Thanksgiving: Hálaadás – Miről szól ez az amerikai ünnep?
Mi a Hálaadás, és miről szól? Honnan származik ez az amerikai ünnep? Mikor ünneplik a Hálaadást az Egyesült Államokban? Ebben az angol nyelvű leckében a szövegértési gyakorlat mellett választ is kaphatsz a kérdéseidre. A szövegben kiemelt szavak pedig a az angol szókincsed gyarapításához is jól jönnek. A szöveg végén találsz egy szógyűjteményt, egy kvízt, hogy teszteld a szövegértési készségedet, egy szókinccsel kapcsolatos feladatot, valamint egy ingyenesen letölthető Hálaadás infografikát is!
When is Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is a moving holiday. It means that it does not have a fixed calendar day, so it is not celebrated on the same day every year. Instead, it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November.
What is the history of Thanksgiving?
In the late 1610s, 101 Puritans1 and Pilgrims2 arrived in the New World on the Mayflower, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean for 66 days. They settled in the area what is known today as Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Squanto, a member of the Native American Wampanoag tribe, visited the Plymouth Colony built by the Puritan settlers3. He already knew how to speak English, because he encountered4 English settlers in the area before. Squanto and his tribe5 helped the settlers to get accustomed6 to the New World. He taught them what and how to hunt and how to grow plants, such as corn. The leader of the Wampanoag tribe also gave some food to the Puritans.
After their first harvest in 1621, the settlers celebrated for three days. The Wampanoag tribe also joined their festivities. They ate wild turkey, venison7, fish, corn, and plants they grew during the summer.
What is Thanksgiving about?
Thanksgiving is a federal holiday8 in the United States. Canada also celebrates this holiday, but on a different day.
For most people, Thanksgiving is about spending time with family and friends. People used to celebrate it to give thanks for the good harvest9 season, and prepare for winter.
It is also about remembering the First Thanksgiving, which is an important part of American history. Abraham Lincoln (16th president of the US) made it a national holiday in 1863, and in 1869 Ulysses S. Grant signed it into law10.
How is Thanksgiving celebrated?
At Thanksgiving, families and friends celebrate together. They prepare and eat traditional Thanksgiving food, like corn, cranberry sauce, gravy11, roasted turkey, and pumpkin or apple pie. People can also plan activities for the four-day holiday, such as watching Thanksgiving football games or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
What is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan, New York is probably the most famous Thanksgiving Parade in the world. It is even shown or mentioned in quite a few American movies and TV series.
The Macy’s Parade is also the world’s largest parade. The Macy’s department store started it in 1924, and they have hosted it every year ever since. It begins at 9 o’clock in the morning and ends around noon.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons are world-famous. They are usually well-known cartoon or comic book characters, like Snoopy, Bugs Bunny, or Superman. There are also performances by famous comedians and bands or singers. There are also marching bands12, Broadway performances, and many other programmes, and many TV channels broadcast13 it live.
Glossary: Thanksgiving
- Puritans (n): a group of people in the 16th and 17th centuries who wanted to practise Christianity in a simple way (~puritas (Lat.) = clean, simple) ↩︎
- Pilgrims (n): people who travel to holy places for religious reasons ↩︎
- settler (n): a person who moves to a new country or area with others ↩︎
- to encounter (v): to meet ↩︎
- tribe (n): a group of people made up of families who have the same language, traditions and beliefs ↩︎
- to get accustomed (phr): to become familiar ↩︎
- venison (n): meat of hunted animals such as deer, wild boar, or rabbit ↩︎
- federal holiday (phr): a holiday that is celebrated all across the United States ↩︎
- harvest (n): the time when crops and plants are collected in the autumn ↩︎
- to sign into law (phr): to make something official by law ↩︎
- gravy (n): a type of brown sauce often served with turkey ↩︎
- marching band (n): a group of musicians who play on instruments while walking ↩︎
- to broadcast (v): to show (e.g. on TV) ↩︎
Vocabulary exercise
Do you remember what the words underlined in the text mean? Do the exercise below to find out!
Reading comprehension exercise
To test, how well you understood the text, take the True or False Quiz below, and find out!
Because Thanksgiving, as the name suggests, is about giving thanks and expressing gratefulness for things, here are some useful phrases on my Instagram to help you say thanks in different ways:
Thanksgiving Infographic
If you want to test your Thanksgiving knowledge, here is a Thanksgiving Trivia Quiz that you can take. If you need a little a teaching or learning material about Thanksgiving, here you can download this infographic below about this holiday!
