Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a typical American holiday and not celebrated in other continents. It is a legal holiday marking the feast given in thanks for theharvest by the Pilgrim colonists in 1621. People in the US celebrated Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday in November. In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. For many Americans, it’s the most important holiday apart from Christmas. Schools, offices and most businesses close for Thanksgiving, and many people make the whole weekend a vacation.

Thanksgiving is connected with the time when Pilgrim first came to North American. They had a hard winter and couldn’t find enough to eat, so many of them died. Native Americans taught them what crops where safe and how to plant, so next year they had a good harvest. They held a big celebration to Thank God and the Native Americans for helping them survive the harsh winter and produce a bountiful harvest.

Today people celebrate Thanksgiving to remember the early days, and also thing of what and who they are thankful for. The most important part of the celebration is a traditional dinner with goods that come from North America. The meal includes turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, as well as a pumpkin pie. Many families have their own special recipe.

       On thanksgiving, there are special TV programs and sports events. In New York, there is Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade （梅西百货公司感恩节游行）, a long line of people wearing fancy costumes march through the streets with large balloons in the shape of imaginary characters. Thanksgiving is considered the beginning of the Christmas season, and the next day many people go out to shop for Christmas presents, which is known as Black Friday.