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kremda2 t1_irl5bve wrote

My wife is a graduate student in Anthropology, and has done some of her largest projects about the Maya, specifically about the role of birds in their belief system. She had not heard about this. Thanks for posting it!

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jrex703 t1_irl7e1w wrote

That makes me question the whole TIL more than a bit.

My wife has a PhD in four-legged animals important to Hinduism, but she had never heard Hindus don't eat beef.

Something's off, and I'm guessing it's not the PhD.

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Kirkverbal t1_irlb7vb wrote

It's peak internet that I can't tell if this is sarcastic or not

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jrex703 t1_irle2r8 wrote

It's not-- I'd call it more parody or satire, with some elements of farce.

If a PhD who studies Mayan bird worship has not heard that turkeys were culturally significant, it's analogous to a PhD who studies the role of animals in Hinduism not having heard that cows are significant.

Basically I trust an actual academic a lot more than the title ofa random TIL.

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BoxingSoup t1_irpdc45 wrote

Except you didn't hear it from a Ph.D. You heard it from some random guy who claims to have a wife who supposedly is a graduate student in the subject. Why people lie for Internet points, I couldn't tell you. But they do, and taking comments at face value is plain silly.

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BasedOnAir t1_irmmoxq wrote

Well the TILs and their titles isn’t everything. Each one comes with a link to a source. Examine the source not just a Reddit title.

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jrex703 t1_irn33zt wrote

Obviously, I was being disparaging of History.com. And really there isn't much more information included in the article than there is in the title.

The only source regarding turkeys doesn't work, then it just drivels off into a discussion of Mayan population levels. It's a word-count filler piece, not an educational resource.

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wanawanka t1_irmgl59 wrote

Well, AOE2 showed the natives slaughter them en masse...so I get it.

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DoerteEU t1_irm9k0t wrote

Did you also know Turkeys are, indeed, named after the Turks? It was just confused with another, previously traded African bird from Turkish traders?

When settlers came to the US, they found today's Turkeys and called them like the "Turkey Cock" they knew from Europe. Barely anyone else in the World calls it "Turkey" at all.

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nsbbeachguy t1_irkkyf9 wrote

Keeping in mind that many of their religious rites involved sacrifice hence the original thanksgiving turkeys.

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Bigdaug t1_irnvres wrote

Well, that was 1,900 years later with two peoples extremely far away who had never heard of the Maya. We think of natives as too similar sometimes.

I don't think we even know they ate turkey at their Thanksgiving feast.

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JeromesDream t1_irlfnc0 wrote

i mean, they weren't domesticated because the meat is good. might as well blame it on a dead religion i guess

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krzysd t1_irlvsfw wrote

Just went to Tikal two weeks ago, there is wild turkeys everywhere over there and their really pretty birds when their not over stuffed too be eaten.

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NicNoletree t1_irkwhgc wrote

The Mayans used three turkeys for the magis in their nativities in 300BC

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RedSonGamble t1_irm3v6u wrote

I’ll keep that in mind next time I have to dump my bike to avoid running into them

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MCDaddyCool t1_irm1zh9 wrote

That's how dumb religion and superstition are

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