by Matt McAnally
With holidays come traditions, and with traditions come very questionable actions outside of the context of the holiday. All over America, these traditions are found and are still occurring to this day, but the origins behind them usually remain unknown by the average person. These origins can give some insight into the strange nature of some of these traditions.
Turkey Toss:
This strange tradition where you can see hundreds of stuffed turkeys falling from the top of a building started in 1970s Ohio during a Thanksgiving promotion gone wrong. Originally, the plan for the promotion was to drop turkeys from a hovering helicopter and to have the entire event reported live on a radio station. To the surprise of the manager who planned the event, who later stated that he thought turkeys could fly, the turkeys all “hit the ground like wet cement” as stated by the radio station reporter. Despite this gruesome failure, the tradition is still kept alive, like in San Carlos, California where 300 fake turkeys are thrown from the top of a building onto the crowd below.
Throwing Turkeys:
This is a tradition found commonly in Boston, Massachusetts schools where a frozen turkey would be thrown backwards over the head of the passer at increasing distances to be caught by the receiver until it hits the ground, at which point the pair would be eliminated from the competition. Many high schools in the Boston area would take the best passer and receiver from their football team accompanied by the marching band, cheerleaders, and tv cameras.
This tradition remained safe for students until in 2005 in Bloomington, Indiana when Doug Ballard had the idea to “cook the turkeys while you threw them.” This outrageous and extremely questionable tradition involved dressing the turkey in a onesie, dousing it in lighter fluid, setting it on fire, and throwing it by attaching it to a chain and spinning it over one’s head before they threw it as far as they could. This tradition was quickly stopped in 2007, likely due to liability issues, with the longest throw recorded being a staggering 56.54 meters or 185.5 feet.
Turkey Bowling:
This tradition is much more safe and much more understandable in comparison to throwing turkeys, but many people still don’t know the origin of this tradition. Derrick Johnson, who worked nights at a supermarket in Newport Beach, California, was surprised at how easily frozen turkeys slid across the floor. The sport is kept alive today with many grocery stores holding tournaments and even some schools hosting events for students. Some events are hosted on frozen lakes, and some hockey teams even play in the rink.
Unfortunately, because of the publicity he brought to the supermarket, Johnson was later fired and even sued by Butterball, a turkey producing company, when he said their turkeys were the best for bowling with because of the plastic carrying handle they came with.
Pumpkin Smashing:
After Halloween, many people have leftover pumpkins that they don’t have any use for anymore by the time Thanksgiving arrives. However, some people, like those at Santa Barbara Zoo in California, find other recreational uses for pumpkins with their animals. For example, the zoo may give pumpkins to their elephants for them to smash, simply for the stimulation and entertainment value it brings. Similarly, lions would be given meat-filled pumpkins, gorillas fruit-filled pumpkins, and otters fish-filled pumpkins. Needless to say, this is a very beloved tradition among visitors of the zoo.
Wishbones:
The widespread tradition of breaking wishbones to have your wishes granted is very popular throughout the US at Thanksgiving, but not many people stop to think where this undoubtedly strange tradition came from and why we still do it. Etruscan civilizations in and around Italy 2,400 years ago believed that chickens had supernatural powers. They would even draw the alphabet in the dirt and throw grain over it to have the chickens answer questions for them like a Ouija board.
Whenever chickens died, Etruscans would rub wishbones to grant their wishes, however when the Romans invaded, there were many more people and therefore many more wishes to be granted with not enough wishbones. As a solution, they started to break them in order to give more wishes to people. Later, when pilgrims left for America, they brought this tradition along; however since Turkeys were much more common, they would be used instead of chickens, making the tradition later carry over into Thanksgiving.
It is clear that many people across the US celebrate Thanksgiving in their own special ways, no matter how strange. You may even have some strange tradition that you participate in every Thanksgiving that may make others raise an eyebrow.
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