感恩节的由来（The Story of American Thanksgiving）感恩节的由来感恩节的由来thanksgivingday is an american holiday and not celebrated incontinentaleurope. on the fourth thursday of each november, families andfriends gather together for the occasion to celebrate with a traditional turkey dinner, usually in the mid-afterno on. tha nksgi ving origi nated as a celebration of the year s harvest and is similar to the mid-autumnfestival in chi na. ?the origi n of the tha nksgi ving daythis america n traditi on started in 1621 before the un ited states of america was established. it was a huge celebrati on for a hard-ear ned harvest the first year after arrivi ng in the new world.on september 6, 1620, the mayflower ship set sail from plymouth, dev on, england, taking all the english pilgrims （清教徒）to the new world. the en glish pilgrims nu mbered about a hun dred people, and left en gla nd to escape religiouspersecution.their voyage to the new world was financedby mercha nt adve nturers, an en glish in vestor group.the pilgrims sailed sixty-six days, arrived in the new world in no vember of the same year. they first settled in a corn field aba ndoned by n ative in dia ns and n amed it plymouth pla ntatio n.they worked on the land with much difficulty and were beset by a devastati ng plague in which half of the pilgrim died in the long win ter of 1620.in the spri ng of 1621, an in dia n brave n amed squa nto and her wampanoag（瓦帕浓人，北美印第安人阿尔琴族一部落）tribe cameto their help. the tribe taught the pilgrims how to work the earth and plant corn, beans, pumpk ins, squash and other crops.the tha nksgivi ng feast in 1621in late september 1621, the pilgrims were pleased with their great harvest. to celebrate their first harvest, the pilgrims wan ted to tha nk god and the native indian.they invited squanto and the entire wampanoagtribe that celebrate together in a shared feast.it was said about nin ety wampa noag tur ned up, much to the surpriseof the pilgrims,whosepopulation had shrunk to no more than 50. the chiefof the tribe had his men hunt five deer to bring to the feast. the first thanksgiving dinner had an elaborate menuwith venison, wild turkey, goose, duck, crane, swan, and other waterfowl; they also has local seafood: clams, lobsters, mussels, salm on, cod, bass, herri ng, shad, bluefish, lots of eel and oysters. they also cooked plenty of vegetables, amongthem squash, pumpk ins and bea ns were the most popular.they ate raspberries, strawberries, grapes, plums, cherries, blueberries, walnu ts, chest nu ts, acor ns, hickory and ground nu ts, wheat flour, i ndia n corn and corn meal and they made beer out of barley. the pumpk in pudd ing was later developed into the traditi onal pumpk in pie.the first thanksgiving dinner is said to have lasted from three days to one week with much food, beer and liquor. the pilgrims and the n ative in dia n sat together on the ground, shared food with fin gers or used rough plates made of wood or stale bread. they ran races, played old en glish games and staged parades duri ng the festive, with marches, drums and firing of their muskets.” thanksgiving ” related to the biblethe phrase “thanksgiving ” initially es from the bible. the pilgrims of plymouth, however, were mainly puritans and strictcalvinistprotesta nts. they on ly observed three religious holidays from the new testame nt: sun day sabbath, days of fasti ngand humiliatio nandthan ksgi ving. tha nksgi ving marked favourable in mun ity life.the first tha nksgi ving festival was in deed a time of happ in ess,fellowship and rejoicing for the pilgrims. they arranged a friendly treaty with the n ative america n in dia ns, built houses in the wilder ness, and raised sufficie ntcrops to feed themselves for the uping long win ter. thepilgrims had bee the first generation of settlers in this newland holding so much promise.from the n on, tha nksgi ving became a holiday for celebrat ing theharvest in the new world, dates varied from october to november each year over the n ext 150 years.tha nksgi ving, the n ati onal holidaythe first n atio nal tha nksgi ving was declared by the con ti nen talcon gress in 1777. on October 3, 1789, preside nt george washi ngton declared that the people of the un ited states should observe“ a day of publicthanksgiving and prayer ” on thursday, 26 november.many say the credit for the establishme nt of an annual tha nksgi vingholiday should be given to sarah josepha hale. being the editor of ladies magazine and godey s lady s book, she lobbied to the governors, senators, and preside nts for a n atio nal holiday and published stories and recipes for that day in her magaz ine. after 36 years of crusad ing, she won her battle. in 1863, buoyed by the union victory at gettysburg, preside ntlincoln proclaimed that november 26, would be a national thanksgiving day, to be observed every year on the fourth thursday of no vember.in 1941, a congressional