爱华网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.
人们对与美国传统节日“感恩节”有关的故事、人物等一直存在各种误解和迷思。与主流观点不同，清教徒(Pilgrim)并不会穿戴系有纽扣的鞋和帽子。他们也不会禁酒，反而吸烟喝酒一样没少。最重要的一点，清教徒们的第一次收获与由此而来的“感恩”，与当地印第安人出手相救一点关系也没有。
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.
你知道吗?如今仍有许多公立学校还在用错误的内容教授感恩节。有些课本也同样大肆谈论基督精神，令人感到不适。我敢打赌，许多家长对历史的了解就跟对孩子一样知之甚少。
Yet, there is no way to divorce 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.
不过，要把庆祝感恩节的精神从感恩节本身分离出来，那是不可能的——至少同清教徒当初预想的不同。这一传统要追溯到古希伯来人时期，同他们的住棚节(Succoth)和逾越节(Passover)有关。
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.
清教徒之所以来美国，是为了建立一个与世隔绝的社会，教徒们可以在这个社会朝圣他们认为可以称之为上帝的神。由于詹姆斯一世(King James I)迫害那些不认同把英国国教作为国家公民和精神至高无上权威的人，因此清教徒们从英国逃离了出来。
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
