The Turkeys Three (and a little history)

Where has the time gone? There are just a few more days until Thanksgiving. 
I figured if we were gonna do some turkey crafts, it had to be now!

We had to get our hands and feet dirty to make a turkey!

Here we used cupcake liners to make colorful feathers for the Mr. and Mrs.

His feathers are a painted paper plate that has been cut into a wedge shape.

Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?

There may be plenty of reasons why we eat turkey on Thanksgiving, but the fact remains that a roasted wild turkey makes for a wonderful delicacy with which to celebrate the festive season with the entire family! According to Benjamin Franklin, turkey is more respectable than the eagle and a true original native of North America. In fact, he wanted to establish turkey as the national bird of America instead of the bald eagle! We wouldn't be eating it today, had Ben Franklin's wish been carried out!

Legend has it that the Colonists were in the search of a cheap and easily available option that would sufficiently satiate the hunger of a large company. In the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I was celebrating a harvest festival with peacock meat and wild boar, along with a baked goose. When she was informed that the Spanish Armada, on its way to attack England, had sunk, the Queen was so delighted that she ordered an additional roast goose. Thus, goose became the favorite bird at the harvest celebration in England. This custom was carried over to America by early settlers who replaced roasted goose with roasted turkey, as wild turkeys were more abundantly found (they are not migratory birds) than geese, which are difficult to rear. Thus, a new tradition of serving turkey at Thanksgiving celebrations was born. Some say that eating turkey in affluent families came into practice in England in the 15th century itself, when it was very expensive.

More scientifically speaking, since turkeys are born in the spring season and take about 9 months to mature, feeding on insects, worms, and acorns till maturity (giving the meat its taste), they are perfect for being feasted on in fall, by which time they weigh as much as ten pounds! That is a lot of turkey to make pies, lots of pies! Pies were a staple winter food for American homes and they made all sorts of them.

Another story behind eating turkey on Thanksgiving goes like this:
By 1540s, England had already adopted the turkey as a part of its Thanksgiving feast to celebrate the harvest. The tradition of turkey is rooted in the 'History of Plymouth Plantation', which was written by William Bradford, the Pilgrim Governor. The book states that when, in 1620, the Pilgrims arrived in America, sailing from Plymouth in England, they brought the practice of eating turkeys with them. In 1621, the first Thanksgiving harvest feast was cooked to praise the Lord. They were to dine with Wampanoag Indians, a Native American Indian tribe of hunters that gathered all types of meats, who took them for hunting wild birds (according to the letters of pilgrim Edward Winslow) as per their signed treaty for peaceful co-existence. On the behest of the Pilgrims, turkeys were hunted and served during the course of the feast. But the Governor's documents were lost, having been taken away by the British during the War of Independence.

Thanks to Charles Dickens, turkey for Thanksgiving was further popularized through his best-selling book A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, which describes the traditional English Christmas feast. Bob Cratchit's family is handed over a turkey from Scrooge (his first act of kindness) as a Christmas present to finish their meal. At the time this book was published, turkeys were easily available in grocery stores but could only be afforded by wealthy families.

Respect Your Elders

 I know I have mentioned before that my mom lives in an apartment complex for elderly and disabled folks. I've discovered lately that old folks do everything early. Up at 4 a.m., dinner around 4 p.m. and bed by 6! Apparently, they also celebrate holidays early as well! This past week-end they had their Thanksgiving dinner. As my Little Mister is loved by all, we were invited!

Our first task was to make some little crafty item to take. We decided on napkin rings.

 I taped some bubble wrap to the table and Little Mister spread on yellow, orange, red and brown paint all over it. He then spread a piece of white paper over the bubble wrap and smoothed it down. It left a great print! After it dried, we cut it into strips and covered our TP rolls. We added some orange napkins and... Ta-Da! Everyone loved them.

During their meal, we fetched forks, plates, drinks and whatever else was needed. We served everyone before we stopped to try some of the delicious food. We then helped clear the table, sweep and take out the trash.

It was a great opportunity to teach Little Mister about helping others, putting other peoples needs before your own and to respect your elders!

I fear respect for self and others is a tired old tradition in some people's eyes. So sad! 

They say the world can be changed one mind at a time. Well, I'm doing my part by teaching my child the biblical principle of RESPECT!

I would love to hear what you are doing with your little ones as you teach them about respect!

On a side note:
I am thankful for the knowledge and stories that are elders carry with them. I love to hear about their childhood and their younger daily lives. Imagine how much change they have seen in their lifetime. It always amazes me to think how swiftly our world does change. Makes me kind of sad in a sentimental way!
Tell me 'bout the Good Ole Days!

Mayflower Math and More

 

 OK, I know the first thing you may be thinking... Since when were pirates on the Mayflower?! Answer: Since my Little Mister became obsessed! This was a fun project/activity and pretty easy!

 I had some thin strips of Balsam wood left over from one of my projects, so I just cut out a boat shape. I halved 2 craft sticks and hot glued them together and then along each side of my boat. Across the bottom, I glued 2 more sticks after trimming about 3/4 of an inch off. Then I glued the entire boat to a pre-painted paper plate. The thickness of the doubled craft sticks allows plenty of room to slide other sticks "in" the boat. We then painted masts and stamped some sails. Finally, we decorated some craft sticks as people!
Pilgrims and Pirates!

 You can play Mayflower Math many ways depending on your child's skill level. First I just asked him to put 2 pilgrams and 1 pirate in the boat. Then we counted 2+1. Or, 4 pirates were on the boat and one jumped overboard. How many were left, 4-1? You get the idea!

We also tried to play with a die. He rolled and added that number in the boat. Rolled again and took that many out.

Simple but very fun!

We also made a Mayflower handprint that I think turned out VERY cute!

Alright, not only an I a science geek, I am also a history hound! So here is some interesting information about the Mayflower and her famous voyage!

The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England on September 6/16, 1620, with 102 passengers and about 30 crew members aboard the small 100-foot ship. During the first month of the voyage, the seas were not severe, but by the second month the ship was being hit by strong North Atlantic winter gales, causing the ship to be badly shaken, with water leaking from structural damage. There were two deaths, but this was just a precursor of what happened after their arrival in Cape Cod, when almost half the company would die in the first winter.
On November 9/19, 1620, they sighted land, which was Cape Cod. After several days of trying to sail south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on November 11/21. The Mayflower Compact was signed that day.
The Mayflower has a famous place in American history as a symbol of early European colonization of the future United States.

 
List of Mayflower Passengers
This is a list of the passengers on board the Mayflower during its trans-Atlantic voyage of September 6 - November 9, 1620, the majority of them becoming the settlers of Plymouth Colony in what is now Massachusetts. Of the passengers, 37 were members of the separatist Leiden congregation seeking freedom of worship in the New World. The Mayflower launched with 102 passengers, as well as at least two dogs, and a crew of 25-30 headed by Captain Christopher Jones. One baby was born during the trip and named Oceanus Hopkins. Another, Peregrine (meaning "wanderer") White, was born on the Mayflower in America on November 20, before the settlement at Plymouth. About half of these emigrants died in the first winter. Many Americans can trace their ancestry back to one or more of these individuals who, 'Saints' and 'Strangers' together, would become known as the Pilgrims.

Persons with an asterisk after their name are known to have died in the winter of 1620-1621

• Allerton, Isaac
  • Mary (Norris) Allerton*, wife 
  • Bartholomew Allerton, 7, son 
  • Remember Allerton, 5, daughter (Leiden, Netherlands)
  • Mary Allerton, 3, daughter (Leiden, Netherlands), the last survivor of the Mayflower company
• Bradford, William 
  • Dorothy (May) Bradford*, wife 
• Brewster, William 
  • Mary Brewster, wife
  • Love/Truelove Brewster, 9, son
  • Wrestling Brewster, 6, son
• Carver, John
  • Catherine (Leggett) (White) Carver, wife
• Chilton, James*
  • Mrs. Susanna Chilton*, wife
  • Mary Chilton, 13, daughter 
• Cooke, Francis
  • John Cooke, 13, son
• Cooper, Humility, 1,  baby daughter of Robert Cooper, in company of her aunt Ann Cooper Tilley
  • John Crackstone, son
• Cushman, Robert
• Fletcher, Moses*
• Fuller, Edward* 
  • Mrs. Edward Fuller*, wife
  • Samuel Fuller, 12, son
• Fuller, Samuel , (brother to Edward)
• Goodman, John*
• Minter, Desire
• Priest, Degory*
• Rogers, Thomas* 
  • Joseph Rogers, 17, son
• Samson, Henry, 16,  child in company of his uncle and aunt Edward and Ann Tilley
• Tilley, Edward*
  • Ann (Cooper) Tilley*  wife of Edward and aunt of Humilty Cooper and Henry Samson
• Tilley, John*
  • Joan (Hurst) (Rogers) Tilley*, wife
  • Elizabeth Tilley, 13, daughter
  • Turner, John*
    • boy Turner*, son, died in the winter of 1620.
    • boy Turner*, younger son. died in the winter of 1620.
  • Winslow, Edward 
    • Elizabeth (Barker) Winslow, wife
    • Mrs. Thomas Tinker*, wife
    • boy Tinker*, son, died in the winter of 1620.

Planters recruited by Thomas Weston, of London merchant adventurers

• Billington, John 
  • Eleanor Billington, wife
  • John Billington, 16, son
  • Francis Billington, 14, son
• Britteridge, Richard*
• Browne, Peter 
• Clarke, Richard*
• Eaton, Francis 
  • Sarah Eaton*, wife
  • Samuel Eaton, 1, son
• Gardiner, Richard 
• Hopkins, Stephen 
  • Elizabeth (Fisher) Hopkins, wife
  • Giles Hopkins, 12, son by first marriage 
  • Guild, John, (Essex)
  • Constance Hopkins, 14, daughter by first marriage
  • Damaris Hopkins, 1-2, daughter
  • Oceanus Hopkins, born en route
• Margesson, Edmund*
• Martin, Christopher* 
  • Mary (Prower) Martin*, wife
• Mullins, William* 
  • Alice Mullins*, wife
  • Priscilla Mullins, 18, daughter
  • Joseph Mullins*, 14, son
• Prower, Solomon*
• Rigsdale, John*
  • Alice Rigsdale*, wife
• Standish, Myles 
  • Rose Standish, wife
• Warren, Richard 
• Winslow, Gilbert , brother to "Pilgrim" Edward Winslow but not known to have lived in Leiden.
• White, William*
  • Susanna White, wife widowed February 21, 1621, subsequently married Edward Winslow - first Plymouth wedding 
  • Resolved White, 5, son, wife was Judith Vassal
  • Peregrine White', son (born aboard the Mayflower in Provincetown Harbor)

Men hired to stay one year

• Alden, John - considered a ship's crewman (he was the ship's cooper) but joined settlers
• Allerton, John*, was listed as a hired man but was apparently related to one of the Pilgrim families on board, Isaac Allerton's, who all came from Leiden. He sailed in order to settle in North America, and was to return to England to help the rest of the group immigrate, but died during the first winter of the Pilgrims' settlement. He may have been a relative of the "Pilgrim" Allerton family^.
• Ely, Richard, hired as seaman, returned to England after term was up but later returned to New England and died there. He is mentioned briefly as a sailor by name of Ely in "Of Plymouth Plantation."
• English, Thomas*, hired to master a shallop but died in the winter
• Trevore, William, hired as seaman, returned to England after term was up

Servants

Thirteen of the eighteen persons in this category were attached to Pilgrim families, the other five were with non-Pilgrim families. Four of those listed here were small children, given over by Samuel More to Thomas Weston and then to agents John Carver and Robert Cushman, who assigned them to senior Mayflower Pilgrims to be classed as indentured servants. This was all due to scandal involving the children’s mother and her husband Samuel’s effort to dispose of the children by sending them away to Virginia as indentured servants. Long ago, Richard More and his siblings were even thought to have even been parentless London street waifs, but in 1959 a 1622 document revealed their being the product of an adulterous relationship as the reason why the children were sent abroad on the Mayflower.

• Butten, William*, age: "a youth", servant of Samuel Fuller, died during the voyage
• Carter, Robert*, teenager, servant or apprentice to William Mullins, shoemaker.
• --?--, Dorothy, teenager, maidservant of John Carver.
• Doty, Edward, age probably about 21, servant to Stephen Hopkins
• Holbeck, William*, age likely under 21, servant to William White
• Hooke, John*, age 13, apprenticed to Isaac Allerton, died during the first winter
• Howland, John , age about 21, manservant for Governor John Carver
• Langmore, John* , age under 21, servant to the Christopher Martin
• Latham, William, age 11, servant/apprentice to the John Carver family
• Leister, Edward also spelled Leitster. , aged over 21, servant to Stephen Hopkins 
• More, Ellen (Elinor)*,  Elinor (Ellen) More, age 8, assigned as a servant of Edward Winslow. She died in November 1620 soon after the arrival of the Mayflower at Cape Cod Harbor.
• More, Jasper*,  brother, age 7, indentured to John Carver. He died onboard Mayflower in Cape Cod Harbor December 6, 1620. He was buried ashore in the Provincetown area.
• More, Richard,  brother, age 6, indentured to William Brewster. Richard More is buried in what was known as the Charter Street Burial Ground but is now the Burying Point/Charter Street Cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts. He is the only Mayflower passenger to have his gravestone still where it was originally placed sometime in the mid-1690s. Also buried nearby in the same cemetery were his two wives, Christian Hunter More and Jane (Crumpton) More." 
• More, Mary*,  sister, age 6, assigned as a servant of William Brewster. She died sometime in the winter of 1620/1621. Her burial place is unknown, but may been on Cole's Hill in Plymouth in an unmarked grave as with so many others buried there that winter. As with her sister Ellen, she is recognized on the Pilgrim Memorial Tomb in Plymouth, misidentified after her sister's name as "and a brother (children)" - the statement of calling her "a brother" mistakenly coming from William Bradford's failing memory years after the event of her death.
• Soule, George, 21-25, servant or employee of Edward Winslow
• Story, Elias*, age under 21, in the care of Edward Winslow
• Thompson/Thomson, Edward*, age under 21, in the care of the William White family, first passenger to die after the Mayflower reached Cape Cod.
• Wilder, Roger*, age under 21, servant in the John Carver family
• Williams, Thomas*

In all, there were 102 passengers on the Mayflower - 74 males and 28 females

Carpenters

• Kerr, George

Animals

At least two dogs are known to have participated in the settling of Plymouth. In Mourt's Relation Edward Winslow writes that a female mastiff and a small springer spaniel came ashore on the first explorations of what is now Provincetown. There may have been other animals on the Mayflower, but only these two dogs had been mentioned.


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