The origin of Thanksgiving Day
感恩節(jié)的起源
Every year Thanksgiving Day falls on the fourth Thursday in November. It is American people's original festival. Thanksgiving Day in the United States is a festival when the family members gather together, like the Chinese New Year, emphasizing happy reunion. So Thanksgiving Day is one of the most important festivals in America.
感恩節(jié)是在每年十一月的第四個(gè)星期四到來。它是美國(guó)人民的傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日。在美國(guó)，感恩節(jié)是一個(gè)闔家團(tuán)聚的節(jié)日，就像中國(guó)的春節(jié)，非常重視幸福團(tuán)聚。所以，感恩節(jié)是美國(guó)最重要的節(jié)日之一。
How did Thanksgiving Day begin?
感恩節(jié)是如何開始的？
As early as in 1620, some pilgrims (清教徒)who had suffered religious persecution（宗教迫害） in the UK sailed to America. But the cold winter made them trapped in trouble. Half of the people died from hunger and coldness. At this time, the kind Indians came to offer them the necessaries of life, and taught them the living skills of farming, hunting and so on. As a result, these immigrants survived luckily. In order to express their thanks from the bottom of heart, the settlers invited the Indians to celebrate the abundant harvest that year. This is the origin of Thanksgiving Day.
早在1620年，一些在英國(guó)遭受宗教迫害的清教徒坐船去往美洲。但是寒冷的冬天讓他們陷入了困境。一半的人死于饑餓和寒冷。就在這時(shí)，善良的印第安人給他們提供了生活必需品，還教會(huì)了他們耕種和打獵的生活技能。結(jié)果，這些移民就幸存下來。為了表達(dá)他們發(fā)自內(nèi)心的感謝，這些移民者在那年豐收的時(shí)候邀請(qǐng)印第安人一起慶祝豐收。這就是感恩節(jié)的起源。
Dinner on Thanksgiving Day
感恩節(jié)的飲食
Thanksgiving food has traditional characteristics. Turkey is a main course in tradition. Usually the turkey's stomach is filled with all kinds of flavorings and some mixed food, and then is toasted wholly. After that, the host will slice it into pieces for the family. In addition, the traditional food at this festival includes sweet potatoes, maize, pumpkin pies, cranberry jam, etc. According to the U.S. National Turkey Federation, it is estimated that at Thanksgiving Day andChristmas , American people will eat tens of millions of turkeys. In the United States, Turkey has become more and more popular, whose consumption is far larger than pork, beef, chicken and mutton. Turkey is served to people in varied forms such as frozen turkey, smoked turkey, the whole turkey......
感恩節(jié)的食物有著傳統(tǒng)特色。火雞是一道傳統(tǒng)的主菜。通常，火雞的肚子里塞滿了各種香料和一些混合的食物，整個(gè)進(jìn)行烘烤。然后，主人把火雞切成片給家人們食用。從傳統(tǒng)上看，這個(gè)節(jié)日的傳統(tǒng)食物包括甜薯，玉米，南瓜餅，蔓越莓果醬等等。根據(jù)美國(guó)國(guó)家火雞俱樂部聯(lián)合會(huì)的統(tǒng)計(jì)，據(jù)估計(jì)在感恩節(jié)和圣誕節(jié)，美國(guó)人將吃掉數(shù)千萬只火雞。在美國(guó)，火雞已經(jīng)越來越受歡迎，它的消耗量大大超過了豬肉，牛肉，雞肉和羊肉。火雞以各種各樣的形式被提供給人們享用，比如：冷凍的火雞，熏制火雞，整只的火雞......
The custom of Thanksgiving Day
感恩節(jié)的習(xí)俗
Every Thanksgiving Day, the whole country is very busy and crowded. Parades, drama performances and sports competitions are held in both urban and rural places. Schools and shops are closed for the festival. Children imitate the appearance of the Indians at that time, having on strange clothing, making up their faces in color or wearing a mask and go to the street singing loudly, or blowing the horns. On that day, the church is full of people, who have to pray gratefully there according to the custom. The Americans are accustomed to an independent lifesince childhood, separate from their parents. Maybe the family members live in different cities. But at Thanksgiving, they always strive to return home from the distance, and the family sit round together, munch the delicious turkey, and talk happily about the past, all of which make them feel particularly kind and warm.
每年的感恩節(jié)，整個(gè)國(guó)家都是非常熱鬧和擁擠的。城市和鄉(xiāng)村都在舉辦游行，戲劇表演，運(yùn)動(dòng)比賽等活動(dòng)。學(xué)校和商店都放假來慶祝節(jié)日。孩子們都模仿印第安人的模樣，穿著奇特服裝，臉上畫著油彩或者戴著面具，去大街上高聲歌唱或者吹喇叭。在那一天，教堂里擠滿了人，根據(jù)習(xí)俗他們?nèi)ツ抢锔卸鞫\告。美國(guó)人從很小就習(xí)慣了與父母分開過獨(dú)立的生活。也許家人們住在不同的城市里。但是在感恩節(jié)期間，他們總會(huì)盡力從遙遠(yuǎn)的地方趕回家，家人圍坐在一起，吃著美味的火雞，開心地談?wù)撝^往，所有這一切都讓他們感到特別溫暖和諧。
At the same time, the hospitable Americans will also invite friends, bachelors or people far from home to observe the festival together. From the 18th century on, the custom of sending a basket of food to poor families began to appear in the United States. There was a group of young women who would like to choose a special day to do good deeds, thinking Thanksgiving Day was the most appropriate. So when Thanksgiving Day came, they would deliver a basket of foodpersonally to the poor. That story spread quickly and soon many people learned from them. So the custom has passed down since then.
同時(shí)，好客的美國(guó)人也會(huì)邀請(qǐng)朋友，單身漢或者離家在外的人來一起慶祝這個(gè)節(jié)日。從十八世紀(jì)以來，送一籃子食物給貧苦人家的習(xí)俗就開始在美國(guó)實(shí)行起來。有一群年輕婦女想要選一個(gè)特殊的日子做好事，她們認(rèn)為感恩節(jié)是最恰當(dāng)不過了。于是，當(dāng)感恩節(jié)來臨時(shí)，她們就親自給貧困家庭送去滿滿一籃子食物。那個(gè)故事很快流傳開來，不久許多人都向她們學(xué)習(xí)。自從那時(shí)起這個(gè)習(xí)俗就流傳下來了。
