There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding the people responsible for the American Thanksgiving tradition. Contrary to popular opinion, the Pilgrims didn't wear buckles on their shoes or hats. They weren't teetotalers, either. They smoked tobacco and drank beer. And, most importantly, their first harvest festival and subsequent "thanksgivings" weren't held to thank the local natives for saving their lives.

人們對與美國傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日“感恩節(jié)”有關的故事、人物等一直存在各種誤解和迷思。與主流觀點不同，清教徒(Pilgrim)并不會穿戴系有紐扣的鞋和帽子。他們也不會禁酒，反而吸煙喝酒一樣沒少。最重要的一點，清教徒們的第一次收獲與由此而來的“感恩”，與當?shù)赜〉诎踩顺鍪窒嗑纫稽c關系也沒有。

Do you know there are public schools in America today actually teaching that? Some textbooks, in their discomfort with open discussions of Christianity, say as much. I dare suggest most parents today know little more about this history than their children.

你知道嗎?如今仍有許多公立學校還在用錯誤的內容教授感恩節(jié)。有些課本也同樣大肆談論基督精神，令人感到不適。我敢打賭，許多家長對歷史的了解就跟對孩子一樣知之甚少。

Yet, there is no way to spanorce the spiritual from the celebration of Thanksgiving ? at least not the way the Pilgrims envisioned it, a tradition dating back to the ancient Hebrews and their feasts of Succoth and Passover.

不過，要把慶祝感恩節(jié)的精神從感恩節(jié)本身分離出來，那是不可能的??至少同清教徒當初預想的不同。這一傳統(tǒng)要追溯到古希伯來人時期，同他們的住棚節(jié)(Succoth)和逾越節(jié)(Passover)有關。

The Pilgrims came to America for one reason ? to form a separate community in which they could worship God as they saw fit. They had fled England because King James I was persecuting those who did not recognize the Church of England's absolute civil and spiritual authority.

清教徒之所以來美國，是為了建立一個與世隔絕的社會，教徒們可以在這個社會朝圣他們認為可以稱之為上帝的神。由于詹姆斯一世(King James I)迫害那些不認同把英國國教作為國家公民和精神至高無上權威的人，因此清教徒們從英國逃離了出來。手抄報版面設計邊框圖案內容

On the two-month journey of 1620, William Bradford and the other elders wrote an extraordinary charter ? the Mayflower Compact. Why was it extraordinary? Because it established just and equal laws for all members of their new community ? believers and non-believers alike. Where did they get such revolutionary ide