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The Story of American Thanksgiving
(Contributed by Bing Wei, Granny Betty's Story Time )
每逢11月第四个星期四，美国人迎来了自己最重要的传统节日感恩节。感恩节，原是清教徒为感谢上天赐与的好收成，同时，也表达了新英格兰“移民”对印第安土著居民最初的谢意。如今，这一传统节日更多意味着合家团聚。下文以历史为脉络，探究了感恩节的渊源，并把目光锁定在1621年翔实的感恩“盛宴”上。阅读完文字，别忘点击附带的小测试。
Thanksgiving Day is an American holiday and not celebrated in continental Europe. On the fourth Thursday of each November, families and friends gather together for the occasion to celebrate with a traditional turkey dinner, usually in the mid-afternoon. Thanksgiving originated as a celebration of the year's harvest and is similar to the Mid-Autumn Festival in China.
The origin of the Thanksgiving Day
This American tradition started in 1621 before the United States of America was established. It was a huge celebration for a hard-earned harvest the first year after arriving in the New World.
On September 6, 1620, the Mayflower ship set sail from Plymouth, Devon, England, taking all the English Pilgrims （清教徒）to the New World. The English Pilgrims numbered about a hundred people, and left England to escape religious persecution. Their voyage to the New World was financed by Merchant Adventurers, an English investor group.
The Pilgrims sailed sixty-six days, arrived in the New World in November of the same year. They first settled in a cornfield abandoned by Native Indians and named it Plymouth Plantation.
They worked on the land with much difficulty and were beset by a devastating plague in which half of the Pilgrim died in the long winter of 1620. In the spring of 1621, an Indian brave named Squanto and her Wampanoag （瓦帕浓人，北美印第安人阿尔琴族一部落）tribe came to their help. The tribe taught the Pilgrims how to work the earth and plant corn, beans, pumpkins, squash and other crops.
The Thanksgiving feast in 1621
In late September 1621, the Pilgrims were pleased with their great harvest. To
celebrate their first harvest, the Pilgrims wanted to thank God and the Native Indian. They invited Squanto and the entire Wampanoag tribe that celebrate together in a shared feast.
It was said about ninety Wampanoag turned up, much to the surprise of the Pilgrims, whose population had shrunk to no more than 50. The chief of the tribe had his men hunt five deer to bring to the feast. The first Thanksgiving dinner had an elaborate menu with venison, wild turkey, goose, duck, crane, swan, and other waterfowl; they also has local seafood: clams, lobsters, mussels, salmon, cod, bass, herring, shad, bluefish, lots of eel and oysters. They also cooked plenty of vegetables, among them squash, pumpkins and beans were the most popular.
They ate raspberries, strawberries, grapes, plums, cherries, blueberries, walnuts, chestnuts, acorns, hickory and ground nuts, wheat flour, Indian corn and corn meal and they made beer out of barley. The pumpkin pudding was later developed into the traditional pumpkin pie.
The first Thanksgiving dinner is said to have lasted from three days to one week with much food, beer and liquor. The Pilgrims and the Native Indian sat together on the ground, shared food with fingers or used rough plates made of wood or stale bread. They ran races, played old English games and staged parades during the festive, with marches, drums and firing of their muskets.
"Thanksgiving" related to the Bible
The phrase "thanksgiving" initially comes from the Bible. The Pilgrims of Plymouth, however, were mainly Puritans and strict Calvinist Protestants. They only observed three religious holidays from the New Testament: Sunday Sabbath, Days of Fasting and humiliation and Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving marked favourable ("mercies") in community life.
The first Thanksgiving festival was indeed a time of happiness, fellowship and rejoicing for the Pilgrims. They arranged a friendly treaty with the Native American Indians, built houses in the wilderness, and raised sufficient crops to feed themselves for the upcoming long winter. The Pilgrims had become the first generation of settlers in this new land holding so much promise.【感恩节英文介绍】
From then on, Thanksgiving became a holiday for celebrating the harvest in the New World, dates varied from October to November each year over the next 150 years.
Thanksgiving, the National holiday
The first National Thanksgiving was declared by the Continental Congress in 1777. On October 3, 1789, President George Washington declared that the people of the United States should observe "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer" on Thursday, 26 November.
Many say the credit for the establishment of an annual Thanksgiving holiday should be given to Sarah Josepha Hale. Being the editor of Ladies Magazine and Godey's Lady's Book, she lobbied to the governors, senators, and presidents for a national holiday and published stories and recipes for that day in her magazine. After 36 years of crusading, she won her battle. In 1863, buoyed by the Union victory at Gettysburg, President Lincoln proclaimed that November 26, would be a national Thanksgiving Day, to be observed every year on the fourth Thursday of November.
In 1941, a Congressional Joint Resolution set the fourth Thursday of November as a national holiday for Thanksgiving.
There you are - the brief history of Thanksgiving- a day in America for families and friends to gather together. The festival is also celebrated by Americans living abroad. Thanks to the Native Americans and the Pilgrims who created this idea of a day of Thanksgiving all those live in the New World can be thankful for all we have and share the joy with our family members and friends.
Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and now is primarily identified as a secular holiday.
This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. The writer O. Henry called it the one day that is purely American. Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday. But it has spiritual meaning. Some Americans attend religious services on the day before Thanksgiving, or on Thanksgiving morning. Others travel long distances to be with their families. They have a large dinner, which is the main part of the celebration.【感恩节英文介绍】
本周四是感恩节。作家欧·亨利把这一天称为“纯美国式”的节日。感恩节不是一个宗教节日，但它有宗教方面的含义。一些美国人在感恩节的前一天或是感恩节的早上参加宗教仪式，还有的长途跋涉和他们的家人团聚。感恩节的主要庆祝方式是一桌丰盛的家庭晚宴。
For many Americans, Thanksgiving is the only time when all members of a family gather. The holiday is a time of family reunion.
对许多美国人来说，感恩节这一天是所有家庭成员欢聚一堂的难得时光。这个节日是家
人团聚的时刻。
Thanksgiving week is generally one of the busiest travel times of the year. Many Americans who usually visit family and friends by plane are driving shorter distances instead this week. Some mental-health experts say the attacks have frightened people. They say people feel safer and happier close to home.
感恩节这一周通常是全年中人们出行最为繁忙的时段之一。许多经常坐飞机走亲访友的美国人这一周将改为短途驾车。一些心理健康专家认为，恐怖袭击令人们感到恐慌。他们说，人们在离家较近的地方会觉得更安全、更快乐。
More than any other holiday, Thanksgiving is a celebration of family and home. Many people say that this year they are especially thankful for their families and friends and the good things in their lives. On Thanksgiving, people enjoy a long day of cooking, eating and talking. The traditional meal almost always includes a turkey with a bread mixture cooked inside.
与其它节日不同，感恩节是一个家庭节日。许多人说，今年他们特别感谢他们的家人、朋友和生活中一切美好的事物。在感恩节，人们享受着一整天的烹调、美味和交谈所带来的快乐。传统的感恩节大餐都包括一只火鸡，火鸡内填满面包和火鸡一起做熟。
Other traditional Thanksgiving foods served with turkey are sweet potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie. Stores are said to sell more food at Thanksgiving than at any other time of the year. And many people eat more food at Thanksgiving than at any other time of the year.
其他和火鸡相搭配的传统感恩节食物有：红薯，越橘和南瓜派。据说，感恩节前后，商店出售的食物比一年中的任何时候都要多。当然，许多人在感恩节吃的食物也比一年中其它的时候要多。
Over the years, Americans have added new traditions to their Thanksgiving celebration. For example, a number of professional and university football games are played on Thanksgiving Day. Some of the games are broadcast on national television.
近年来，美国人给感恩节增添了新的庆祝方式。例如，在感恩节这一天会举行由职业队和大学生参加的橄榄球比赛。其中有些比赛在国家电视台播放。
In the United States, the fourth Thursday in November is called Thanksgiving Day. On that day, Americans give thanks for the blessings they have enjoyed during the year. 在美国，每年11月的最后一个周四称为‘感恩节’，在那天，美国人为每年得到的上天赐福表示感激。
Thanksgiving Day is the most truly American of the national Holidays in the United States and is most closely connected with the earliest history of the country. 感恩节是美国国定假日中最地道、最美国式的节日，而且它和早期美国历史最为密切相关。
In 1620, the settlers, or Pilgrims, they sailed to America on the May flower, seeking a
place where they could have freedom of worship. 1620年，一些朝圣者（或称为清教徒）乘坐"五月花"号船去美国寻求宗教自由。
After a tempestuous two-month voyage they landed at in icy November, what is now
Plymouth, Massachusetts.他们在海上颠簸折腾了两个月之后，终于在酷寒的十一月里，在现在的马萨诸塞州的普里茅斯登陆。
During their first winter, over half of the settlers died of starvation or epidemics. Those who survived began sowing in the first spring. 在第一个冬天，半数以上的移民都死于饥饿和传染病，活下来的人们在第一个春季开始播种。
All summer long they waited for the harvests with great anxiety, knowing that their lives and the future existence of the colony depended on the coming harvest. 整个夏天他们都热切地盼望着丰收的到来，他们深知自己的生存以及殖民地的存在与否都将取决于即将到来的收成。
Finally the fields produced a yield rich beyond expectations. And therefore it was decided that a day of thanksgiving to the Lord be fixed. 后来，庄稼获得了意外的丰收，所以大家决定要选一个日子来感谢上帝的恩典。【感恩节英文介绍】
Years later, President of the United States proclaimed the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day every year. 多年以后，美国总统宣布每年十一月的第四个星期四为感恩节。
The celebration of Thanksgiving Day has been observed on that date until today. 感恩节庆祝活动便定在这一天，直到如今。
Does Thanksgiving reflect any part of the American culture? 感恩节反映了哪些美国文化？
It reminds us of the history that the pilgrims left Europe for religious freedom and
established their new country. 它让人们记住这段历史，从欧洲来的移民祈祷宗教自由，和建立新的国家。
Thanksgiving Day is usually a family day. People always celebrate with big dinners and happy reunions. 感恩节一般是家庭的节日，人们总是以节日大餐和家庭成员聚会来庆祝这个节日。
What will we see on almost every Thanksgiving dinner table？在感恩节餐桌上我们能见到什么？
Turkey火鸡，Mashed potatoes 马铃薯，Pumpkin pie 番瓜馅饼，corns玉米等。The best and most attractive among them are roast turkey and pumpkin pie. 其中最妙和最吸引人的大菜是烤火鸡和番瓜馅饼。
第二天是黑色星期五 购物
我感恩IAM GRATEFUL
Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving Day is the most truly American of the national Holidays in the United States and is most closely connected with the earliest history of the country.
In 1620, the settlers, or Pilgrims, they sailed to America on the May flower, seeking a place where they could have freedom of worship. After a tempestuous two-month voyage they landed at in icy November, what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts.
During their first winter, over half of the settlers died of[1] starvation or epidemics. Those who survived began sowing in the first spring.
All summer long they waited for the harvests with great anxiety, knowing that their lives and the future existence of the colony depended on the coming harvest. Finally the fields produced a yield rich beyond expectations. And therefore it was decided that a day of thanksgiving to the Lord be fixed[2]. Years later, President of the United States proclaimed the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day every year. The celebration of Thanksgiving Day has been observed on that date until today.
The pattern of the Thanksgiving celebration has never changed through the years. The big family dinner is planned months ahead. On the dinner table, people will find apples, oranges, chestnuts, walnuts and grapes. There will be plum pudding, mince pie, other varieties of food and cranberry juice and squash. The best and most attractive among them are roast turkey and pumpkin pie. They have been the most traditional and favorite food on Thanksgiving Day throughout the years.
Everyone agrees the dinner must be built around roast turkey stuffed with a bread dressing[3] to absorb the tasty juices as it roasts. But as cooking varies with families and with the regions where one lives, it is not easy to get a consensus on[4] the precise kind of stuffing for the royal bird.
Thanksgiving today is, in every sense, a national annual holiday on which Americans of all faiths and backgrounds join in to express their thanks for the year' s bounty and reverently ask for continued[5] blessings.
感恩节
感恩节是美国国定假日中最地道、最美国式的节日，而且它和早期美国历史最为密切相关。
1620年，一些朝圣者(或称为清教徒)乘坐五月花号船去美国寻求宗教自由。他们在海上
颠簸折腾了两个月之后，终于在酷寒的十一月里，在现在的马萨诸塞州的普里茅斯登陆。
在第一个冬天，半数以上的移民都死于饥饿和传染病，活下来的人们在第一个春季开始播种。整个夏天他们都热切地盼望着丰收的到来，他们深知自己的生存以及殖民地的存在与否都将取决于即将到来的收成。后来，庄稼获得了意外的丰收，所以大家决定要选一个日子来感谢上帝的恩典。多年以后，美国总统宣布每年十一月的第四个星期四为感恩节。感恩节庆祝活动便定在这一天，直到如今。
感恩节庆祝模式许多年来从未改变。丰盛的家宴早在几个月之前就开始着手准备。人们在餐桌上可以吃到苹果、桔子、栗子、胡桃和葡萄，还有葡萄干布丁、碎肉馅饼、各种其它食物以及红莓苔汁和鲜果汁，其中最妙和最吸引人的大菜是烤火鸡和番瓜馅饼，这些菜一直是感恩节中最富于传统意义和最受人喜爱的食品。
人人都赞成感恩节大餐必需以烤火鸡为主菜。火鸡在烘烤时要以面包作填料以吸收从中流出来的美味汁液，但烹饪技艺常因家庭和地区的不同而各异，应用什幺填料也就很难求得一致。
今天的感恩节是一个不折不扣的国定假日。在这一天，具有各种信仰和各种背景的美国人，共同为他们一年来所受到的上苍的恩典表示感谢，虔诚地祈求上帝继续赐福。
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