This funny (some say
provocative) found-object sculpture dates back to 1936 and was created by Swiss Surrealist artist and photographer
Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985). I found it when I was looking for another of her works - to be featured in a future post on
taxidermy - and saved it for today. I, for one, am looking forward to the feast! Apologies to the vegans out there, but I am not bothered by the fact that a turkey was slaughtered for this meal. As I mentioned in my
Thanksgiving blog last year, I find the annual presidential turkey pardon a bit ridiculous, but here it is again, performed by
President Obama. You'll want to revisit last year's photo and story of the incredible 72-lb. bird roasted by a Minnesota man. The link to the equally incredible video of Sarah Palin's interview with turkeys being slaughtered in the background is broken, but
here is a new link.
Here are the top 10 not-all-
that-strange facts about the
Thanksgiving holiday:
- The "1st Thanksgiving" lasted 3 days!
- Today, Americans will eat 46 million turkeys in a total of 117 million households.
- At least 41 million of us will travel more than 50 miles to do so, although this holiday is not the most heavily traveled by airline passengers.
- The "first Thanksgiving" at the Plymouth Colony in 1621 was just one of many traditional harvest celebrations by people around the world grateful for continued sustenance.
- Native Americans had domesticated turkeys for centuries before the Europeans arrived.
- Thanksgiving Day was declared a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 and its date was set by Franklin Roosevelt in 1941.
- Inspired by Americans, Canadians began celebrating a Thanksgiving Day in 1849, with the date formalized in 1957.
- There are 12 towns in the U.S. named "Turkey."
- The 1st national Thanksgiving football game was broadcast in 1934 and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (begun in 1924) was 1st televised in 1947.
- Wild turkeys, of which there are roughly 7 million in the U.S., can run 10-12 miles per hour and fly in short bursts up to 55 miles an hour.
After I watched the turkey pardon, I wondered how long that stay of execution would give it, so I googled "turkey lifespan" and the first item on the list said
72 years - but that was the average lifespan of a person
living in Turkey! The accurate answer is that a
turkey in captivity lives an average of 2 years for males and 3 years for females, with a maximum recorded lifespan of 12 years. Turkeys bred for consumption live for 1 year. I want the wings!
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