Research Journal Entry 14 The pardon of turkeys

I’ve read an interesting article about Thanksgiving. It is about the American president conducting an important event at the White House. The story is about the American presidents who pardon a turkey, or two, annually. Before reading the article, I never know there’s such an interesting tradition practiced in America. Its origin can be traced back to the time of President Lincoln in 1863. Thanksgiving was announced a national holiday and they were going to have a turkey killed to make the dinner. However, Lincoln’s son, Tad, tried to stop them to kill his new turkey friend because he had bounded with the turkey after a few days together. To everybody’s surprise, the president did release the turkey and afterwards it became an annual practice in the White House. Sometimes, when we have a holiday, maybe it’s better for us to find its origin first, because we may find some unknown and interesting story which lies behinds the holiday.