all the blessings He has rained down upon us ... including the indigenous fowl we enjoy so much.

Pegg Thomas - Writing History with a Touch of Humor