The turkey, the native bird that stars in Thanksgiving

Autumn has arrived, and with it, the year-end festivities in North America begin, starting with Thanksgiving Day or Thanksgiving Day.This celebration is a variant of festivals observed around the world to mark the harvest. The first Thanksgiving Day dates back to a banquet between English pilgrims who founded the Plymouth colony—now Massachusetts—and the indigenous people of the wampanoag tribe that took place in 1621.The tradition of expressing gratitude for good harvests with a feast became a common activity in New England; however, it wasn't until 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving Day as an annual national holiday.Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and is considered the country's largest family holiday, as it mobilizes a significant number of people eager to gather with family or friends to enjoy the traditional Thanksgiving dinner.The dinner is characterized by a series of comforting and spiced dishes, including the classic mashed potatoes, the popular sweet potato puree, the delicious cranberry sauce, the traditional mac & cheese, the iconic pumpkin pie, and the characteristic turkey accompanied by gravy and its stuffing. Undoubtedly, turkey is the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving dinner, as a Thanksgiving without a turkey at the center of the table is practically inconceivable. But what very few people know is that this bird originated in what is now Mexico.The turkey, the first domesticated animal in Pre-Hispanic MexicoAccording to the article titled “Origin and dispersion of the domestic turkey in Mesoamerica. A conjunction of environmental and cultural factors”, the turkey was the first animal to enter a domestication scheme in Pre-Hispanic Mexico. Scholars point out that the pine and oak forests of the Basin of Mexico were the first habitat of the subspecies M. gallopavo, the wild turkey from which the domestic form derived.There are records of domestic turkeys in the Basin of Mexico—south of the Mexican plateau and at the edge of the pine and oak forests—; however, the oldest remains of turkeys were found in pre-Hispanic funerary offerings from 1200 and 500 B.C.Various studies indicate that the turkey was brought to Spain after the conquest and then spread throughout Europe. A couple of centuries later—and after being genetically selected to become the species we know today—the pilgrims who emigrated from England brought the turkey back to the American continent.Today, turkey graces millions of tables around the world during Thanksgiving and Christmas.