美国本土印第安人是如何看待感恩节的
感恩节就快到了，很多人为这一天的到来而高兴万分，然而，就感恩节的意义，让我们看看来自美国土著印第安人对感恩节理解吧。
对我们大多数人来说，感恩节立刻让我们想到了印第安人和白人清教徒之间的第一个感恩节。然而，这个故事有很多版本，但是我们很多人都知道我们在学校里教的那个：在1621年，美国将有他们的第一个由两个不同群体参加的感恩节晚餐。如今它的庆典是在十一月的第四个星期四。
有关最初的一次庆典应该是为纪念印第安人与白人清教徒之间所签订的一个合约。在这一次的庆典聚餐活动上有足够的食物，可以享用几个星期之久。桌子上面摆满了鹅、火鸡、天鹅和鸭子，还有很多肉类、菜蔬和粮食作物。每个人都都感觉到有了一次欢快的庆典和聚餐。土著印第安人还与白人清教徒签署了一项合约，允许白人进驻普利茅斯。但在印第安人的眼中却不像美国白人历史中所描述的一样，印第安人后来认为是完全不同的事，他们深深感觉到那是他们命运终结的开始。在一段时间里，他们以放弃大片土地以换取得到的那些礼物，在后来离家的路上让他们大批人感染病毒而身亡。
白人定居者在当时明知没有印第安人的帮助，他们不可能活过那个冬季，而他们把这个事件当作与印第安人友谊开始的象征。当时人们在亲朋之间庆祝节日，感恩他们能够存活下来，而今天我们吃火鸡和火腿用来家庭之间的庆典了。
感恩节应该永远以印第安人和白人清教徒同坐在长桌前一起用餐，相互分享共有的一切而铭刻在人们的心中，这才是感恩节真正的意义所在。
作者及翻译 靳瞻型
THANKSGIVING
Discover the meaning of Thanksgiving from the Native American Indian side.
Thanksgiving Day is right around the corner. For many of us, thinking about Thanksgiving makes us think of the First Thanksgiving between the Indians and the Pilgrims. There are many versions of this story though, but many of us know the one we are taught in school. In 1621, America would have their very first Thanksgiving Dinner between the two different groups. Today it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.
The very first Thanksgiving was to celebrate a treaty between the pilgrims and the Indians. This was a large feast that had enough food to feed everyone for weeks. On the table was foul such as geese, turkey, swans, duck, etc. There was also lots of meat, vegetables and grains provided by both the Indians and the pilgrims. Everyone had a wonderful celebration, and certainly a wonderful meal. The Native Indians even signed a paper stating that the pilgrims had the right to Plymouth.
Thanksgiving to the Native American Indians may not mean the same thing that it did to the white settlers in American History. To the Indians, Thanksgiving would mean a totally different thing. This was the beginning of their end - a time where they had given up their land in return for gifts that were full of disease - which would kill many of them later down the road.
The White settlers would see this as a friendship being started, knowing that without the help of the Native American Indians, they would never have survived the rough winter. It was a time of celebrating with family and friends and being thankful they were still around to do it. Today, we celebrate it with our own family with turkey, yams and ham.
Thanksgiving will always be remembered as a time when the Native American Indians and Pilgrims sat at a long table and ate together, sharing everything they had with one another. That is exactly the true meaning of Thanksgiving Day!
