Другое : Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving Day
Almost in every culture in the world there is a celebration of thanks for rich
harvest. The American Thanksgiving began as a feast of thanksgiving almost four
hundred years ago.
In 1620, a religious community sailed across the Atlantic
Ocean to settle in New World. They settled in what is not known as the state of
Massachusetts. Their first winter in America was difficult. They arrived too
late to grow a rich harvest. Moreover, half the Iroquois Indians taught them
also how to grow other crops and how to hunt and fish.
In the autumn of 1621 they got a beautiful harvest of corn,
barley, beans and pumpkins. The colonists had much to be thankful for, so they
planned a feast. The colonists learned from Indians how to cook cranberries and
dishes of corn and pumpkins.
In following years many of the colonists celebrated the
harvest with a feast of thanks. After the United States gained independence,
Congress recommended one yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole country.
Later, George Washington suggested the date November 26 as Thanksgiving Day.
Then, after the civil war, Abraham Lincoln suggested the last Thursday in
November to be the day of thanksgiving.
On Thanksgiving Day, family members gather at the house of an
older relative, even if they live far away. All give thanks for everything good
they have. Charitable organizations offer traditional meal to the homeless.
Foods, eaten at the first thanksgiving, have become
traditional. The traditional thanksgiving meal consists of roast turkey stuffed
with herb-flavored bread, cranberry jelly, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie. Other
dishes may vary as to region: ham, sweet, potatoes, creamed corn.
A Celebration of
Thanksgiving
The origins of Thanksgiving predated the
Pilgrims at least 2,000 years. After the harvest of each year was safely stored
for the winter, Celtic priests, the Druids, would mark the end of their
calendar with prayers to their sun god for protection during the period of
darkness and cold of winter. These harvest festivals evolved and became
combined with a Christian Feast of Saints.
The first formal celebration of
Thanksgiving in North America was held by an English explorer, Martin
Frobisher, who attempted to establish an English settlement on Baffin Island,
after failing to discover a northern passage to the Orient in 1576. Canada
established the second Monday in October as a national holiday, "a day of
general thanksgiving," in 1957.
The Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock held their
Thanksgiving in 1621 as a three day "thank you" celebration to the
leaders of the Wampanoag Indian tribe and their families for teaching them the
survival skills they needed to make it in the New World. It was their good
fortune that the tradition of the Wampanoags was to treat any visitor to their
homes with a share of whatever food the family had, even if supplies were low.
It was also an amazing stroke of luck that one of the Wampanoag, Tisquantum or
Squanto, had become close friends with a British explorer, John Weymouth, and
had learned the Pilgrim's language in his travels to England with Weymouth.
Wild turkey was on the menu, along with corn (Pilgrim's wheat), Indian corn,
barley, peas, waterfowl, five deer (brought by the Indians as their dish to
pass), bass and cod. Since then, we've added such delicacies as ham, sweet
potatoes, corn on the cob, popcorn, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. What?
Pumpkin pie is not authentic? The Pilgrims probably made pumpkin pudding
sweetened with honey, but they didn't have sugar, crust or whipped topping.
Life was tough back then.
The turkey tradition was really pushed by
Benjamin Franklin, who wanted to make it the United States national symbol
because it is a quick runner, wary, with sharp eyesight, and exhibited a regal
stance, at least to Franklin. While the bald eagle nudged out the wild turkey
for our official national symbol, Norman Rockwell has probably made the image
of the family Thanksgiving turkey even more famous, and certainly more mouth
watering.
The actual day we celebrate Thanksgiving in
America was picked by our presidents, starting with George Washington who
declared a one-time holiday. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in
November to be "...a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent
Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it to the
fourth Thursday of November in 1939, to prevent a 5 week November from
shortening the Christmas shopping season.
T for time to be together, turkey, talk, and tangy weather.
H for harvest stored away,
home, and hearth, and holiday.
A for autumn's frosty art,
and abundance in the heart.
N for neighbours, and
October, nice things, new things to remember.
K for kitchen, kettles'
croon, kith and kin expected soon.
S for sizzles, sights, and
sounds, and something special that abounds.
Did You Know?
Americans
did not invent Thanksgiving. It began in Canada. Frobisher's celebration in
1578 was 43 years before the pilgrims gave thanks in 1621 for the bounty that
ended a year of hardships and death. Abraham Lincoln established the date for
the US as the last Thursday in November. In 1941, US Congress set the National
Holiday as the fourth Thursday in November.
Frobisher and early colonists, giving thanks for safe
passage, as well as pilgrim celebrations in the US that began the traditions of
turkeys, pumpkin pies, and the gathering of family and friends.
There are three traditions
behind our Canadian Thanksgiving Day.
1.
Long ago, before the first Europeans arrived
in North America, the farmers in Europe held celebrations at harvest time. To
give thanks for their good fortune and the abundance of food, the farm workers
filled a curved goat's horn with fruit and grain. This symbol was called a
cornucopia or horn of plenty. When they came to Canada they brought this
tradition with them.
2.
In the year 1578, the English navigator
Martin Frobisher held a formal ceremony, in what is now called Newfoundland, to
give thanks for surviving the long journey. He was later knighted and had an
inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him - Frobisher Bay.
Other settlers arrived and continued these ceremonies.
3.
The third came in the year 1621, in what is
now the United States, when the Pilgrims celebrated their harvest in the New
World. The Pilgrims were English colonists who had founded a permanent European
settlement at Plymouth Massachusetts. By the 1750's, this joyous celebration
was brought to Nova Scotia by American settlers from the south.
At the same time, French settlers, having crossed the
ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, also held huge
feasts of thanks. They even formed "The Order of Good Cheer" and
gladly shared their food with their Indian neighbours.
After the Seven Year's War ended in 1763, the citizens
of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving.
The Americans who remained faithful to the government
in England were known as Loyalists. At the time of the American revolution,
they moved to canada and spread the Thanksgiving celebration to other parts of
the country. many of the new English settlers from Great Britain were also used
to having a harvest celebration in their churches every autumn. Eventually in 1879, Parliament declared November 6th a day of
Thanksgiving and a national holiday. Over the years many dates were used for
Thanksgiving, the most popular was the 3rd Monday in October. After World War
I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the
week in which November 11th occurred. Ten years later, in 1931, the two days
became separate holidays and Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day.
Finally, on January 31st, 1957, Parliament proclaimed....
Now, more than ever, we're reminded to
treasure our families, communities, and the institutions that raise our
spirits, help the less fortunate, and express our passions. As we move forward,
join us in a new tradition. This year, during the Thanksgiving holiday, as you
come together for family, friendship, food and fellowship, celebrate Giving Day.
·
Make a Giving Day
commitment to support your favorite cause with a gift of time or money
·
Express your values,
compassion, and passions with your loved ones by sharing your Giving Day
commitment at Thanksgiving dinner
·
Build a new tradition
by encouraging others to celebrate Giving Day
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