感恩節真實來歷:11月第4個星期四爲何過節

Most stories of Thanksgiving history start with the harvest celebration of the pilgrims and the Native Americans that took place in the autumn of 1621. There is little evidence that this feast of thanks led directly to our modern Thanksgiving Day holiday. Thanksgiving can, however, be traced back to 1863 when Pres. Lincoln became the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving Day. The holiday has been a fixture of late November ever since.
大多數關於感恩節產生的故事都是以1621年秋天清教徒和美國土著人一起慶祝豐收開始的。幾乎沒有證據表明這次感恩宴會直接演變成了現代感恩節。其實感恩節可以追溯到1863年，林肯是第一位確立感恩節的總統，從那時起這個節日就定在了11月末。

The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast – including 91 natives who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It lasted three days.
乘坐“五月花”號船來到這個國家的清教徒於1620年12月11日在普里茅斯巖登陸，第一個冬天對他們來說是個災難。第二年秋天開始的時候，最初乘坐“五月花”號來的102人中有46個人都沒能活下來。但1621年獲得了大豐收，剩下的殖民者決定辦一場宴會慶祝一下——邀請了91位曾經幫清教徒挺過第一年的土著人，宴會持續了三天。

Governor William Bradford sent “four men fowling” after wild ducks and geese. It is not certain that wild turkey was part of their feast. However, it is certain that they had venison. The term “turkey” was used by the Pilgrims to mean any sort of wild fowl.
總督佈雷德福派了“四人捕鳥隊”去捕捉野鴨和野鵝。不知道當時宴席上有沒有野火雞，但肯定有鹿肉。清教徒用“火雞”這個詞指代任何一種野味。

Another modern staple at almost every Thanksgiving table is pumpkin pie. But it is unlikely that the first feast included that treat. However, they did eat boiled pumpkin, and they produced a type of fried bread from their corn crop. There was also no milk, cider, potatoes, or butter. But the feast did include fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums.
現代幾乎每個感恩節餐桌上都有的一道主食就是南瓜派，但第一次辦的宴會上不可能有這個主食。他們當時確實吃煮南瓜，還有用其他玉米類作物做的一種炸麪包。當時也沒有牛奶、果酒、土豆或者黃油。但當時宴席上確實有魚肉、漿果、西洋菜、龍蝦、水果乾、蛤蜊、鹿肉和李子。

It wasn’t until June of 1676 that another Day of thanksgiving was proclaimed. On June 20 of that year the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks for the good fortune that had seen their community securely established. They proclaimed June 29 as a day of thanksgiving. It is notable that this thanksgiving celebration probably did not include Native Americans.
直到1676年6月份纔再次宣佈感恩節的日期。在那一年的6月20日，查爾斯敦、馬薩諸塞管理委員會開會決定如何最好地表達對委員會安全建立這一好運的感恩，他們宣佈6月29日爲感恩日。值得注意的是這個感恩節慶祝活動可能跟美國土著人沒關係。

George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789. And later, President Thomas Jefferson opposed the idea of having a day of thanksgiving. It was Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, whose efforts eventually led to what we recognize as Thanksgiving. After a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale’s obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.
喬治•華盛頓在1789年確立了“全國感恩節”，後來托馬斯•傑斐遜總統反對“感恩節”的這個想法。後來是在雜誌編輯Sarah Josepha Hale的努力下，最終確定了我們熟知的感恩節。在努力給政府人士和總統寫了40年社論和信之後，Hale的夙願終於變成了現實。在1863年，林肯總統宣佈把11月的最後一個星期四定爲全國的感恩節。

The date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.
日期被更改了幾次，最後一次是富蘭克林•羅斯福定的，他爲了延長聖誕購物季把日期定爲倒數第二個星期四前的一週。民衆反對這一決定的呼聲致使總統在兩年後又把感恩節改回了原來的日期。1941年，感恩節最終被國會定爲法定節日，日期是11月第四個星期四。