Many have heard of the tradition of turkey pardoning but not many actually know what it means. It is a presidential ordeal and often televised but what it means and what actually happens remains a piece of little known trivia.
Let’s start with what it actually means. As the White House Blog calls the action,“Each Thanksgiving, the President ‘pardons’ a hand-selected turkey, sparing the bird from someone’s dinner table and ensuring the rest of its days are spent roaming on a farm, doing whatever it is turkeys love to do.” Basically, the turkey is ‘pardoned’ for being delicious and a traditional meal so it is allowed to live.
It sounds like a silly and odd tradition but it did start as a kind of joke or ruse. Its history as a presidential tradition also has not been …show more content…
According to Time Magazine,“The turkeys arrive in the nation’s capital where they take up residence in the historic Willard Hotel...Previously pardoned birds have stayed at the W Hotel before being shipped off to Mount Vernon after their pardon. Wranglers have been known to bring tarps and sawdust in order to make the rooms homier for the birds.” These turkeys are then prepared for their ceremony by often flashing lights at them or putting them with crowds of people and children. This helps them to prepare for when they are the center of attention. Often this preparation occurs once the top 20 are chosen and increased once the top two are selected. This is done to help avoid skirmishes between the turkey and the presidential staff, which have occurred before. Now that the secrets of the turkey pardoning have been revealed, it makes it look a little bit more sensible but still an odd tradition. This year, President Obama will pardon the turkey, Tom One. At least now, you will know what all the fuss is about taking a turkey and Mr. Obama telling it that it has a presidential pardon and will live