Like many other festivities, the holiday of Thanksgiving
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thanksgiving:
acción de gracias
usually includes a delicious, abundant meal
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meal:
comida
. The classic Thanksgiving menu consists of dishes like mashed potatoes
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mashed potatoes:
puré de patatas
, green beans
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green beans:
judías verdes
, corn
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corn:
maíz
, dinner rolls
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dinner rolls:
panecillos
, cranberry
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cranberry:
arándano
sauce, gravy
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SPEAK UP EXPLAINS
Gravy
"Salsa de carne." Se trata de una salsa espesa que se prepara con la grasa y los jugos de la propia carne y las verduras mientras estas se cocinan. Es un elemento básico de las gastronomías estadounidense y británica. En contextos informales, gravy se usa también para referirse a algo adicional o inesperado que resulta agradable o valioso, como un ‘chollo’ o una ‘ganga’.
, pumpkin pie
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pumpkin pie:
pastel de calabaza
, Brussels sprouts
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Brussels sprouts:
coles de Bruselas
, and, of course, roast turkey
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roast turkey:
pavo asado
. But how did turkey become the star of the table? It all started four centuries ago…
History of the Thanksgiving Turkey
An Autumn Party
The “first Thanksgiving” took place in the Plymouth colony (in modern-day Massachusetts) in 1621. The year before, a group of English colonists known as the Pilgrims
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pilgrims:
peregrinos
had arrived there in search of a new home. Only half of them survived their first New England winter. Helped by some welcoming
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welcoming:
hospitalarios
Native Americans of different tribes, they learnt some farming
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farming:
agricultura
and fishing techniques.
In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first successful corn harvest
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harvest:
cosecha
, they organised a celebratory feast
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feast:
banquete
with their Native American allies
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allies:
aliados
to thank God for it. However, no turkey was served here. According to the chronicle written by Pilgrim Edward Winslow, the menu included deer
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deer:
ciervo
and “wild fowl
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wild fowl:
ave silvestre
”, which historians interpret as ducks
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ducks:
patos
or geese
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geese:
ocas (sing. goose)
. The Pilgrims repeated the feast the following year, and thanksgiving celebrations became common practice in other New England settlements
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settlements:
asentamientos
, too.
The Wounds of a Nation
Before Thanksgiving was an official holiday, turkey had become a popular dish
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dish:
plato
to serve on special occasions. The reasons behind this are that turkey was abundant in America, it was affordable
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affordable:
asequible
, and, unlike
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unlike:
a diferencia de
cows or hens
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hens:
gallinas
, it was raised to be slaughtered
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to slaughter:
sacrificar
and eaten. Plus, it was big: one single turkey was enough to feed
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to feed:
alimentar
a whole family.
In 1827, Sarah Josepha Hale, in her novel Northwood, described a New England Thanksgiving feast with a roast turkey “placed at the head of the table.” Hale and other supporters started campaigning
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to campaign:
hacer campaña
to establish Thanksgiving as an official national holiday. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln finally accepted the proposal, asking all Americans to take it as an opportunity to ask God to help all the victims of the ongoing
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ongoing:
en curso
Civil War.
Pardoning the Turkey
Sending the U.S. President a turkey as a present had become a common thing to do by the 20th century. And this tradition gave rise
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to give rise:
dar lugar
to another tradition: pardoning the turkey.
The first president to throw a ceremony to pardon a turkey from the Thanksgiving table was John F. Kennedy, in 1963. Pardoning the turkey became an “official” act in 1989, and from then on
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from then on:
desde entonces
presidents have chosen one or two turkeys every year to be sent to a farm to live instead
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instead:
en lugar de
of becoming the Thanksgiving dinner.
