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借来的节日——Thanksgiving
(2006-11-23 23:07:41)| 分类： 随笔散文 |
今天，11月的第四个星期四是Thanksgiving（感恩节）。这是一个美国的传统节日，陪伴美国历史发展，已经有300多年了。在这一天，美国人会全家团圆享用节日大餐，火鸡就是这个节日的传统食品。
我在网络阅读过中文的感恩节报道：“这一天美国举国沸腾，非常热闹！黎明鸣放礼炮，夜间篝火狂欢。”不知道这位作者是在美国的哪一个州看到如此热闹的感恩场面呢？
我居住的 New
Jersey，除了白天独有的parade，Thanksgving基本上是一个安静的节日。这一天，几乎所有的人都放假，街上人很少，大家都留在家里准备团圆晚餐。商店都关门休息，甚至餐馆也会停业一天。
差不多10年没有和家人一起享用感恩节火鸡。在北京的最初几年，这里没有人提起“Thanksgiving”，那时候我非常怀念这一个节日，感觉美国已经离我很远了，特别想家。
近几年，发现周围的人开始流行过洋人节。不知不觉之间，我们也借来了“感恩节”。这时候，我反而纳闷为什么我们要过这一个节日？是要感谢上帝，是要感谢印第安人的救济品使得美国移民渡过了灾难吗？
或许是我们也需要有一个感恩节，是的，要懂得感恩！需要感激的事情太多太多，需要感谢的人太多太多。
The Story of
Thanksgiving
The story of Thanksgiving is basically
the story of the Pilgrims and their thankful community feast at
Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The Pilgrims, who set sail from Plymouth, England on a ship called the Mayflower on September 6, 1620, were fortune hunters, bound for the resourceful 'New World'. The Mayflower was a small ship crowded with men, women and children, besides the sailors on board. Aboard were passengers comprising the 'separatists', who called themselves the "Saints", and others, whom the separatists called the "Strangers".
After land was sighted in November following 66 days of a lethal voyage, a meeting was held and an agreement of truce was worked out. It was called the Mayflower Compact. The agreement guaranteed equality among the members of the two groups. They merged together to be recognized as the "Pilgrims." They elected John Carver as their first governor.
The Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock
on December 11, 1620. But their happiness was short-lived. Their
first winter was devastating. Ill-equipped to face the winter on
this estranged place they were ravaged thoroughly. At the beginning
of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who
sailed on the Mayflower.
Somehow they were saved by a group of
local Native Americans who befriended them and helped them with
food. Soon the natives taught the settlers the technique to
cultivate corns and grow native vegetables, and store them for hard
days. By the next winter they had raised enough crops to keep them
alive. The winter came and passed by without much harm. The
settlers knew they had beaten the odds and it was time to
celebrate.
The harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one.
And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast,
including 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their
first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it
through the year without the help of the natives.
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