十件你不知道的感恩节的事（下）

6.感恩节和释放火鸡

关键词：Pardon 赦免

The annual White House tradition of pardoning a turkey before Thanksgiving began in 1947, when President Harry Truman took pity on one lucky fowl. Other historians say the practice began during the 1860s, when Abraham Lincoln granted a pardon to a pet turkey belonging to his son, Tad. The tradition may alleviate some of America's guilt, but it doesn't stop us from slaughtering more than 46 million turkeys for the holiday. Even so, as Alaska Governor Sarah Palin proved during a recent interview in her hometown, Americans prefer public acts of mercy to massacres。

感恩节前，由总统在白宫“赦免”一只火鸡的传统始于1947年，当时是由杜鲁门总统放生了一只幸运的火鸡。还有一些历史学家认为这一传统起源于1860年，林肯总统释放了一只由他儿子养的宠物火鸡。这一传统也许减轻了某些美国人的负罪感，但仍旧无法湮灭我们一年吃掉460万只火鸡的事实。即便如此，就如阿拉斯加议员Sarah Palin在最近一次采访中提到的那样：相对于大屠杀，美国人还是更喜欢公众场合的慈善行为。

7.感恩节和大人物的批判

关键词：hail 批判

While the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621, it would take more than 150 years before all 13 colonies celebrated Thanksgiving at once, in October 1777. In 1789, George Washington hailed the holiday, while President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the notion, calling Thanksgiving "the most ridiculous idea" ever conceived. For his part, Benjamin Franklin had such an affinity for turkey that he lobbied to make it the national bird (to no avail)。

虽然历史上的第一个感恩节在1621年就诞生了，但直到150年后的1777年这一节日才得到全美13个殖民地的一致认同。1789年，乔治华盛顿批判了这一节日，而汤马斯杰弗森总统也嘲笑了感恩节这个概念是有史以来“最荒谬的点子”。对于他而言，本杰明富兰克林显然是因为太热爱火鸡才要求把它定为国鸟(而这一点益处都没有!)

8.感恩节和火鸡鸭

关键词：Turduckens 火鸡鸭

Thanks to the culinary genius of Louisiana (or Wyoming or South Carolina — each region has staked its claim)， more and more Americans are forsaking Butterballs for Turduckens. A what? Picture this: a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. It's like a Russian nesting doll only with poultry. One store in Louisiania claims to ship more than 5,000 turduckens the week before the feast. Though this may seem like sacrilege to some, the original Thanksgiving meal featured fish, oysters, eel and lobster as well as wild turkey. Other modern pilgrims settle for a tofu version ("tofurkey") or the wildly dangerous "deep-fried turkey."

得益于路易斯安那的烹饪天才(或是怀俄明、或是南卡罗来纳——每个地区都声称是自己的创造)，越来越多的美国人需要鸭子来烹饪“火鸡鸭”了。什么?火鸡鸭!是的，一只鸡套在鸭子里、再套进火鸡——就像俄罗斯套娃那样!路易斯安那的一家店声称他们在节前一周卖出了5000分火鸡鸭。可能对有的人来说是种亵渎，但事实上，最原始的感恩节大餐是由鱼、生蚝、鳗、龙虾和野生火鸡组成的。其他现代人也吃用豆腐做的火鸡(豆火鸡)，或是很危险的“炸火鸡”。

9.感恩节和印第安人

关键词：Indians 印第安人

Thanksgiving was initially meant to be a fast, not a feast. The devout settlers at Plymouth Rock mostly recognized "giving of thanks" in the form of prayer and abstaining from food. But the Wampanoag Indians, who joined the pilgrims for their 3-day celebration, contributed their own harvest traditions — dancing, games and feasting — from their ancient festival, Nickommoh, meaning "to give away" or "exchange."

感恩节最初的设定是一场“斋戒”，而不是“盛宴”。在普利茅斯的殖民者们一开始对感恩的理解是祈祷、并克制对食物的需求。而后来Wampanoag的印第安人加入了进来开始三天的庆祝，并带来他们丰收节的传统——跳舞、游戏和盛宴。这是古代印第安人的传统节日Nickommoh，意味着“付出”或“交换”。

10.感恩节和地名

关键词：name 名字

Three towns have been named after the holiday's starring player — Turkey, Texas, Turkey Creek, La. and Turkey, N.C. — each with less than 500 residents. Legend has it that the pheasant's name came from the wayward traveler Christopher Columbus, who thought he was in India when he arrived in "The New World" and, hence, dubbed the pheasant a "tuka," an Indian term for peacock. The name stuck。

全美有三个不到500人的小镇是由“火鸡”命名的：德克萨斯的火鸡镇;洛杉矶的火鸡湾和北卡罗来纳的火鸡镇。据传说，探险家哥伦比亚到新大陆的时候一位自己到了印度，于是把这种鸟(就是火鸡)命名为“tuka”——印度语里的孔雀。于是火鸡的名字就这么延续下来了。