ThanksgivingDayculturestudy外文文献.pptVIP

Thanksgiving Day Fourth Thursday in November A different date every year Almost four hundred years ago. TIME In 1620, a boat filled with more than one hundred people sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to settle in the New World. They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland (The Netherlands) to escape religious persecution. Their first winter in the New World was difficult. They had arrived too late to grow many crops, and without fresh food, half the colony died from disease. The following spring the Iroquois Indians taught them how to grow corn (maize), a new food for the colonists. They showed them other crops to grow in the unfamiliar soil and how to hunt and fish. Origin In following years, many of the original colonists celebrated the autumn harvest with a feast of thanks. After the United States became an independent country, Congress recommended one yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole nation to celebrate. George Washington suggested the date November 26 as Thanksgiving Day. Then in 1863, at the end of a long and bloody civil war, Abraham Lincoln asked all Americans to set aside the last Thursday in November as a day of thanksgiving Modern development The big family dinner is planned months ahead. On the dinner table, people will find apples, oranges, chestnuts(栗子), walnuts(胡桃) and grapes(葡萄). There will be plum pudding(葡萄干布丁), mince pie(碎肉馅饼), other varieties of food and cranberry juice and squash(红莓苔汁和鲜果汁). The best and most attractive among them are roast turkey and pumpkin pie. They have been the most traditional and favorite food on Thanksgiving Day throughout the years. Thanksgiving dinner Turkey Pumpkin pies Corn Cranberry sauce（酸果曼沙司） Main course of the dinner Corn The use of corn meant the survival of the colonies. Indian corn as a table or door decoration represents the harvest and the fall season. Sweet-sour cranberry sauce, or cranberry jelly, was on the first Thanksgiving table