The little-known Mexican origin of the turkey eaten at Thanksgiving in the United States

Nine out of ten Americans will sit down at the table this Thursday to eat turkey at the Thanksgiving celebration, the most traditional holiday in that country.

Even if they have to travel thousands of kilometers, family members will gather to eat traditional dishes of this date: baked turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy gravy and blueberries and corn bread, among other delicacies.

But what few know is that the centerpiece, the turkey, had its origin centuries ago in the center of what is now Mexico.

The Meleagris mexican gallopavo (its scientific name) is the species from which the modern turkey was derived and began to be raised more than 2,000 years ago in Mesoamerica, the region that extends from central Mexico to northern Costa Rica.

“The turkey is absolutely of Mesoamerican origin”Dr. Andrés Medina, ethnologist at the Anthropological Research Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and co-author of “Huexolotl: present and past”, an extensive research on this bird, tells BBC Mundo.

Archaeologists have found evidence that it is in the central region of Mexico, particularly in the area of ​​influence of the Teotihuacan culture during the classical period from 300 to 900 AD, where the bird was most established.

“It appears since the classical era of Teotihuacán and there it spread to other parts of the center, and in the Mayan area (southern Mexico) very late. It was a gift from the center to the trade routes of Central America,” says Medina.

He was named huexolotl in the Nahuatl language, which was spoken by the Mexicas (the people who descend from the Aztecs).

That word comes from hueywhich means big or giant, and Xolotlwho was a deity of the Mexica culture.

Medina points out that in “The Legend of the Suns” of pre-Hispanic cosmology it is said that Xólotl “He is a god who transformed into a turkey when fleeing from a sacrifice”.

“It was an important animal in the sacrifices that were made in agricultural rituals. And later it was consumed in many ways,” he explains.

In Mexico, to this day, turkey or turkey is a dish that is usually eaten in very varied celebrations, cooked in the oven at Christmas dinners, mainly in the cities, or in mole sauce at weddings in more traditional towns.

Despite being a bird bred for centuries in central Mexico and some parts of Central America, the turkey or turkey was known in the rest of the world from the colonial era of New Spain (1521).

In the 16th century, the bird was brought to Europe and from there it began to spread throughout the rest of that continent and beyond. This introduction to other regions also led to it being known in different ways than the Castilianization of Huaxolotl.

One of the most curious is the name given to it in Englandwhere merchants They took him from the Turkish region of what is now Istanbul and for this reason it was named “turkey coq”or Turkish hen.

Being brought from the Far East, other products were also known as “Turkish”, such as Persian carpets that were called “Turkey rugs”, and even just because they were traded by Turks they acquired that name, such as Indian flour. called “turkey flour”.

And what was it called in Türkiye? With a reference to another region: “Hindi”, from India, possibly because Christopher Columbus sought to reach India on his voyage that ended in America.

“Like many Mesoamerican products, it was not known where they came from and so Various fantasies were created that gave an account of the origin of new elements that arrived, such as chocolate, tomatoes, potatoes, etc.,” says Medina.

Pilgrims who emigrated from England brought the turkey back to America in the 17th century.

Although it was not a national holiday until 1863, the tradition of Thanksgiving It dates back to 1621, the year in which the first settlers in the northeast of what would become the United States held a joint dinner with the local indigenous people to celebrate their first harvest on the continent.

Historians have debated the elements of the first dinners. Some point to turkey as a side dish, citing the writings of colonizing leader William Bradford.

Since those times, turkey has taken root as the central dish at dinner, since It was a bird that was easy to breed and of convenient size. to feed several people.

Although in other regions of North America there were wild varieties of Meleagris gallopavothe predominant one continued to be the Mesoamerican.

It is estimated that some 50 million bucks They are sold every year in the US for the holiday.

Already in the 20th century, more rituals related to Thanksgiving began to be added.

When the president of the United States Harry S. Truman received a copy from the US National Turkey Federation to celebrate Thanksgiving in 1947, starting the presidential turkey tradition that would continue year after year.

“Older than our nation is the sacred custom of resting from our labors for a day at harvest time and of dedicating that day to expressions of gratitude to Almighty God for the many blessings he has showered upon us,” Truman told the receive the turkey in 1947.

Starting in 1989, the president George H.W. Bush added a ritual: the presidential pardon for the turkey.

Leaders have since saved the birds from being sacrificed to be the centerpiece of the dinner table. And the turkeys have also been baptized every year with a name.

“It seems like our special guest is understandably nervous, but let me assure you, this good turkey Tom It won’t end up on anyone’s table, not this guy. He has been granted a presidential pardon at this time,” Bush said at the time.

But millions of other “Toms” do end up on the table to the delight of Americans.

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