The Real Reason People Used To Worship Turkeys Like Gods
The humble turkey tends to get quite a bad rap. It’s often considered to be a stupid animal, though the reality is actually quite different. One Kind Planet says that they are social, curious creatures with more brains than you might think: They can supposedly learn the tiny details of an area larger than 1,000 acres.
Fortunately, though, there’s always someone willing to give lesser-appreciated animals the respect that they deserve. For the ancient Egyptians, per Britannica, the lowly dung beetle was considered a scarab, an embodiment of the sun god, Khepri. Just as Khepri rolled the great disk that was the sun across the sky, so the dung beetle rolled its poopy cargo across the ground. High deference indeed.
The turkey, meanwhile, was worshipped by another fascinating ancient civilization: the Maya. For this Mesoamerican people, turkeys were also intrinsically linked to the divine. Here’s the story of the Mayans’ gobblin’ gods, because they’re for worshipping, not just for Thanksgiving.
The Washington Post reports that the domestication of turkeys took place around 2,000 years ago. In the remains of El Mirador, a Mayan city in modern-day Guatemala, archaeologists discovered the remains of half a dozen turkeys. The most intriguing thing about this discovery was that the birds’ remains were situated at the Jaguar Paw Temple, a 30-foot-tall sacred site.
The odd-looking, fleshy vessel of the divine
According to The Washington Post, this temple is many miles from the natural range of this turkey species in the region at the time. This suggests two things: The birds were transported over long distances by the Mayans, and that they had a connection to the temple and Mayan spiritual beliefs.
The Trent University Archaeological Research Center and Florida Museum of Natural History’s Erin Thornton, who investigated this discovery, told Live Science that these turkey fossils “came from right within the ceremonial precinct of the site, so these are probably the remains of some sort of elite sacrifice, meal or feast.”
In a paper titled “The Ocellated Turkey in Maya Thought,” Mariá Elena Vega Villalobos and Ana Luisa Izquierdo de la Cueva write that the bright and bold male of the Meleagris ocellata variant was particularly revered. Researchers have found that turkey was rarely eaten, perhaps being the exclusive fare of special rituals. Mayan iconography connects turkeys with the concept of the wahyis, a spiritual entity with a deep link to its human “possessor.”
History explains that turkeys were believed to have special, potentially dangerous powers, and served as fleshy, living homes for the gods themselves. It’s no wonder they were shown the utmost respect.
645 thoughts on “The Real Reason People Used To Worship Turkeys Like Gods”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
This Is The Only President To Have Served On The Supreme Court
The Reason This Cemetery Rejected F. Scott Fitzgerald's Corpse At First
The Real Reason No George Harrison Songs Were Featured In The Beatles' 1969 Rooftop Concert
The Reason The Beatles' 1969 Concert Took Place On A Rooftop Might Surprise You
The Truth Behind The Emperor's New Groove
Virginia Woolf's Tragic Real-Life Story
The Truth About Doris Day And Ronald Reagan's Relationship
This Gross Ingredient Was Once Used As A Popular Teeth Whitener
How This Girl Scout Murderer Was Finally Caught
Saturation Diving: The World's Most Isolated And Lethal Job
I’m impressed, I must say. Rarely do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and engaging, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is something not enough people are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy that I found this in my search for something concerning this.
I have been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be much more useful than ever before.
Hi there, I wish for to subscribe for this blog to get most recent updates, thus where can i do it please help.
you are actually a just right webmaster. The site loading speed is incredible. It kind of feels that you are doing any unique trick. In addition, The contents are masterpiece. you have performed a great activity in this matter!
It’s going to be finish of mine day, except before end I am reading this great post to increase my knowledge.
This post is in fact a nice one it helps new internet users, who are wishing for blogging.
you are actually a just right webmaster. The site loading speed is incredible. It sort of feels that you are doing any unique trick. Moreover, The contents are masterpiece. you have performed a great task in this topic!
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. I will bookmark your weblog and check again here frequently. I am quite certain I will learn lots of new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!
Can I just say what a relief to discover a person that really knows what they’re talking about online. You certainly know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people must look at this and understand this side of the story. I can’t believe you’re not more popular because you surely have the gift.
We stumbled over here coming from a different page and thought I might check things out. I like what I see so now i’m following you. Look forward to looking over your web page yet again.
It’s very straightforward to find out any topic on net as compared to books, as I found this article at this web site.
Hi, all is going sound here and ofcourse every one is sharing data, that’s really fine, keep up writing.
Thank you for sharing your info. I truly appreciate your efforts and I am waiting for your next post thank you once again.
hello there and thank you for your information – I’ve certainly picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise several technical points using this web site, since I experienced to reload the web site lots of times previous to I could get it to load properly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but slow loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and can damage your quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Well I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for much more of your respective exciting content. Ensure that you update this again very soon.|
Right here is the perfect blog for anyone who really wants to understand this topic. You realize a whole lot its almost tough to argue with you (not that I really would want to…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a subject which has been discussed for ages. Excellent stuff, just excellent!|