The Origin of Thanksgiving's Turkey Dinner

Even though this tradition is merely from the Unites States, its gastronomic origin goes way back to the ancient Aztec Culture.

Although this animal is from the American Continent, it was re-introduced into the United States through England.

The most representative dish of the Thanksgiving dinner in the United States, without a doubt is the turkey; however, this food is original from Mexico, where, in Pre-Hispanic times, it was consumed by the Aztecs.

Even though it is a completely American tradition, the reason for eating turkey during Thanksgiving has its origins in the trading originated after the discovery of America.

It is well know that several foods “invaded” the world after Christopher Columbus arrived to the “New World”, among them, corn, tobacco, chocolate and of course turkeys; in Mexico they are also known as “Guajolotes” (waholotes could be its closest pronunciation in English).

But how did this bird became the central dish for the Americans in one of the most important celebrations?

According to an article published in The Collegian, a publication belonging to California State University, Campus Fresno, the Pre-Hispanic bird, called “hueholoti” (pronounced in English weholoti), was transported from Mexico to Spain in order to motivate its commercialization in Europe.

Then it arrived to what was the Ottoman Empire, nowadays a great part of what we know as Turkey, where the animal became chubbier and meatier, thanks to their farming practices the people from that region had developed.

Later, in 1540 the “Turkish turkey” arrived to Western Europe and to England and around 70 years after that, it was brought to America again, says the article which had the collaboration of the Historian Brad Jones.

It was precisely in 1614 when the bird arrived to Jamestown, Virginia and where the first group of Englishmen settled in the US in 1607.

A Century Old Tradition.

The first Thanksgiving dinner in the United States was held in 1621, when the Pilgrims, British Citizens, held a celebration with the Wampanoag Tribe Indians, in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

When a fighter trains to face the best and the best trains for another fight...

There’s a difference, of course, with this latest redirect in fighting history. 

The thing about Georges St-Pierre’s loss to Matt Serra back in the day was that he didn’t appear on Good Morning America to announce the fight to begin with. Nor was he the first male to hold a UFC title, nor the catalyst for the very existence of the 170-pound division. It wasn’t him who gave Serra the platform. He wasn’t undefeated, nor considered by the wider world at large as novelistic and invincible. He didn’t have Beyoncé quoting his inspirational utterances during concerts, or host SportsCenter. There was no Jimmy Kimmel, or WWE cameos, or New York Times best-selling books. His words didn’t send a ripple effect through pop culture. He didn’t alter thinking on body image and sexuality, nor did he crash through gender barriers. He wasn’t a pioneer or a savior of the sport. People (outside of Canada) didn’t cry in hysteria when he entered a room. 

No, when Matt Serra caught him, it just went to show that anything is possible in a fight. 

When Ronda Rousey got knocked out by Holly Holm on Saturday night in Melbourne, it was possibility itself that took the blow. This was the brightest star in the game being dimmed before our very eyes. It was profoundly different. All the falsehoods of immortality came crashing back down not just on Rousey as she fell to the canvas, but on the mesmerized public. The collective shock was not just in the historical aspect of what was playing out, but in the sheer gullibility of having let ourselves get so carried away. Greatness will never stand for long in perfect conditions. We know this. Yet it was fun to ignore!

And of course, sports are at their best when they reach such levels. When the narratives bend reality, and people share in an illusion for as long as it lasts.

Everybody knows there’s no such thing as invincibility, especially in prize fighting, but with Ronda we were willing to play dumb. This was a different kind of star, leagues ahead of her contemporaries. She’s been nothing other than intoxicating since she inherited the UFC title after the Strike-force buy out. Joe Rogan said she wasn’t a once in a generation fighter, but once in an ever fighter. He almost cried when she appeared on his podcast when he got to actualizing her historical value. 
The spell extended to his partner, Mike Goldberg, who right in the middle of Holm’s dismantling of Rousey, cried out awkwardly, "it takes a lot of energy to be a rock star!" Such was the blissful oblivion of those six minutes before Rousey fell. It must have been a long, long flight back to the States for UFC executives and staff. You have to suspect the profound nature of all that was lost was a slow dawning, showing up in nauseating wave upon wave. There goes this, there goes that. Holy sh*t. Rousey is no longer the perfect storm. She can never be marketed the same way again. 

A perfectly executed game plan was all it took to humanize Rousey, who was on the cusp of entering the pantheon of all-time sports greats. If she has already crossed over, time will tell. But Holm now holds the belt, which was an idea that was unthinkable in the lead up. She stayed mobile and punished Rousey’s aggression, of which there was plenty. When the time came to unload, she did. Holm was brilliant. She was everything people thought she was not poised, opportunistic, superior. That head kick will last forever.

And the devastation of that head kick changed everything. The women’s bantamweight division is now open for business again. The warden is out. There was rejoicing from everybody from Cristiane Justino to Miesha Tate to Amanda Nunes afterwards. The small picture took on a bunch of color.

UFC 200, a foregone conclusion for Rousey’s next title defense in July, is now hanging out there as her date of redemption. Even when she gets her next crack at it, the life-blood of her transcendence  — that she is the fight game’s nonpareil — is no longer in play. How does she respond? That’s the new drama, but it’s going to be different. The diehards will care more about her response than the casuals, who’ve now seen the unthinkable become thinkable. The essence of her big picture allure now belongs to Melbourne. It can’t be the same again. Things will narrow.
Not that there wasn’t plenty of poetry at UFC 193. There is inspiration in seeing an underdog like Holm show up in her best form at the exact moment when everything is heightened beyond measure. If Rousey inspires young girls to be like her, Holm inspires the ones who’ve been daydreaming of beating her. 
And it’s hard not to appreciate the UFC’s matchmaking model in all of this. Sean Shelby and Joe Silva book challengers that they believe can beat the champion. They don’t protect anybody, at least not for long. This isn’t boxing. The UFC makes its champions vulnerable at all times. It’s in that gamble that the essence of those letters stands out. The UFC sells vulnerability as much as it does invincibility. Holm was booked to face Rousey. 

The herd of pigs that control Mexico

In this poor Mexico, so full of corrupt politicians, thieves dressed in nice suits and vested with public office; partners with the most dangerous drug traffickers and kidnappers of Mexico and of the world; each and every one of them come out of a corrupted "caste"; they arise from the deepest sewers of society and they are proud to show their shit adorned with jewelry and first class clothing.

They have never known what it means to work; they spend their lives "doing business" through family contacts also covered with shit.

They study in the best universities in Mexico and abroad, they affiliate to parties by "tradition" not by conviction, they do it to the sewer to which their father belong; to the same sewer they plunge unceremoniously, not because they "feel their ideology" as theirs but because they know that within this cesspool the "best" businesses are hatched!!!

They care neither for the country nor its people, what catches their attention is walking around showing all the shit that covers them, "adorning" it in excesses; of alcohol, drugs, parties, trips, properties, relationships with drug dealers, cars and superfluous things!!!

They are a herd of pigs emerged from the sewers, which are disguised as a pack of hungry dogs to take everything, no matter how or where, what matters is to share what they find!!!

They participate in different sewers (political parties) and they do it following the footsteps of their herds of predecessors, not by conviction but by "opportunity"; they move into the manure easily, because is in the sewers where they have grown.

When they "grow up" and depending on the thickness of the layer of shit around their parents, they climb different "positions" within politics; there are even some of them who reach the Presidency of the Republic and they are not interested in the country, nor in Mexican citizens, or anything other than getting rich out of the labor of the citizens!!!

Their businesses, only privilege those who emerge from the sewers; sewers where they smeared large layers of excrement that covers them and that serves them as identification!!!

These slags covered with excrement, become Congress members, Senators, Secretaries of State, political leaders, union leaders, Governors, Mayors, Trustees, Aldermen, "social representatives" and all kinds of parasites who are only looking forward to do dirty businesses, to raise their hands when it is convenient to them, to negotiate with criminals and to plunder the country !!!

Their intention is to reach to the top of the mountain of shit, and from there, to distribute everything that can be stolen; their goal is to do business with another large herd of pigs dressed up with layers and layers of manure like they do, but that they live in the corporate sector, where they handle and cover all the dirty businesses they do, covering their manure "partners"; both sides are concerned only in continuing doing business with their peers, regardless of Mexico’s continue sinking into shit!!!

Sadly, most of the society, is more concerned about receiving the “alms” that these pigs give them disguised as social programs; the citizens are more concerned about finding out the outcome of the soap opera, the results of the All Stars Soccer Team; they are concerned in watching what is going on in Big Brother and many more stupid TV Shows than into finishing this corruption chain!!!

It's sad, really sad, that Mexico is sinking more and more and nobody cares...