每逢感恩節這一天，美國舉國上下熱鬧非凡，人們按照習俗前往教堂做感恩祈禱，城鄉市鎮到處舉行化裝遊行、戲劇表演和體育比賽等，學校和商店也都按規定放假休息。孩子們還模仿當年印第安人的模樣穿上離奇古怪的服裝，畫上臉譜或戴上面具到街上唱歌、吹喇叭。在外國“感恩節”和中國的春節一樣重要!
【美國感恩節的由來英文版】
Thanksgiving Day, as celebrated in No rth America, is a time to gather with family and friends to give thanks for the many blessings enjoyed by these nations and their citizens. However, to many people, its meaning is lost.
It has become simply another day fo r huge meals, dinner parties, get-togethers o r reunions. What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
Turkey dinners, cranberries, candied yams, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and family gatherings—these are all commonly associated with most Americans and Canadians yearly celebration of giving thanks—Thanksgiving Day!
In the United States, Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of November.
In Canada, it is the second Monday in October. On this holiday, a Thanksgiving meal is prepared with all the trimmings; families gather together and talk, while others watch a game or a parade filled with pilgrims, Indians and other colonial figures. Some families may even have their own yearly Thanksgiving traditions.
What comes to mind when you think of Thanksgiving? Do you picture a time of thankfulness towards God—o r is it merely one of eating, partying o r watching football?
Sadly, the latter is what Thanksgiving has become to most. They have fo rgotten why the day was established.
Its meaning has slowly deterio rated, and is now almost completely lost under a cloud of media hype, sales pitches, marketing tactics and blitz commercialism.
While many are familiar with the traditional representation of the o riginal Thanksgiving, it is helpful to examine the purpose for which it was first celebrated. By doing this, the days meaning will be firmly established.
【感恩節相關介紹】
Football 橄欖球賽
Thanksgiving is ruled by two very powerful f-words: "food" and "football."
Nearly as old as the sport itself, the tradition of watching football on Thanksgiving began in 1876, when the newly formed American Intercollegiate Football Association held its first championship game.
Less than a decade later, more than 5,000 club, college and high school football teams held games on Thanksgiving, with match-ups between Princeton and Yale drawing more than 40,000 fans out from their dining rooms. 1934 marked the first NFL game held on Thanksgiving when the Detroit Lions took on the Chicago Bears.
The Lions have played on Thanksgiving ever since — except, of course, when the team was called away to serve during World War II.
感恩節是由兩個F開頭的字組成的：食物food和橄欖球football。從1876年、美國橄欖球聯盟開始舉辦首屆聯賽開始，在感恩節就有看橄欖球賽的傳統——幾乎和這項運動本身的歷史一樣長。
其後不到十年的時間內，更有超過5000所俱樂部、大學和高中的橄欖球隊在這一天舉行比賽。
其中普林斯頓和耶魯的比賽更是吸引了超過4萬名球迷到場觀看。1934年，超級碗首次在伽嫩屆當天舉行比賽，那天是由底特律雄獅對陣芝加哥熊。雄獅隊自此每遇感恩節都有比賽——除了二戰期間隊員們服役才中斷過。
Franklin D. Roosevelt 福蘭克林·D·羅斯福
FDR learned the hard way not to mess with some traditions. In 1939, the President declared that Americans should celebrate the annual feast one week early, hoping the decision would spur retail sales during the Great Depression. But Americans did not react kindly to the New Deal meal.
Some took to the streets while others took to name-calling; the mayor of Atlantic City solved the controversy by declaring his residents would simply enjoy two meals — Thanksgiving and "Franksgiving."
After two years of squabbling (or gobbling, as it were), Congress adopted a resolution in 1941 setting the fourth Thursday of November as the legal holiday.
福蘭克林·羅斯福總統可是吃了點兒虧才學會有些傳統改不得。1939年，這位總統閣下宣佈美國應該提前一週過感恩節，希望此舉能夠刺激大蕭條中的美國經濟。
哪知美國人民不買他的賬：有的上街遊行抗議、有的玩起了文字遊戲。大西洋城的市長就宣稱，他家會過兩個節：“感恩節”和“福蘭克恩節”。
在經過整整兩年的爭論(或者根本就是鬥嘴)之後，國會終於妥協，在1941年將感恩節法定假日定在了11月的第四個星期四。
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" 瑪麗有隻小羊羔
The woman who wrote the classic nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb" also played an integral role in making Thanksgiving a national holiday.
After a 17-year letter-writing campaign, magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale finally convinced President Abraham Lincoln to issue an 1863 decree recognizing the historic tradition.
Sarah Josepha Hale，這位寫下傳世詩句《瑪麗有隻小羊羔》的女性在為感恩節爭取法定中也扮演了重要一角兒。
1863年，當時作為雜誌編輯的她在經過了長達17年的寫信呼籲之後，總統林肯終於頒發檔案承認了感恩節這一傳統假日。
Westminster Abbey 西敏寺
In 1942, London's Westminster Abbey held Thanksgiving services for U.S. troops stationed in England.
More than 3,500 soldiers filled the church's pews to sing America, the Beautiful and The Star-Spangled Banner — the first time in the church's 900-year history that a foreign army was invited to take over the grounds.
It was an ironic gesture given the holiday's origins as a festival for pilgrims fleeing religious tyranny in Britain.
1942年，為表彰美國軍隊保護英國，倫敦西敏寺為美國軍人舉行了感恩節宴會。當時有超過3500人到場，齊唱“美麗的美國和星條旗”——這是這座教堂900年來第一次邀請外國軍隊駐足。
諷刺的'是，這個節日的緣由正是因為當年遷徙到美國的清教徒們在英國受到宗教迫害。
Pardon 赦免
The annual White House tradition of pardoning a turkey before Thanksgiving began in 1947, when President Harry Truman took pity on one lucky fowl.
Other historians say the practice began during the 1860s, when Abraham Lincoln granted a pardon to a pet turkey belonging to his son, Tad.
The tradition may alleviate some of America's guilt, but it doesn't stop us from slaughtering more than 46 million turkeys for the holiday.
Even so, as Alaska Governor Sarah Palin proved during a recent interview in her hometown, Americans prefer public acts of mercy to massacres.
感恩節前，由總統在白宮“赦免”一隻火雞的傳統始於1947年，當時是由杜魯門總統放生了一隻幸運的火雞。
還有一些歷史學家認為這一傳統起源於1860年，林肯總統釋放了一隻由他兒子養的寵物火雞。
這一傳統也許減輕了某些美國人的負罪感，但仍舊無法湮滅我們一年吃掉460萬隻火雞的事實。
即便如此，就如阿拉斯加議員Sarah Palin在最近一次採訪中提到的那樣：相對於大屠殺，美國人還是更喜歡公眾場合的慈善行為。
