奇怪的感恩节传统

文/林顿·威克斯译/李潇骁

奇怪的感恩节传统

文/林顿·威克斯译/李潇骁

过去，在美国，商店照例在感恩节那天关门。人们寄出感恩节贺卡，穿上千奇百怪的服装，学校和社区举办精心编排的游行活动和感恩节盛典，印第安人和移民者相聚在一起，挥手欢笑。

Time was in America that stores routinely closed on Thanksgiving Day. Folks sent Thanksgiving greeting cards, people donned odd costumes and schools and communities staged elaborate parades and Thanksgiving pageants1pageant壮丽的游行队伍；露天表演。in which Native Americans and Pilgrims2Pilgrim清教徒前辈移民（1620 年乘“五月花”号赴美洲，在马萨诸塞建立英国殖民地）。gathered together and smiled and waved.

[2]《华盛顿邮报》报道说，千禧一代不再选择蔓越莓酱，而是倾向于更为健康的感恩节晚餐。感恩节盛典也在政治上引发了争议。

[2] Millennials are moving toward more healthful Thanksgiving dinners,The Washington Postnotes, and tossing out3toss out扔掉。the cranberry sauce4cranberry sauce火鸡加蔓越莓酱是美国家庭感恩节的应景食物。. And the Thanksgiving pageant has become politically controversial.

[3]数十年来，传统的感恩节盛典都是在学校举行，可现在这一传统已经遭到了挑战。他提到一段加利福尼亚学区为幼儿园小朋友制作的教学视频，视频中要求所有由学校组织的感恩节庆祝活动都要包含“多种不同的观点”。

[3] The traditional Thanksgiving pageant—celebrated in schools for decades—has become challenging. He cites an instructional video, created by a California school district for kindergartners, that calls on all school-sponsored Thanksgiving celebrations to incorporate “more than one point of view.”

[4]就在我们眼前，感恩节正在发生翻天覆地的变化，改头换面了。

为什么一些传统得以保留，而另一些（例如感恩节游行里的花车和气球）出现后又逐渐消失了呢?

[4] Right before our eyes, Thanksgiving is changing. Shape-shifting. Thanksmorphing.

Why do some traditions abide and others appear—and then fade away—like fl oats and balloons in a Thanksgiving Day parade?

爱国火鸡

[5]例如，爱国火鸡的概念。

谁知道这个概念源起何处？也许是18世纪，本杰明·富兰克林说出火鸡比美国的国家象征——鹰“更值得尊敬”的名言。又或许是19世纪中期，人们开始习惯性地将出版作品中的鸟类称为“尊贵的火鸡”。也可能是20世纪初，将感恩节火鸡视为祭祀鸟类的想法开始逐渐消失。

The Patriotic Turkey

[5] The notion of the patriotic turkey, for instance.

Who knows where it started? Perhaps in the 18th century when Benjamin Franklin famously praised the turkey as“much more respectable” than the national-symbol eagle. Or in the mid-19th century when people started habitually referring to the fowl5fowl家禽。in print as the “noble turkey.” Or maybe it was around the turn of the 20th century, when the idea of the Thanksgiving turkey as sacri fi cial bird began to take fl ight6take flight逃走。.

[6]这个概念最终形成于1911年11月18日圣弗朗西斯科《旧金山呼声报》上的一篇短文。作者进行了详尽的解释：“火鸡是美国表示感恩的象征。在感恩节，爱国火鸡为了它的国家而牺牲自己。”

[6] This last construct was summed up in a Vest Pocket7vest pocket袖珍的,小型的（照片、书等）。Essay published in theSan Francisco Callon Nov. 18, 1911. “The turkey is the national bird of thankfulness,” the writer expounded8ex-pound阐述；详解。. And “the patriotic turkey dies for his country on Thanksgiving Day.”

[7]现在，人们几乎快要忘记，浑身上下彩旗遍布、左右两侧也插上了旗帜的爱国火鸡曾经是风靡一时的感恩节传统特色，而这一传统如今也一去不复返了……

[7] All but forgotten nowadays, the patriotic turkey—bestrewn9bestrewn撒满。with bunting10bunting（装饰街道、房屋等的）彩旗。, fl anked by flags—was a popular character on another gone-with-thewind Thanksgiving tradition ...

感恩节贺卡

[8]第一个感恩节贺卡的广告出现在19世纪晚期。几十年来，感恩节贺卡和圣诞节贺卡一样，是美国节日里普遍不可缺少的东西。

The Thanksgiving Greeting Card

[8] First advertised in the late 19th century, the Thanksgiving greeting card—like the Christmas card—was a prevalent holiday fi xture in this country for decades.

[9] 1910年11月18日，宾夕法尼亚州斯克兰顿的《真理报》报道，当地一家书店里销售的亚麻布纸感恩节贺卡上写着这么一句话：“这是来自寄信人真诚的祝愿，希望你的火鸡丰满鲜嫩。”贺卡和信封共10美分。

[9] A bookstore in Scranton, Pa., according to the localTruthon Nov. 18, 1910, sold linen Thanksgiving greeting cards with the message: “A sincere wish from the sender / That your Bird will be plump and tender.” Card and envelope cost a dime.

[10]“真诚”是最普遍的情感。1932年11月21日，纽约州卡南代瓜的《每日信使报》报道：“1932年贺卡中所包含的情感让人强烈地回想起当年清教徒感恩节的无畏精神。现在的年轻人鲁莽无礼，很少能说出这种风趣的俏皮话或美好祝词。”

[10] Sincerity was the mood à la mode11à la mode时髦的。. “The sentiments of the 1932 cards,” theDaily Messengerin Canandaigua, N.Y., reported on Nov. 21, 1932, “hark back strongly to the courageous spirit of the Puritan Thanksgiving. Wise-cracking12wise-cracking说俏皮话。remarks or good wishes in the pert13pert无礼的；冒失的。spirit of modern youth are rare.”

游行依旧盛行

[11]尽管爱国火鸡和感恩节贺卡已经一去不返，但是有许多传统的感恩节习俗仍然流行，例如以火鸡为主的晚餐，还有感恩节盛典。

The Parade Reigns On

[11] Gone are the patriotic fowl and Thanksgiving greeting cards. But many traditional Thanksgiving traditions—such as turkeycentric cuisine and Thanksgiving pageants—prevail.

[12]佩里·格朗德是来自奥农达加乌龟部落的一位教育家，他出色地解构了美国感恩节的故事,对感恩节已经进行了数年的思考。他在2011年发表的一篇文章中提出了自己的观点：“并不是所有的印第安人都对感恩节怀有正面的情感。对于一部分人来说，感恩节是在提醒他们，欧洲来的移民者、后来的美国人和印第安人之间关系并不友好。小部分印第安人在一些万帕诺亚格人社区成员的带领下，宣布自1970年起，感恩节之后的一天为全国哀悼日。”

[12] Perry Ground, an Onondaga14奥农达加人（北美易洛魁部落的印第安人）。Turtle Clan educator who does a fantastic job deconstructing15deconstruct解构。the fables of American Thanksgiving, has been thinking about Thanksgiving for years now. “Not all Native Americans have positive feelings about the Thanksgiving holiday,” he observes in a 2011 essay. “To some it is a reminder of the negative relations between European settlers, later Americans and Native peoples. Since 1970, a small group of Native people led by some Wampanoag community members have declared the day after Thanksgiving to be a National Day of Mourning. ”

[13]格朗德在文章中写道，每年感恩节，他会和家人一起吃火鸡、蔓越莓以及土豆泥。他说：“我们会看足球，玩游戏，再打个盹儿，并为第二天购物做好准备。”

他也会心怀感激。文章最后，他总结道：“感恩是我们可以从这个节日中保留下来的情感。我们每天都应该感恩自己所拥有的一切。” □

[13] Ground writes that he celebrates Thanksgiving Day by eating turkey, cranberries and mashed potatoes with his family. “We will watch football, play games, take naps and get ready for the next day’s shopping,” he notes.

And he will be thankful. “That is an idea that we can carry away from this holiday,” he concludes. “We can be thankful for what we have every day.”

The Peculiar Parade of Thanksgiving Traditions

ByLinton Weeks

（译者曾获第六届“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛二等奖。）

译者单位：上海立信会计金融学院