Mon, November 27, 2017 at 4:38 am GMT
Dear Students,
This week, the US celebrated one of our largest holidays: Thanksgiving.
In the United States, Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day is a public holiday on the fourth Thursday in November. On this day, people remember the first American Thanksgiving, when the first European settlers had been taught how to grow food by the NativeAmericans, and they celebrated the successful harvest together.
For many of us, the meaning of Thanksgiving usually includes feasting, four-day weekends, football games, floats, family reunions, or a forerunner to Christmas festivities. The “first Thanksgiving,” however, was neither a feast nor a holiday, but a simple gathering. Following the Mayflower’s arrival at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620, the Pilgrims suffered the loss of 46 of their original 102 colonists. With the help of 91 Indians, the remaining Pilgrims survived the bitter winter and yielded a bountiful harvest in 1621. In celebration, a traditional English harvest festival, lasting three days brought the Pilgrims and natives to unite in a “thanksgiving” observance.
This year, I celebrated Thanksgiving with a very nice dinner with my family with traditional food such as Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc..
Do you have a tradition similar to ours in your country? I’d love to hear about it.
Best,
Jonathan
