Volume 3, Issue 3
27 November 2018
The Middle School Newspaper at King’s Academy Why Do We Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving? by Selina Halaseh On a holiday, it is traditional to eat foods that remind us of the purpose of the holiday. Thanksgiving is a beloved American holiday. As the name suggests, on this holiday people are thankful for all the blessings in their lives. People gather with family and friends on the fourth Thursday in November to enjoy a traditional meal and to give thanks for life’s many blessings. Even if family members live far apart, they will try to come together for a family reunion at Thanksgiving. Celebrating Thanksgiving without a turkey seems a little wrong. You might be wondering “Why do we eat turkey, not chicken, on Thanksgiving?” Sure, the best answer is because it’s delicious, but as you probably know there’s a lot of history behind this Thanksgiving turkey. The history of the Thanksgiving turkey is a bit of a mystery. Nobody knows exactly how this particular bird earned a place of honor at the table each November, but historians have a few different theories. First theory: thanks to letters and records kept by early American settlers, we know that when the colonists sat down to dine with the Wampanoag Indians, beef and fowl were on the menu. This historical meal would later become known as the first Thanksgiving. Although historians cannot say for sure which types of fowl were served up that day, a letter written by pilgrim Edward Winslow mentions a turkey hunting trip before the meal. Another theory attributes the Thanksgiving turkey to the Queen of England. During the 16th century, a fleet of Spanish ships sunk on their way to attack England.
According to legend, Queen Elizabeth received this news while eating dinner. She was so thrilled that she ordered another goose to be served. Some historians say the early settlers were inspired by the queen's actions and roasted a turkey instead of a goose. Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays, where you can be with family and friends and eat turkey.
Thanksgiving Traditions by YonSu Hwang Thanksgiving is an annual holiday that celebrates the harvest and other blessings of the past year in Unites States and Canada. This year, Thanksgiving is the 22nd of November. In the United States Thanksgiving has been celebrated since 1863, but nationally it was celebrated since 1789. In the ancient times, native people in North America started celebrating Thanksgiving to give thanks for successful harvests, to hope for the good growing season in the early spring, and for other good fortunes. So, giving thanks was the main reason to celebrate thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving, families and friends gather together and have a special meal. The meal often includes turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, cornbread, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. Usually for the dessert of the feast, people eat pies flavored with pumpkin, pecan, sweet potato, and apple. On Thanksgiving there are also vegetarian foods. It is usually vegetarian turkey which is made out of tofu, and other vegetable dishes. Not only in America, the traditions of the wishbones are celebrated by Europe and was started by Europe. This wishbone tradition is from the ancient Italian civilization passed to the Etruscans, Romans, and to the English. Some families break the turkey’s collarbone which is the wish bone. After the meat is eaten and removed from the bones, two people take one parts each and pull. So, the person who has the larger piece after pulling gets their wishes granted.