Introduction

Thanksgiving Day (Thanksgiving Day) is an ancient holiday created by the American people, and it is also a holiday for Americans to get together as a family. In the beginning, Thanksgiving Day had no fixed date, and was decided by the states of the United States on an ad hoc basis. Until 1863, after the independence of the United States, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday. 1941, the United States Congress officially designated the fourth Thursday of November as "Thanksgiving Day". The Thanksgiving holiday usually lasts from Thursday to Sunday.

In addition to the United States, Canada, Egypt, Greece and other countries in the world have their own unique Thanksgiving Day, but the United Kingdom, France and other European countries are insulated from Thanksgiving Day, and there are scholars who advocate the establishment of a "Chinese Thanksgiving Day," in order to promote traditional culture.

The origin of the holiday

The United States

The origin of Thanksgiving Day goes all the way back to the beginning of the history of the U.S.A. In 1620, the famous Mayflower, a ship full of Puritans who could not bear the religious persecution of the British arrived in the Americas. 102 people arrived in America in the winter of 1620 and 1621. During the winter of 1620 and 1621, they encountered unimaginable difficulties and were starved and cold, and by the time the winter was over, only about 50 immigrants had survived. At this time, the kind-hearted Indians sent the necessities of life to the immigrants, and also sent people to teach them how to hunt, fish and plant corn and pumpkins. With the help of the Indians, the immigrants finally got a good harvest, and on the day of celebrating the harvest, in accordance with traditional religious customs, the immigrants set a day to thank God and decided to thank the Indians for their sincere help by inviting them to join them in celebrating the festival.

On the first Thanksgiving Day, the Indians and the settlers gathered together, fired a cannon salute at dawn, marched into a house used as a church to express their gratitude to God, and then lit a bonfire and held a great feast, where the turkeys they had hunted were made into a delicacy and served to the Indians. On the second and third days there was wrestling, running, singing and dancing. The first Thanksgiving was a great success. Many of these celebrations have been passed down for over 300 years and remain to this day. ?

Europeans who emigrated to the United States largely followed the format of the first Thanksgiving celebrations on the North American continent.In 1789, the first President of the United States, Washington, officially established November 26 as the first Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated uniformly throughout the country. However, for quite some time, each state set the date of the holiday depending on their own circumstances. It was not until 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln once again declared Thanksgiving a national holiday.

In 1941, the U.S. Congress, with the approval of President Roosevelt, passed a bill declaring the fourth Thursday of November each year as a national Thanksgiving Day. The Thanksgiving holiday usually lasts from Thursday to Sunday.

Holiday customs

Collective celebrations

Every Thanksgiving Day, the United States, up and down the country is very lively, Christians in accordance with the custom of going to church to give thanks to the prayers of Christians, the city towns and cities everywhere in costume parades, theater performances or sports competitions, etc.. The people who have been separated for a year will also return from all over the world, reunite as a family, and savor the Thanksgiving food that is mainly "turkey.

The most famous local celebration in the United States is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which began in 1924.

Every Thanksgiving Day, the United States of America, up and down the lively and extraordinary, people in accordance with the custom to go to church to pray for thanksgiving, urban and rural cities and towns are held everywhere in costume parades, theater performances and sports competitions, etc., the school and the store are also in accordance with the provisions of the holiday rest. The children also imitated the appearance of the Indians dressed in strange and bizarre costumes, face painting or wearing masks to the street singing, blowing horns.

Diaspora at the same time, hospitable Americans also can not forget this day to invite close friends, bachelors or people far from home *** to spend the holiday. A custom of sending baskets of food to poor families has been around in the United States since the 18th century. At the time, a group of young women wanted to choose one day of the year to dedicate to good deeds and thought it would be most appropriate to pick Thanksgiving. So when Thanksgiving came around, they filled a basket full of food and delivered it to the poor in person. The story spread far and wide, and soon many people followed their example. No matter who they met, they would say, "Thank you!" and family members from other parts of the country would come home for the holiday and sit around as a family, munching on delicious turkey and saying, "Thank you!" to their families. . After Thanksgiving, schools ask students to draw a picture of Thanksgiving, and most of them draw a turkey.

Holiday shopping

Thanksgiving shopping has become an American custom. The month from Thanksgiving to Christmas, when total U.S. retail sales can account for 1/3 of the year, is traditionally the peak season for discounts and promotions by various businesses. Crazy shopping month from Thanksgiving Day the next day (Friday), this day is known as Black Friday (Black Friday). The reason for this name, said to be because early Friday morning, everyone has to touch the black rush to the mall to line up to buy bargains, this behavior has a very graphic expression, called Early Bird (early bird). In foreign countries, Thanksgiving is as important as the Chinese New Year!

Outings

American Thanksgiving Day, in addition to these activities, some families will drive to the countryside to go on excursions, or take a plane out of the trip, when the immigrants settled down in Plymouth Harbor, where tourists want to be. There, you can see a replica of the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock, and you can visit the village, which is modeled after the Mayflower.

Thanksgiving turkey

How it came about

Why eat turkey on Thanksgiving. In 1620, a group of Puritans who advocated reform in England withdrew from the state religion and established their own Protestantism because their ideals and ambitions could not be realized, a move that aroused the hatred of those in power in England. Unable to withstand the persecution and discrimination of the rulers, these Puritans first fled to Holland, and in early September, took a ship across the ocean to prepare for exile in the United States. The ship drifted in the rough sea for 65 days, and finally reached the east coast of the United States in November, landing in the port of Provincetown, Rhode Island. At the time, it was still a wild, uncultivated land where turkeys and other wildlife were everywhere. In the middle of winter, they were in a strange place with little food and clothing, and the harsh environment was threatening their lives. In this life-and-death situation, local Indians brought them food, supplies, and tools, and helped them build their new home.

The British settled in their new homes, in order to thank the Indians in times of crisis to help, support them, but also to thank God for their "gift", on the fourth Thursday of November this year, will be hunted turkeys made of delicious food, hospitality to the Indians, and with them to carry on the carnival, the celebration activities The celebration lasted for three days. Since then, this celebration has been held every year on the fourth Thursday of November. In addition to entertaining the Indians with roasted turkeys, the festival also focuses on sports competitions such as archery, running, and wrestling, and at night, the Indians sing and dance around the bonfires and enjoy the fun.

Another story goes that at a harvest festival in the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth of England was eating roast goose. When news came that the Spanish Armada had sunk on its way to attack her beloved England, the Queen was so delighted that she asked for another goose to celebrate the news. Thus the goose became the beloved bird of England's harvest season. When the Pilgrims came to America from England, roast turkey became the main dish instead of roast goose because turkeys were more plentiful and easier to find on the North American continent than geese.　　

Thanksgiving Food

Thanksgiving food is extremely traditional. Every Thanksgiving, Americans must have a fat, tender turkey to eat.

Turkey is the traditional main dish of Thanksgiving. It is originally inhabited in North America's wild fowl, and then by the people of large numbers of breeding, become a delicious poultry, each can weigh up to forty or fifty pounds. Now there are still some places with a hunting ground, dedicated to people in Thanksgiving Day before the shooting, interested people to the hunting ground to spend some money, you can personally hit on a few wild turkey home. Make the holiday more interesting.

According to the recipe, a turkey of about 20 pounds is roasted for four hours until it is fully cooked. It needs to be roasted whole, with the skin of the chicken roasted to a dark brown color, and the stomach stuffed with lots of tossed food, such as croutons. The juices from the roasted turkey are used to make a gooey gravy accompanied by sweet cranberry jam as a dressing for the turkey.

Traditional turkey

Most Americans eat turkey as a casserole. Usually the turkey is stuffed with various seasonings and mixes, then wrapped in a barbecue bag and roasted whole.

The traditional Thanksgiving meal includes a roasted turkey, with some families substituting a roasted goose for the turkey; Stuffing, a stuffing that is stuffed inside the turkey and made with torn pieces of CornBread, white bread, celery, and so on; and Gravy, a thick drizzle of turkey giblets cooked in the turkey's giblets. There is also a special sauce, Cranberry Sauce, made with cranberries, which are produced in September and October.

Other side dishes include roasted mashed potatoes, roasted mashed sweet potatoes, green beans and bisquick. The final dessert, of course, includes a seasonal pumpkin pie, but you can also prepare a pecan or apple pie.

Presidential Turkey Release

The annual Presidential Turkey Release Ceremony began in 1947 under President Harry Truman, but the tradition actually dates back to the American Civil War under President Abraham Lincoln, whose son, Tad, barged into a cabinet meeting one day in 1863 to ask for a pardon for his pet turkey, Jack, who had been sent to the White House and was about to become a human being. the turkey that was about to become the people's Thanksgiving meal.　

On Nov. 22, 2006, Bush Jr. pardoned a turkey named Bird of Prey during a Thanksgiving Day release ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.

Thanksgiving 2009. Accompanied by his daughters Sasha and Maria, Obama pardoned the turkey that was to be used as a plated dinner. I was going to eat the turkey, Obama said. Due to the intervention of Sasha and Maria, I pardoned the "courage". The turkey will be sent to Disneyland. As a precaution, authorities also have a spare turkey named Carolina.

On Thanksgiving Day 2014, President Barack Obama pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys, "Cheese" and "Mark," sparing them from becoming a main course of the Thanksgiving meal and allowing them to live out their lives on a farm. die of old age". [2]

Holiday significance

Thanksgiving Day, in terms of its significance and the way it is celebrated, has changed little since 1621. On this day, churches of all denominations are open to give thanks to God for his generous gifts. Thanksgiving is a family holiday, and all over the country, husbands and wives, children and old people, from city to town, from town to township, from township to village, return to their old homes*** to spend the holiday. Those who can't go home also make long-distance phone calls to talk to their parents and family members and share what they are thankful for. The Thanksgiving meal is practically the same throughout the country. The table is always filled with a variety of delicious foods. Naturally the main thing is the turkey. Pumpkin pie was eaten to remind everyone that the Indians had given such a gift to the first settlers back in the day. In most families, traditional games are played after the meal. Thanksgiving is an enjoyable celebration, a day of family reunion and a time to renew friendships. On that day, even singles are always invited to other people's homes to share the joy of thanksgiving and to give thanks for God's goodness. This is what Thanksgiving is all about.