A historical look at the noble turkey

As Thursday approaches, minds are turning toward a critter who — stuffed, roasted and decorated — will dominate the holiday and star from the center of the table as eager folks gather round.

In a manner of speaking, turkeys are honored on the special day of thanks and even though they hardly get to enjoy it as the preferred main course, they certainly are one of, if not the most esteemed guest in American homes on Thanksgiving.

Long a part of the tradition, turkeys have such a strong association to the holiday, it’s sometimes even referred to as Turkey Day.

While there’s no specific reference to turkey being served at the first Thanksgiving in 1621, historical accounts do refer to wild fowl being hunted for the feast and whether or not they made it to that first celebration, by the time Thanksgiving was officially declared a holiday by Lincoln in 1863, the big birds were well on their way to being a permanent fixture at the table.

The turkey is an American bird through and through, marked as the only domesticated animal indigenous to North America.

A wild game bird capable of reaching upwards of 20 pounds — more than enough to feed an entire family — turkeys were exported by Spanish explorers starting in the early 1500s. The plump birds quickly became popular throughout Europe, and around the world.

It’s thought Europeans associated the bird with Turkish merchants who traded in game birds, but another theory holds the Native Americans called the bird “firkee” and the word was mispronounced by explorers.

A world-traveler thanks to the explorers, there is also name for the bird in almost every language, such as “diiq Hindi” or “Indian rooster” in Arab countries, “tuka” a peacock in India, “tukki” Hebrew for “big bird”, “dinde” or “from India” to the French, “peru” in Portugese, and “indyushka” or “bird of India” in Russian.

Historians believe the references to India that follow the bird originated with Christopher Columbus’ mistaken belief he’d landed in India, an error that attached itself to the native birds as they were moved through foreign markets.

The European colonists and explorers were not, however, the first people to domesticate the turkey.

After studying turkey bones found in 2012 at a Mayan site in Guatemala, archeologists concluded as early as 300 BC, the ancient people had domesticated the Mexican turkey — a bird native to central and northern Mexico which was located nearly 800 miles away.

Sold in ancient markets, sometimes to the tune of 1,000 birds a day, turkeys were also an important part of Aztec culture.

Believed to be the embodiment of Tezcatlipoca, the trickster god of the ancient Aztecs, the turkey was honored with religious ceremonies twice each year. Turkey egg shells were saved in anticipation of the ceremonies, then scattered through the streets in a show of thanks for the food provided to them.

As the birds spread further into North America, several native tribes encountered them, many of whom quickly added them to the menu and used their feathers to create decorative jewelry and ornaments.

In the southwest, the Navajo, who hold the turkey as a symbol of friendship and providence, are said to have initially run into conflict with the birds. When wild turkeys invaded their corn crops and refused to leave, it’s said the Navajo placed pens around them, allowed them to eat, then cultivated them as a new food source.

An invaluable, long-honored source of sustenance for thousands of years and countless cultures, when that glorious bird appears Thursday, make sure to thank your firkee.

Sharna Johnson is always searching for ponies. You can reach her at: [email protected]