Happy Thanksgiving to you!

I hope today you will spend time reflecting on all you are thankful for: friends, family, health, being given another day, whatever blesses you deeply.  

As you know, I can be a little curious or nerdy when taking a deeper look at traditions. So…

The Wishbone

Have you been curious about how the wishbone breaking game began?

According to Modern Farmer:

”The wishbone-breaking game has been around since the days of Plymouth Rock. In fact, it originated with the Etruscans, an ancient Italian civilization who held birds to be future-predicting oracles. Whenever the Etruscans slaughtered a chicken, they would harvest its wishbone and set it out in the sun to dry (in hopes of preserving the chicken’s divine powers). Passersby would then pick up the bone in order to hold it in their hands and softly Stroke it while making wishes upon it. This is where the wishbone gets its modern-day name.

When the Romans came in contact with the Etruscans, they took hold of this custom. As legend has it, today’s ritual of breaking the wishbone first emerged because of a supply and demand problem: So many Romans wanted to make wishes upon the chicken’s furcula that there weren’t enough wishbones to go around. The Romans passed the wishbone-breaking tradition along to the English, who brought the ritual with them over to Plymouth Rock. Here, the abundance of wild turkeys provoked a switch in the fowl, from chickens to turkeys.”

But there is a little culinary awareness with the wishbone as well.  “

The wishbone is an oddly-shaped forked bone that’s the fusion of two clavicles called the furcula. It’s located right between the neck and breast of a bird.

Even if we were cooking a chicken whole in culinary school, the chefs had us carefully cut around and remove the wishbone first. Removing it meant that carving the meat later would be a lot easier since there wasn’t an awkwardly-shaped bone at the top of the breast to work around. (So if you want to impress everyone at the Thanksgiving table with your turkey-carving skills, you should remove the wishbone before roasting the turkey to make it easier to carve.)” – www.thekitchn.com

So whether you are saving your wishbone so you have the cleanest slices of turkey, more luck and your wish coming true from getting the longer half, or saving the bird’s divine powers, they all sound pretty good!

Happy happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you know I am thankful for you!

Heather Browne PsyD, LMFT

Dr. Heather Browne PsyD, LMFT helps people recognize the power of communication.  It is one of our most important skills that we have, and yet we don’t consider our understanding, approach, belief, and therefore, miss our possibilities.  Living with a paranoid schizophrenic mother gave Dr. Heather a unique and powerful awareness that no one has the same reality, though we believe we do.  Utilizing this revolutionary awareness has allowed her to transform communication within self and within all other types of relationship.  This is the hidden key to acceptance.  And this is her mission to share.

As a relationship expert, Dr. Heather Browne has worked with thousands of individuals and couples in psychotherapy.  She is a TedX Speaker and Keynote Speaker. Her couple’s communication book will be out 1/24. She is published in hundreds of journals, has an active YouTube channel, has been featured on ABC-7 news, was the relationship expert on KDOC Daybreak OC, and is published in Inc., Toronto Sun, Thriving Family Magazine,  Light + Life, BRAINZ, Scary Mommy, and Psychology Today.  She is a regular guest blogger for both Links for Shrinks and for Marriage Friendly Therapists. She offers a weekly newsletter packed with tips and techniques to improve relationships and has monthly workshops! Simply go to her website!
https://www.drheatherbrowne.com/