Thanksgiving Day, as celebrated in No rth America, is a time to gather with family and friends to give thanks fo r the many blessings enjoyed by these nations and their citizens.
However, to many people, its meaning is lost. It has become simply another day fo r huge meals, dinner parties, get-togethers o r reunions. What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
Turkey dinners, cranberries, candied yams, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and family gatherings—these are all commonly associated with most Americans and Canadians yearly celebration of giving thanks—Thanksgiving Day!
In the United States, Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of November. In Canada, it is the second Monday in October.
On this holiday, a Thanksgiving meal is prepared with all the trimmings; families gather together and talk, while others watch a game o r a parade filled with pilgrims, Indians and other colonial figures. Some families may even have their own yearly Thanksgiving traditions.
What comes to mind when you think of Thanksgiving? Do you picture a time of thankfulness towards God—o r is it merely one of eating, partying o r watching football?
Sadly, the latter is what Thanksgiving has become to most. They have fo rgotten why the day was established.
Its meaning has slowly deterio rated, and is now almost completely lost under a cloud of media hype, sales pitches, marketing tactics and blitz commercialism.
While many are familiar with the traditional representation of the o riginal Thanksgiving, it is helpful to examine the purpose fo r which it was first celebrated. By doing this, the days meaning will be firmly established.
The story goes that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.
话说两个好朋友正在穿越一个沙漠。途中他们忽然争吵了起来,其中一个一巴掌扇在另外一个人的脸上。
The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand: "Today my best friend slapped me in the face."
被扇的那个人受了伤害,但他一句话也没有说,只是在沙子上写道:“今天我最要好的朋友打了我一个耳光。”
They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.
The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us we should write it down in the sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in a stone where no wind can ever erase it."