The Thanksgiving Holiday

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

annual	celebrate	give thanks
widely	welcome	observe (2)
meal	help out	early/earlier/earliest
wide	harvest	observance
settler	to dress	community
local	pilgrim	teach/taught
native	success	cranberry
across	similar	season(2)
event	annual	proclamation
last	sign (3)	well known
law	federal	since then
vary	secular	participate
game	dress (2)	along with
revolve	mainly	revolve around
attend	share (3)	loved ones
arrive	consist of	forget/forgot/forgotten
amen	tradition	alternative
feast	volunteer	less fortunate
via	say grace	look after
pie	stuffing	procession
inspire	mashed	presentation
ritual	pardon	instead of
allow	hereby	not without
parade	officially	a round of applause
evolve	pumpkin	associated
follow	favorite	throughout
theme	fortunate	spend/spent/spent (2)
usher	applause	bartender
sale	accepted	sell/sold/sold
protest	major (2)	feel/felt/felt (2)
violent	conquest	controversy
mourn	instead	for example
reason	various

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 
  Transcript

Thanksgiving

On this holiday, we give thanks and celebrate the harvest. Welcome to Mojo.com, and today we’ll be learning more about Thanksgiving.

“Linus, we have so much to be thankful for.”

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday observed annually on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.

The Pilgrims

While other such celebratory meals may have been held earlier, the Pilgrim’s 1621 feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is most widely accepted as the first Thanksgiving celebration.

After arriving from England via the Mayflower, the settlers were taught to harvest by the local Native Americans.

The pilgrims then celebrated their success with the natives by holding a three-day feast inspired by their religious traditions.

Thanksgiving Spreads

As Thanksgiving became more popular across the country, similar celebrations were observed by other North American colonies.

In 1863, a proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln, saw Thanksgiving become an annual event observed on the last Thursday in November.

While President Franklin Delano Roosevelt officially signed the holiday into federal law in 1941, as the fourth Thursday in that month.

Feasting and Dressing Up

Since then, Thanksgiving traditions have varied, but often include participating in games, dressing up, and feasting.

Though Thanksgiving is mainly a secular holiday, that revolves around sharing a meal with loved ones, many people give thanks to God by attending church services and saying grace before the meal.

“And we ask that you look after us on this holiday season that we may never forget how very fortunate we are. Amen.”

Others help out the less fortunate by volunteering in the community.

Turkey, Stuffing, Pumpkin Pie

Along with turkey, Thanksgiving dinner often consists of stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.

Beginning in the late 1940’s, the national Thanksgiving turkey presentation has evolved into a ritual in which a presidential pardon allows two turkeys to live instead of being turned into food.

“You are hereby pardoned! Give her a round of applause.”

Parades

Various cities in also hold annual parades. Detroit’s American Thanksgiving Parade, and New York City’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade are some of the bigger and more well known processions.

The holiday has been associated with American football, and professional games have been played on Thanksgiving for decades.

Football, TV Shows

Many families follow the tradition of watching football or the Macy’s parade on Thanksgiving. They may also watch Thanksgiving theme TV shows and films, as there have been many throughout the years.

“And I’m thankful to spend Thanksgiving with my family, these alternative rockers, and my favorite bartender.”

Christmas Shopping

The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. While some schools and businesses are closed, many stores use the day to usher in the Christmas shopping season, by holding major sales.

The observance of Thanksgiving is not without controversy. Some feel the holiday celebrates the violent conquest of Native Americans by the Europeans. This has led to some cities holding protest events such as a national day of mourning instead.

Similar Holidays

Holidays similar to Thanksgiving are also celebrated by other countries on various dates and for various reasons.

For example, Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on the second Monday, in October.

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Questions

1610. Thanksgiving is an international holiday. True or false?

1601. Who celebrated the first Thanksgiving? Were they from California?

1602. Did the Pilgrims first celebrate Thanksgiving in 1776? When did they first celebrate it? Where did they celebrate it?

1603. Why did they celebrate Thanksgiving? They celebrated….

1604. Is Thanksgiving a religious holiday, a secular holiday, both, neither or in between? What do many people do?

1605. How do American celebrate Thanksgiving? What are some traditional, Thanksgiving Day food? Thanksgiving cuisine include . . .

1607. What happens after Thanksgiving Day? After Thanksgiving Day,

1608. Thanksgiving is not without controversy because….

1609. Thanksgiving is unique to the United States. Is this right or wrong?
 
 
 
A. Does your country celebrate a form of Thanksgiving?

B. What are some holidays, celebrations, and festivals in your country?

C. Which is your favorite holiday? Why?

D. Some Americans believe Thanksgiving, not Christmas, should be the nation’s most celebrated holiday. What  do you think?

E. What might happen in the future?