Thanksgivings day story

In the early 1600's the government of England allowed (= povolovala) its people to belong to one church -The Church of England. Because the government in England had little tolerance for religious (= nboensk) freedom, some people left to Holland in 1609. The "Puritans" lived and prospered in Holland. They became feared when their children began speaking Dutch and living the Dutch way of life. So, on September 6, 1620 the Pilgrims boarded (= nalodili se) Mayflower to travel to the New World. The trip to the New World took 65 days. They sailed from Plymouth, England and on the board of the ship were 44 Pilgrims, who called themselves the "Saints", and 66 others whom the Pilgrims called the "Strangers." The trip to the New World took several weeks. Because the ship was made of wood, the passengers could not build a fire, so the food had to be eaten cold. Many of the passengers became sick and some even died. Because of the long journey, the Mayflower landed at Plymouth, north of Cape Cod (Massachusetts), in November. This was very bad timing because the Pilgrims did not have the time to plant food for the winter. The first winter was very hard for the new settlers (= osadnci). The cold temperatures and snow interfered (= pekel) when the Pilgrims tried to build their settlement. From the original group of Pilgrims, only about half survived the first winter. On March 16, 1621 an Indian named Samoset came to the settlement and frightened (= vydsil) the Pilgrims until he called out (= zvolal) "Welcome" in English. Although the Pilgrims and Samoset had problems with communication, he did stay for a while and even spent the night. Samoset left the next day and returned a few days later with an English-speaking Indian named Squanto. Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to hunt, fish and grow corn. Because of Squanto's help, the Pilgrims had a very successful harvest (= roda) in October and had many food for the upcoming (= nadchzejc) winter. The Pilgrims' Governor William Bradford proclaimed (= vyhlsil) a day of celebration and thanksgiving sometime in the middle of October. The Pilgrims invited Squanto and many other Indians to join in the celebration. The Thanksgiving feast (= hostina) lasted for three days. The custom of celebrating after harvest time became an annual (= kadoron) event. However, it was not until1863 that President Abraham Lincoln officially proclaimed the last Thursday in November a national day of Thanksgiving. On November 26, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared (= ustanovail) the fourth Thursday in November as a national Thanksgiving holiday.

Thanksgiving Traditions
Thanksgiving dinner is a wonderful time to be with your family. Most families follow traditions begun on the first Thanksgiving, but many have their own traditions that they follow each year. Here are some of the common traditions associated with "Turkey Day."

Travel One of the best things about Thanksgiving is spending time with family. Many people live far from family members and travel long distances by car, train, or plane to be with their loved ones. Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year! The Feast Traditional foods are a large part of Thanksgiving celebrations. Many families include (= zahrnovat) all members in the food preparation. Traditional foods include turkey, stuffing (= ndivka), gravy, sweet potatoes, cornbread, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. Many people serve pie for dessert at the end of the meal. Popular pie flavors are pumpkin, pecan, sweet potato, and apple. The Wishbone Some families break the turkey's wishbone as part of their celebration. The wishbone is found in the turkey's chest. After the meat has been eaten, two people each take one end of the bone, make a wish, and pull. Whoever ends up with the larger part of the bone gets their wish! The Turkey Pardon Each year at Thanksgiving, the President of the United States gets a live turkey (and some alternate (= nhradn) in case something happens to the official turkey). At a White House ceremony, the president traditionally pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey and the alternate turkeys and allows them to live the rest of their lives on a farm. Helping Others Many generous people use Thanksgiving as an opportunity (= pleitost) to help the less lucky ones. Some people volunteer (= dobrovolni) to serve food at homeless shelters (= tulek) on Thanksgiving Day and others donate to shelters or participate in canned food drives. TV Television also plays a part in Thanksgiving celebrations. Many families watch the New York City Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (= prvod). The parade includes marching bands, floats, songs and performances from Broadway musicals, and giant helium-filled balloons! People may also enjoy televised football games.