每逢感恩节这一天，美国举国上下热闹非凡，人们按照习俗前往教堂做感恩祈祷，城乡市镇到处举行化装游行、戏剧表演和体育比赛等，学校和商店也都按规定放假休息。孩子们还模仿当年印第安人的模样穿上离奇古怪的服装，画上脸谱或戴上面具到街上唱歌、吹喇叭。在外国“感恩节”和中国的春节一样重要!

　　【美国感恩节的由来英文版】

　　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.

　　【感恩节相关介绍】

　　Football 橄榄球赛

　　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.

　　感恩节是由两个F开头的字组成的：食物food和橄榄球football。从1876年、美国橄榄球联盟开始举办首届联赛开始，在感恩节就有看橄榄球赛的传统——几乎和这项运动本身的历史一样长。

　　其后不到十年的时间内，更有超过5000所俱乐部、大学和高中的橄榄球队在这一天举行比赛。

　　其中普林斯顿和耶鲁的比赛更是吸引了超过4万名球迷到场观看。1934年，超级碗首次在伽嫩届当天举行比赛，那天是由底特律雄狮对阵芝加哥熊。雄狮队自此每遇感恩节都有比赛——除了二战期间队员们服役才中断过。

　　Franklin D. Roosevelt 福兰克林·D·罗斯福

　　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.

　　福兰克林·罗斯福总统可是吃了点儿亏才学会有些传统改不得。1939年，这位总统阁下宣布美国应该提前一周过感恩节，希望此举能够刺激大萧条中的美国经济。

　　哪知美国人民不买他的账：有的上街游行抗议、有的玩起了文字游戏。大西洋城的市长就宣称，他家会过两个节：“感恩节”和“福兰克恩节”。

　　在经过整整两年的争论(或者根本就是斗嘴)之后，国会终于妥协，在1941年将感恩节法定假日定在了11月的第四个星期四。

　　"Mary Had a Little Lamb" 玛丽有只小羊羔

　　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，这位写下传世诗句《玛丽有只小羊羔》的女性在为感恩节争取法定中也扮演了重要一角儿。

　　1863年，当时作为杂志编辑的她在经过了长达17年的写信呼吁之后，总统林肯终于颁发文件承认了感恩节这一传统假日。

　　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，为表彰美国军队保护英国，伦敦西敏寺为美国军人举行了感恩节宴会。当时有超过3500人到场，齐唱“美丽的美国和星条旗”——这是这座教堂900年来第一次邀请外国军队驻足。

　　讽刺的是，这个节日的缘由正是因为当年迁徙到美国的清教徒们在英国受到宗教迫害。

　　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.

　　感恩节前，由总统在白宫“赦免”一只火鸡的传统始于1947年，当时是由杜鲁门总统放生了一只幸运的火鸡。

　　还有一些历史学家认为这一传统起源于1860年，林肯总统释放了一只由他儿子养的宠物火鸡。

　　这一传统也许减轻了某些美国人的负罪感，但仍旧无法湮灭我们一年吃掉460万只火鸡的事实。

　　即便如此，就如阿拉斯加议员Sarah Palin在最近一次采访中提到的那样：相对于大屠杀，美国人还是更喜欢公众场合的慈善行为。