“The turkey, slain, slowly cooked over our gas or electric fires,
is the central figure at our holy feast. It is the totem animal
that brings our tribe together. And because it is an awkward,
intractable creature, the serving of it establishes and reinforces
the tribal hierarchy. There are but two legs, two wings,
a certain amount of white meat, a given quantity of dark.
Who gets which piece; who, in fact, slices the bird
and distributes its limbs and organs, underscores quite
emphatically the rank of each member in the gathering.”

– Tom Robbins, 
Skinny Legs and All