标题: √Thanksgiving Day [打印本页] 作者: 我是你快乐的鱼 时间: 2006-11-23 21:25:15 标题: √Thanksgiving Day
随着一声『财神爷爷到』，从天上掉下一滴甘露正好落在你的嘴唇上！
你在恍惚中看见了2两黄金。
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. As we know, it was first celebrated in 1621 by English settlers of the Plymouth colony.
The settlers, or Pilgrims, left their native England because they had been denied the right to separate from the establised church to worship in their own way. They fled first to Holland and in 1620 they sailed to America on the Mayflower,seeking a place where they coule have freedom of worship. Their original destination was Jamestown, Virginia, but because of strong winds and severe storms, the Mayflower lost its course. The brave group of colonists finally had to land at Plymouth on the rocky coast of Massachusetts in December 1620. It was the middle of the stern northern winter. Terrible months of starvation, disease, an death were ahead of them. Only the stronest of the Pilgrims survived that winter. Many women gave their own pitiful rations to their children and died for lack of food for themselves. During their first winter, over half of the settlers died of starvation or epidemics. Those who survived began sowing in the first spring. A friendly Indian called Squanto taught them how to plant the corn. Through Squanto they wee able to make peace with the neighboring Indian tribes and from them they learned to hunt game animals and trap beavers. They found berries and fruit growing nearby and the bay rich in clams, eels and oysters. Hunters retured from the woods with wild turkeys, geese and ducks.
All summer long they waited for the harvests with great anxiety, knowing that their lives and the future esistence 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 thandsgiving to God be fixed. Governor Bradford decided on December 13,1621 as the day for giving thanks to God.
To thand the Indians for their help and friendship the Pilgrims invited their chief, Massasoit,to the Thanksgiving feast. Massasoit and his ninety braves arrived bringing with them five deer which were to be cooked in the open with the turkeys and geese provided bu Pilgrim hunters. The Indians also contributed many kinds of vegetables, especially pumpkins. Today pumpkins are both food and decoration for almost every Thanksgiving table.
(累死我啦!!!明天继续哈...)
[ Last edited by vonsnic85 on 2006-12-14 at 11:12 ]作者: RickyCarter 时间: 2006-11-23 22:29:08
(接上...)During the three days of celebration, the small group of women worked very hard. There were only a few young girls and a small number of children to help them. This little group provided food for the three-day feast for one hundred and forty people, including the Indian guests. In the meantime, the men took part in various contests and games. The Indians competed with their bows and arrows. Both red men and white men competed in sports. Everyone was very excited when the soldiers shot their rifles and blew their bugles.
The Pilgrims objected to fixing the celebration by the calendar, believing rather that "the ceremonies should respond to the gifts of God". After 1623, Thanksgiving Days were celebrated irregularly and on a regional basis. A national Thanksgiving Day came only after the thirteen colonies had been united. On October 3, 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln issued the first national Thanksgiving Proclamation since that given by George Washington in 1789. Since Lincoln's time it has been the custom for the President of the United States to proclaim annually the fourth Thurday of November as Thanksgiving Day. The celebration of Thanksgiving Day has been observed on that date until today. The President's proclamation is published widely and is read at the beginning of all Thanksgiving Day church services.
The pattern of the Thanksgiving celebration has never changed through the years. The big family dinner is planned months ahead. Some of the family will have to travel by air and others will make long motor trips with the chidren. Sons and daughters away at college use their four-day holiday to go home, and employees take extra days from their work so as to be able to make the trip for the annual reunion. The Thanksgiving dinner menu today is somewht the same as it was on Thanksgiving Day in 1863. On the dinner table, people will be plum pudding, mince pie, other varieties of food and cranberry juice. 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 down through the years.作者: 我是你快乐的鱼 时间: 2006-11-25 22:24:25
(continue...)In true thanksgiving spirit the family circle is often enlarged to include friends known to be alone, foreign visitors, or servicemen away from home. Orphans, the aged and the homeless also have the traditional turkey dinner, provided either by some individual or a church group.
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 abundance and humbly ask for continued blessings. It is a family day and a chance to renew friendship. Above all, Thanksgiving Day is a time for remembrance and for giving thanks.
~ The end~作者: 后街男孩boy 时间: 2006-12-3 00:05:06