The History of Thanksgiving Day

◎供稿：Arthur

Almost every culture in the world has held celebrations of thanks for a plentiful harvest. The American Thanksgiving holiday began as a feast of thanksgiving in the early days of the American colonies almost four hundred years ago.

In 1620, a boat filled with more than one hundred people sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to settle in the New World. This religious group had begun to question the beliefs of the Church of England and they wanted to separate from it. The Pilgrims settled in what is now the state of Massachusetts. Their first winter in the New World was difficult. They had arrived too late to grow many crops, and without fresh food, half the colony died from disease. The following spring the Iroquois Indian staught them how to grow corn, a new food for the colonists; showed them other crops how to grow in the unfamiliar soil and how to hunt and fish.

In the autumn of 1621, bountiful crops of corn, barley, beans and pumpkins were harvested. The colonists had much to be thankful for, so a feast was planned. They invited the local Indian chief and 90 Indians. The Indians brought deer to roast with the turkeys and other wild game offered by the colonists. The colonists had learned how to cook cranberries and different kinds of corn and squash dishes from the Indians. To this first Thanksgiving, the Indians had even brought popcorn.

In following years, many of the original colonists celebrated the autumn harvest with a feast of thanks.

After the United States became an independent country, Congress recommended one yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole nation to celebrate. George Washington suggested the date November 26 as Thanksgiving Day. Then in 1863, at the end of a long and bloody civil war, Abraham Lincoln asked all Americans to set aside the last Thursday in November as a day of thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November, a different date every year.The President must proclaim that date as the official celebration.

幾乎世界上的每一種文化都為豐收而慶祝。美國感恩節(jié)假期始于大約四百年前美國殖民地早期的感恩節(jié)。

1620年，一艘載有100多人的船橫渡大西洋來到新大陸定居。這個宗教團(tuán)體在英國開始質(zhì)疑教會的信仰，所以想與之分離。朝圣者在現(xiàn)在的馬薩諸塞州定居。他們在新大陸的第一個冬天過得很艱難。他們來得太晚了，不能種更多的莊稼，沒有新鮮食物，一半的人死于疾病。第二年春天，易洛魁族印第安人教他們?nèi)绾畏N植玉米，這是殖民者的新食物，告訴他們?nèi)绾卧谶@陌生的大地種植其他作物，以及如何捕獵和捕魚。

在1621秋季，他們收獲了大量的玉米、大麥、豆類和南瓜。殖民者有很多值得感謝的事情，所以計劃了一次宴會。他們邀請了當(dāng)?shù)赜〉诎睬蹰L和90名印第安人。印第安人把鹿和火雞及殖民者提供的其他野生動物一起烤制。殖民者學(xué)會了如何烹調(diào)蔓越莓和不同種類的玉米和南瓜。在這第一次的感恩節(jié)，印第安人甚至帶來了爆米花。

在接下來的幾年里，許多原始殖民者用感恩的盛宴來慶祝秋收。

美國成為獨(dú)立國家后，國會建議全國人民每年慶祝感恩節(jié)。喬治·華盛頓建議把11月26日的這天定為感恩節(jié)。1863年，在漫長而血腥的內(nèi)戰(zhàn)結(jié)束時，亞伯拉罕·林肯要求所有的美國人把11月的最后一個星期四作為感恩節(jié)。

感恩節(jié)是11月的第四個星期四，每年都有不同的日期。總統(tǒng)必須宣布這一日期為官方慶祝活動。

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感恩節(jié)(Thanksgiving Day)是美國人民獨(dú)創(chuàng)的一個古老節(jié)日，也是美國人合家歡聚的節(jié)日。初時感恩節(jié)沒有固定日期，由美國各州臨時決定。直到美國獨(dú)立后的1863年，林肯總統(tǒng)宣布感恩節(jié)為全國性節(jié)日。1941年，美國國會正式將每年11月第四個星期四定為“感恩節(jié)”。感恩節(jié)放假一天，但很多地方會將假期延長到星期天。

1879 年加拿大議會宣稱11月6日是感恩節(jié)和全國性的假日。在隨后的年代，感恩節(jié)的日期改變了多次，直到在1957 年1月31日，加拿大議會宣布每年10月的第二個星期一為感恩節(jié)。

除了美國、加拿大，世界上還有埃及、希臘等國家有自己獨(dú)特的感恩節(jié)，但英國、法國等歐洲國家卻與感恩節(jié)絕緣，也有學(xué)者倡議設(shè)立“中華感恩節(jié)”，以弘揚(yáng)傳統(tǒng)文化。