Categoría: Alumnos

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November. On this day, American families gather around, have dinner and give thanks for the blessing of the year.

History of Thanksgiving

This holiday has been celebrated since 1621. At that time, it was an occasion for the pilgrims to thank God for a plentiful harvest.

The pilgrims had to abandon England because they were against some of the rituals of the Church of England. First, they moved to Holland and in 1620, they sailed to the USA on the famous ship The Mayflower. They carried lots of seeds, garden tools, gunpowder and firearms. After a long trip (65 days) they arrived in a place that they called Plymouth, the English town they came from.

The first Thanksgiving festival was in October 1621 and it lasted three days. The pilgrims invited the native Americans to join the celebration.

In 1863 President Lincoln made it a national holiday.

There is a traditional Thanksgiving Day Parade with giant balloons and marching bands, organized by Macy’s in New York, which is shown on television. There is also the popular American Thanksgiving football game.

Traditional food

The preferred food prepared and eaten at home for this celebration is stuffed turkey with gravy, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

As a tradition, some days before the celebration the President of the United States pardons a turkey, the «White House Thanksgiving Turkey«. People have the opportunity to give a name to the spared turkey, which is then taken back to a farm.

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving. It’s the busiest shopping day in the USA and it’s the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. It’s called like that because on that day all shops earn a lot of money from sales, so they go into the black (as opposed to being in the red, meaning that they have debts).

English Vocabulary – Vocabulario de inglés

THANKSGIVING

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