“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