Thanksgiving Turkeys

Children's Literature

What a turkey! Hopefully, this is the reception in your household to the star of the Thanksgiving Day meal. After all, this holiday is set aside to give thanks for all the good things in our lives, and a way to remember the hardships of the first European settlers in America. Unready for such harsh winters, many Pilgrims died during their first year here. During the next year, Native Americans helped the Pilgrims learn to cultivate crops and hunt food. In thanks, the Pilgrims held a three-day feast to enjoy their harvest and honor their guests. We are the first country to have a Thanksgiving Day and it is currently held on the fourth Thursday of November because the farmers are then finished harvesting their crops. The turkey's presence has been traditional from the holiday's inception. Benjamin Franklin was a big fan of this bird, voting it be the national bird instead of the bald eagle. Overhunting, at one point, put the wild turkey near extinction. Now, farm raised turkeys are the staple of our Thanksgiving table and should continue to be so for as long as we have things for which we are thankful. Part of the "Holiday Symbols" series.
—Barbara Kennedy