Thanksgiving Day / CHristmas Turkey  

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Turkeys!

References

Turkeys for Thanksgiving - a history.

The turkey makes a good meal because of its large size and in the 1500s and 1600s had already become the traditional Christmas main course in Europe. But how had this come about?

When Cortez invaded Mexico in 1500 he sent the birds back to the King Charles V of Spain. Cortez thought he had invaded India so informed his monarch that he was sending "hens from the Indies". The birds bred and soon there were so many the King was sending them to France as gifts, and from France they went to the other European countries.

The French called them "le cocque d’Inde" – the cockerel from India. The name eventually became just "dinde" which is the name of the turkey in France to this day.

The King of France sent some birds to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire (which included today’s country Turkey). So in the Ottoman Empire the birds became known as "frenchmen".

Other countries referred to the birds as "indians" because they had come from Spain and the Spanish thought they came from India.

However neither the French nor the Spanish were speaking to the English at this time so no birds were sent to the King of England. However they did get to England, but from the Ottoman Empire in Turkey instead. Which is why all English-speaking peoples call the birds turkeys.