Thanksgiving Day is the most truly American of the national Holidays in the United States and is most closely connected with the earliest history of the country.

In 1620， the settlers， or Pilgrims， they sailed to America on the May flower， seeking a place where they could have freedom of worship. After a tempestuous two-month voyage they landed at in icy November， what is now Plymouth， Massachusetts.

During their first winter， over half of the settlers died of[1] starvation or epidemics. Those who survived began sowing in the first spring.

All summer long they waited for the harvests with great anxiety， knowing that their lives and the future existence of the colony depended on the coming harvest. Finally the fields produced a yield rich beyond expectations. And therefore it was decided that a day of thanksgiving to the Lord be fixed[2]. Years later， President of the United States proclaimed the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day every year. The celebration of Thanksgiving Day has been observed on that date until today.

The pattern of the Thanksgiving celebration has never changed through the years. The big family dinner is planned months ahead. On the dinner table， people will find apples， oranges， chestnuts， walnuts and grapes. There will be plum pudding， mince pie， other varieties of food and cranberry juice and squash. 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.

Everyone agrees the dinner must be built around roast turkey stuffed with a bread dressing[3] to absorb the tasty juices as it roasts. But as cooking varies with families and with the regions where one lives， it is not easy to get a consensus on[4] the precise kind of stuffing for the royal bird.

Thanksgiving today is， in every sense， a national annual holiday on which Americans of all faiths and backgrounds join in to express their thanks for the year' s bounty and reverently ask for continued[5] blessings.

感恩節(jié)是美國(guó)國(guó)定假日中最地道、最美國(guó)式的節(jié)日，而且它和早期美國(guó)歷史最為密切相關(guān)。

1620年，一些朝圣者（或稱(chēng)為清教徒）乘坐"五月花"號(hào)船去美國(guó)尋求宗教自由。他們?cè)诤Ｉ项嶔ふ垓v了兩個(gè)月之后，終于在酷寒的十一月里，在現(xiàn)在的馬薩諸塞州的普里茅斯登陸。

在第一個(gè)冬天，半數(shù)以上的移民都死于饑餓和傳染病，活下來(lái)的人們?cè)诘谝粋€(gè)春季開(kāi)始播種。整個(gè)夏天他們都熱切地盼望著豐收的到來(lái)，他們深知自己的生存以及殖民地的存在與否都將取決于即將到來(lái)的收成。后來(lái)，莊稼獲得了意外的豐收，所以大家決定要選一個(gè)日子來(lái)感謝上帝的恩典。多年以后，美國(guó)總統(tǒng)宣布每年十一月的第四個(gè)星期四為感恩節(jié)。感恩節(jié)慶?；顒?dòng)便定在這一天，直到如今。

更多信息請(qǐng)查看節(jié)日.禮儀