感恩節特輯之 感恩節的歷史
The Story of American Thanksgiving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，别忘做附带的小测试。
Thanksgiving Day is an American holiday and not celebrated incontinental Europe. On the fourth Thursday of each November, familiesand friends gather together for the occasion to celebrate with atraditional turkey dinner, usually in the mid-afternoon. Thanksgivingoriginated as a celebration of the year’s harvest and is similar to theMid-Autumn Festival in China.
The origin of the Thanksgiving Day
This American tradition started in 1621 before the United States ofAmerica was established. It was a huge celebration for a hard-earnedharvest the first year after arriving in the New World.
OnSeptember 6, 1620, the Mayflower ship set sail from Plymouth, Devon,England, taking all the English Pilgrims （清教徒）to the New World. TheEnglish Pilgrims numbered about a hundred people, and left England toescape religious persecution. Their voyage to the New World wasfinanced by Merchant Adventurers, an English investor group.
The Pilgrims sailed sixty-six days, arrived in the New World inNovember of the same year. They first settled in a cornfield abandonedby Native Indians and named it Plymouth Plantation.
Theyworked on the land with much difficulty and were beset by a devastatingplague in which half of the Pilgrim died in the long winter of 1620. Inthe 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 thePilgrims how to work the earth and plant corn, beans, pumpkins, squashand other crops.
The Thanksgiving feast in 1621
In late September 1621, the Pilgrims were pleased with their greatharvest. To celebrate their first harvest, the Pilgrims wanted to thankGod and the Native Indian. They invited Squanto and the entireWampanoag tribe that celebrate together in a shared feast.
It was said about ninety Wampanoag turned up, much to the surprise ofthe Pilgrims, whose population had shrunk to no more than 50. The chiefof the tribe had his men hunt five deer to bring to the feast. Thefirst Thanksgiving dinner had an elaborate menu with venison, wildturkey, goose, duck, crane, swan, and other waterfowl; they also haslocal seafood: clams, lobsters, mussels, salmon, cod, bass, herring,shad, bluefish, lots of eel and oysters. They also cooked plenty ofvegetables, among them squash, pumpkins and beans were the mostpopular.
They ate raspberries, strawberries, grapes,plums, cherries, blueberries, walnuts, chestnuts, acorns, hickory andground nuts, wheat flour, Indian corn and corn meal and they made beerout of barley. The pumpkin pudding was later developed into thetraditional pumpkin pie.
The first Thanksgiving dinner issaid to have lasted from three days to one week with much food, beerand liquor. The Pilgrims and the Native Indian sat together on theground, shared food with fingers or used rough plates made of wood orstale bread. They ran races, played old English games and stagedparades during the festive, with marches, drums and firing of theirmuskets.
"Thanksgiving" related to the Bible
The phrase "thanksgiving" initially comes from the Bible. The Pilgrimsof Plymouth, however, were mainly Puritans and strict CalvinistProtestants. They only observed three religious holidays from the NewTestament: Sunday Sabbath, Days of Fasting and humiliation andThanksgiving. Thanksgiving marked favourable ("mercies") in communitylife.
The first Thanksgiving festival was indeed atime of happiness, fellowship and rejoicing for the Pilgrims. Theyarranged a friendly treaty with the Native American Indians, builthouses in the wilderness, and raised sufficient crops to feedthemselves for the upcoming long winter. The Pilgrims had become thefirst generation of settlers in this new land holding so much promise.
From then on, Thanksgiving became a holiday for celebrating theharvest in the New World, dates varied from October to November eachyear over the next 150 years.
Thanksgiving, the National holiday
The first National Thanksgiving was declared by the ContinentalCongress in 1777. On October 3, 1789, President George Washingtondeclared that the people of the United States should observe "a day ofpublic thanksgiving and prayer" on Thursday, 26 November.
Many say the credit for the establishment of an annual Thanksgivingholiday should be given to Sarah Josepha Hale. Being the editor ofLadies Magazine and Godey’s Lady’s Book, she lobbied to the governors,senators, and presidents for a national holiday and published storiesand 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 nationalThanksgiving Day, to be observed every year on the fourth Thursday ofNovember.
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 Americafor families and friends to gather together. The festival is alsocelebrated by Americans living abroad. Thanks to the Native Americansand the Pilgrims who created this idea of a day of Thanksgiving allthose live in the New World can be thankful for all we have and sharethe joy with our family members and friends.
Thanksgiving Rehearsal Diner Quiz
1. Which year did the most commonly recognized first Thanksgivingdinner/feast take place in the Plymouth Colony of the New World, hostedby the English Pilgrims?
a. 1609
b. 1621
c. 1777
2. The reason for the above Thanksgiving feast at Plymouth was to…
a. Celebrating the harvest, thanks the God and the native Indians
b. Thanks the God only
c. Thanks the weather of the New World
3. Who was the president that proclaimed in 1863 a nationalThanksgiving Day to be observed every year on the fourth Thursday ofNovember
a. President Washington
b. President Lincoln
c. President Jefferson
4. Which year was the Congressional Joint Resolution set the fourthThursday of November as a national holiday for Thanksgiving?
a. 1939
b. 1941
c. 1955
5. What was the main meat dish the native Indian tribe, Wampanoag,brought to the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving dinner/feast in Plymouth?
a. Swan
b. Wild turkey
c. Venison
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