感恩节的起源The Origin of Thanksgiving Day.doc

The Origin of Thanksgiving Day Every year Thanksgiving Day falls on the fourth Thursday in November. It is American peoples original festival. Thanksgiving Day in the United States is a festival when the family members gather together, like the Chinese New Year, emphasizing happy reunion. So Thanksgiving Day is one of the most important festivals in America. How did Thanksgiving Day begin? As early as in 1620, some pilgrims (清教徒)who had suffered religious persecution（宗教迫害） in the UK sailed to America. But the cold winter made them trapped in trouble. Half of the people died from hunger and coldness. At this time, the kind Indians came to offer them the necessaries of life, and taught them the living skills of farming, hunting and so on .As a result, these immigrants survived luckily. In order to express their thanks from the bottom of heart, the settlers invited the Indians to celebrate the abundant harvest that year. This is the origin of Thanksgiving Day. Dinner on Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving food has traditional characteristics. Turkey is a main course in tradition. Usually the turkeys stomach is filled with all kinds of flavorings and some mixed food, and then is toasted wholly. After that, the host will slice it into pieces for the family. In addition, the traditional food at this festival includes sweet potatoes, maize, pumpkin pies, cranberry jam, etc. According to the U.S. National Turkey Federation, it is estimated that at Thanksgiving Day and Christmas , American people will eat tens of millions of turkeys. In the United States, Turkey has become more and more popular, whose consumption is far larger than pork, beef, chicken and mutton. Turkey is served to people in varied forms such as frozen turkey, smoked turkey, the whole turkey. The custom of the Thanksgiving Day Every Thanksgiving Day, the whole country is very busy and crowded. Parades, drama performances and sports competitions are held in both urban and rural places. Schools and shops are closed for the festival. Children imitate the appearance of the Indians at that time, having on strange clothing, making up their faces in color or wearing a mask and go to the street singing loudly, or blowing the horns. On that day, the church is full of people, who have to pray gratefully there according to the custom. The Americans are accustomed to an independent life since childhood, separate from their parents. Maybe the family members live in different cities. But at Thanksgiving, they always strive to return home from the distance, and the family sit round together, munch the delicious turkey, and talk happily about the past, all of which make them feel particularly kind and warm. At the same time, the hospitable Americans will also invite friends, bachelors or people far from home to observe the festival together. From the 18th century on, the custom of sending a basket of food to poor families began to appear in the United States. There was a group of young women who would like to choose a special day to do good deeds, thinking Thanksgiving Day was the most appropriate. So when Thanksgiving Day came, the