Most stories of Thanksgiving history start with the harvest celebration of the pilgrims and the Native Americans that took place in the autumn of 1621. There is little evidence that this feast of thanks led directly to our modern Thanksgiving Day holiday. Thanksgiving can, however, be traced back to 1863 when Pres. Lincoln became the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving Day. The holiday has been a fixture of late November ever since.

大多数关于感恩节产生的故事都是以1621年秋天清教徒和美国土著人一起庆祝丰收开始的。几乎没有证据表明这次感恩宴会直接演变成了现代感恩节。其实感恩节可以追溯到1863年，林肯是第一位确立感恩节的总统，从那时起这个节日就定在了11月末。

The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast – including 91 natives who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It lasted three days.

乘坐“五月花”号船来到这个国家的清教徒于1620年12月11日在普里茅斯岩登陆，第一个冬天对他们来说是个灾难。第二年秋天开始的时候，最初乘坐“五月花”号来的102人中有46个人都没能活下来。但1621年获得了大丰收，剩下的殖民者决定办一场宴会庆祝一下——邀请了91位曾经帮清教徒挺过第一年的土著人，宴会持续了三天。

Governor William Bradford sent “four men fowling” after wild ducks and geese. It is not certain that wild turkey was part of their feast. However, it is certain that they had venison. The term “turkey” was used by the Pilgrims to mean any sort of wild fowl.

总督布雷德福派了“四人捕鸟队”去捕捉野鸭和野鹅。不知道当时宴席上有没有野火鸡，但肯定有鹿肉。清教徒用“火鸡”这个词指代任何一种野味。

Another modern staple at almost every Thanksgiving table is pumpkin pie. But it is unlikely that the first feast included that treat. However, they did eat boiled pumpkin, and they produced a type of fried bread from their corn crop. There was also no milk, cider, potatoes, or butter. But the feast did include fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums.

现代几乎每个感恩节餐桌上都有的一道主食就是南瓜派，但第一次办的宴会上不可能有这个主食。他们当时确实吃煮南瓜，还有用其他玉米类作物做的一种炸面包。当时也没有牛奶、果酒、土豆或者黄油。但当时宴席上确实有鱼肉、浆果、西洋菜、龙虾、水果干、蛤蜊、鹿肉和李子。

It wasn’t until June of 1676 that another Day of thanksgiving was proclaimed. On June 20 of that year the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks for the good fortune that had seen their community securely established. They proclaimed June 29 as a day of thanksgiving. It is notable that this thanksgiving celebration probably did not include Native Americans.

直到1676年6月份才再次宣布感恩节的日期。在那一年的6月20日，查尔斯敦、马萨诸塞管理委员会开会决定如何最好地表达对委员会安全建立这一好运的感恩，他们宣布6月29日为感恩日。值得注意的是这个感恩节庆祝活动可能跟美国土著人没关系。

George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789. And later, President Thomas Jefferson opposed the idea of having a day of thanksgiving. It was Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, whose efforts eventually led to what we recognize as Thanksgiving. After a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale’s obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.

乔治•华盛顿在1789年确立了“全国感恩节”，后来托马斯•杰斐逊总统反对“感恩节”的这个想法。后来是在杂志编辑Sarah Josepha Hale的努力下，最终确定了我们熟知的感恩节。在努力给政府人士和总统写了40年社论和信之后，Hale的夙愿终于变成了现实。在1863年，林肯总统宣布把11月的最后一个星期四定为全国的感恩节。

The date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.

日期被更改了几次，最后一次是富兰克林•罗斯福定的，他为了延长圣诞购物季把日期定为倒数第二个星期四前的一周。民众反对这一决定的呼声致使总统在两年后又把感恩节改回了原来的日期。1941年，感恩节最终被国会定为法定节日，日期是11月第四个星期四。