万圣节,圣诞节,感恩节

Hallowe'en,is a tradition celebrated on the night of October 31,most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting sweets,fruit,and other gifts,called most commonly trick-or-treating.Some other traditional activities include costume parties,watching horror films,going to "haunted" houses,and traditional autumn activities such as hayrides,some of which may even be "haunted".
Christmas is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus.Christmas festivities often combine the commemoration of Jesus' birth with various customs,many of which have been influenced by earlier winter festivals.Traditions include the display of Nativity scenes,Holly and Christmas trees,the exchange of gifts and cards,and the arrival of Father Christmas (Santa Claus) on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning.Popular Christmas themes include the promotion of goodwill,compassion,and peace.
In most places around the world,Christmas Day is celebrated on December 25.It is preceded by Christmas Eve on December 24,and in some countries is followed by Boxing Day on December 26.The Armenian Apostolic Church observes Christmas on January 6,while certain old rite or old style Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas on January 7,the date on the Gregorian calendar which corresponds to 25 December on the Julian Calendar.The date as a birthdate for Jesus is merely traditional,and is not widely considered to be his actual date of birth.
The word "Christmas" is a contraction meaning "Christ's mass." It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse,a phrase first recorded in 1038.[2] Dutch has a similar word,Kerstmis often shortened to Kerst.The words for the holiday in Spanish (navidad),Portuguese (natal),Polish (Boże Narodzenie),French (noël),Italian (natale),and Catalan (nadal) refer more explicitly to the Nativity.In contrast,the German name Weihnachten means simply "hallowed night." After the conversion of Anglo-Saxon Britain in the very early 7th century,Christmas was referred to as geol[2],the name of the pre-Christian solstice festival from which the current English word 'Yule' is derived.
Christmas is sometimes shortened to Xmas,an abbreviation that has a long history.[3] In early Greek versions of the New Testament,the letter 围 (chi),is the first letter of Christ (围蟻喂蟽蟿ός).Since the mid-sixteenth century 围,or the similar Roman letter X,was used as an abbreviation for Christ.[4]
The Nativity refers to the birth of Jesus.The story of Christmas is based on the biblical accounts given in the Gospel of Matthew,namely Matthew 1:18-Matthew 2:12 and the Gospel of Luke,specifically Luke 1:26-Luke 1:56.According to these accounts,Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary,assisted by her husband Joseph,in the city of Bethlehem.The birth took place in a "stable",surrounded by farm animals,and the infant Jesus was laid in a manger.Shepherds from the fields surrounding Bethlehem were told of the birth by an angel,and were the first to see the child.[5] Christians believe that the birth of Jesus fulfilled many prophecies made hundreds of years before his birth.
Remembering or re-creating the Nativity is a central way that Christians celebrate Christmas.The Eastern Orthodox Church practices the Nativity Fast in anticipation of the birth of Jesus,while much of the Western Church celebrates Advent.In some Christian churches,children perform plays re-telling the events of the Nativity,or sing carols that reference the event.Some Christians also display a small re-creation of the Nativity,known as a Nativity scene,in their homes,using figurines to portray the key characters of the event.Live Nativity scenes are also performed,using actors and live animals to portray the event with more realism.[6]
Nativity scenes traditionally include the Three Wise Men,Balthazar,Melchior,and Caspar,although their names and number are not referred to in the Biblical narrative,who are said to have followed a star,known as the Star of Bethlehem,found Jesus,and presented gifts of gold,frankincense,and myrrh.[7]
In the U.S.,Christmas decorations at public buildings once commonly included Nativity scenes.This practice has led to many lawsuits,as some say it amounts to the government endorsing a religion.In 1984,the U.S.Supreme Court ruled that a city-owned Christmas display,even one with a Nativity scene,does not violate the First Amendment.[8]
Thanksgiving,or Thanksgiving Day,is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks at the end of the harvest season.In the United States,Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.In Canada,Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October.
Traditional celebration
In the United States,certain kinds of food are traditionally served at Thanksgiving meals.First and foremost,turkey is usually the featured item on any Thanksgiving feast table (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes referred to as "Turkey Day").Stuffing,mashed potatoes with gravy,sweet potatoes,cranberry sauce,corn,other fall vegetables,yams and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner.All of these primary dishes (except yams) are actually native to the Americas and were introduced as a new food source to the Europeans when they arrived.
[edit] History of Thanksgiving in the United States
The Virginia colony
A collective prayer of thanksgiving was held in the Virginia Colony on December 4,1619 near the current site of Berkeley Plantation,where celebrations are still held each year on the first Sunday in November.[1]
Pilgrims
The early settlers of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts were particularly thankful for Squanto,the Native American who taught them how to catch eel,grow corn and who served as an interpreter for them (Squanto had learned English as a slave in Europe).Without Squanto's help the settlers might not have survived in the new world.
These settlers (who later came to be called the "Pilgrims") set apart a day to celebrate at Plymouth immediately after their first harvest,in 1621.
After their first harvest,the colonists of the Plymouth held a celebration of food,feasting,and praising God in the fall of 1621.Indian chiefs Massassoit,Squanto and Samoset joined in the celebration with ninety of their men in the three-day event.
Halloween originated under a different name ("Samhain") as a Pagan festival among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain with mainly Irish and Scots and other immigrants transporting versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century.Many other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late twentieth century.
Halloween is now celebrated in many parts of the western world,most commonly in the United States,Canada,Puerto Rico,Ireland,the United Kingdom and sometimes in Australia and New Zealand.In recent years,Halloween has also been celebrated in some parts of Western Europe.
The term Halloween,and its older rendering Hallowe'en,is shortened from All-hallow-even,as it is the evening of/before "All Hallows' Day"[1] (also known as "All Saints' Day").The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions[citation needed],until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 to November 1.In the ninth century,the Church measured the day as starting at sunset,in accordance with the Florentine calendar.Although we now consider All Saints' (or Hallows') day to be on the day after Halloween,they were,at that time,considered to be the same day.Liturgically,the Church traditionally celebrated this day as the Vigil of All Saints,and,until 1970,a day of fasting.Like other vigils,it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on Sunday,although the secular aspects of the holiday remained on the 31st.The Vigil was suppressed in 1955,although somewhat restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.
In Ireland,the name was All Hallows' Eve (often shortened to Hallow Eve),and though seldom used today,it is still a well-accepted label,albeit somewhat esoteric.The festival is also known as Samhain or O铆che Shamhna to the Irish,Samhuin in Scottish Gaelic,Calan Gaeaf to the Welsh,Allantide to the Cornish and Hop-tu-Naa to the Manx.Halloween is also called Pooky Night in some parts of Ireland,presumably named after the p煤ca,a mischievous spirit.
Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world and when magic is most potent (e.g.Catalan mythology about witches,Irish tales of the S铆dhe).