Rejoicing in the birth of Christ, is the purpose and in the true spirit of Christmas. Widely observed annually on the 25th of December is a day of marked with age old traditions, households with British heritage show exceptional similarities despite the distances amongst them. The people of the US and Canada follow the traditions of their ancestors from England quite diligently.
Christmas carols, pudding, presents from Santa Claus under the ever distinguishable Christmas tree are among the few festivities almost universally associated with Christmas; among them is eating turkey as a Christmas feast.
Though not always the choice of poultry in early times, it is narrated that the tradition spread by the purchase of six turkeys (bought by ship from America) from William Strickland in 1526. Since then the turkey has taken precedence over other forms of poultry as well as livestock. King Henry the Eighth was among the first people to feast on turkey on Christmas Day, and thus the tradition cemented its roots in the lives of the people of Britain.
Besides the fact that it helps conserve the population of chicken and milk producing livestock, the turkey itself has a particularly distinct and delicious taste and a larger more formed physique as compared to goose, helping feed all members of the family, owing even more to its use (as families in the 16th were quite larger than those of today). In the times before today, turkey was actually cheaper compared to goose and chicken, today though the turkey is per pound more costly than chicken. It is why some might think that this tradition may have run its course, that remains to be seen, but for now the turkey still holds its place at the dinner table amongst friends and family, among the spirit of Christmas and all the good it represents.
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