谁把火鸡带给了感恩节？关于感恩节的真相

Let's do this in question/answer form.

 

　　让我们用问答的方式来阐述这个问题吧。

How long was the first Thanksgiving dinner?

第一次感恩节晚餐持续了多长时间？

It wasn't just a dinner. It lasted three days.

    　　这不仅仅是一次晚餐。它持续了三天。

Who was there?

有谁在那？

About fifty Pilgrims came. Plus 90 Wampanoag Indians. Says the writer Andrew Beahrs: "About two of every three people there were Wampanoag." (Maybe that is why, in the middle of the party, the English took out their muskets and "exercised [their] arms," which Beahrs says was probably target practice, their subtle way of saying, "Guess who's got the firepower here?")

    　　据作家Andrew Beahrs说，大约有50个新移民去了。在加上90个万帕诺亚格的印第安人。“那儿每三个人中就有两个是万帕诺亚格人。”（这也解释了为什么在这次宴会期间英国人会解除他们的武装空手上阵，在Beahrs看来就是针对目标的练习，微妙的表达出“想清楚谁在在这控制着火力”的意图）

Was it a family event? Were there ladies there?

这是一次家族事件吗？有女性参加吗？

Probably not. The only eyewitness account mentions "some 90 men." This was a political gathering. The Wampanoags and the Pilgrims were cementing a military alliance. Massoasoit, the Wampanoag king, was there. So was the English governor, William Bradford. The first Thanksgiving was mostly a guys-only event where the English women, says Beahrs "were likely doing the bulk of the cooking."

    　　大概没有。唯一的一个目击证人提到“大概有90个男性。”这是一次政治集会。万帕诺亚格人和新移民们是在商讨成立军事联盟。万帕诺亚格人的国王Massoasoit也出席了。而且英国的统治者William Bradford也在。据Beahrs说，第一次感恩节几乎就是一次男性专有集会，而英国女性“有大部分可能都在做吃的吧。”

Was it held indoors? Around a big table?

这次聚会是在室内举行的吗？围着一个大圆桌？

No, the first Thanksgiving was probably held outdoors, including the meals. The English houses were too small to get everyone inside.

    　　不是的，第一次感恩节很有可能是在室外庆祝的，甚至包括其中的吃饭过程。英国人的房子太小了根本放不下所有的人。

Did they eat turkey?

他们吃了火鸡吗？

We don't think so. The Wampanoag guests brought five deer with them, so venison was on the menu. The English brought fowl, "probably migrating waterfowl like ducks and geese, which were plentiful in autumn," says Beahrs. "Governor William Bradford does mention taking turkeys that year, but not in connection to the harvest celebration."

    　　我不这样认为。来自万帕诺亚格的客人带来了5只鹿，所以菜单上肯定有鹿肉。而英国人带了一些家禽，“很有可能是鸭子，鹅等迁徙的水上家禽，这类家禽资源在秋天非常丰富，”Beahrs说。“英国的统治者William Bradford确实那年提到过带了火鸡，但是这时候火鸡和丰收庆祝没有任何关系。”

How about cranberries?

那小红莓呢？

Sorry. "If anyone at the gathering ate cranberries, it definitely wasn't as a sweet sauce," writes Beahrs. Sweet cranberries need maple syrup, an ingredient that wasn’t plentiful till 60 years later. "The Wampanoag often ate the berries raw, or else in boiled or ash roasted corn cakes."

    　　对不起，，“如果有任何人在机会吃上了小红莓，那肯定不是吃了甜酱，”Beahrs写道。甜莓酱需要枫蜜来调和，而这种原料直到60年之后才普及。“万帕诺亚格人经常生吃莓子，或者混在煮或烤的玉米蛋糕中。”

Sweet potatoes? Pumpkin pie? What else was on the table?

甜土豆?南瓜派？餐桌上还有什么其他的东西？

Pumpkins, maybe. But not pies. They wouldn't show up for another generation at least.

    　　南瓜，或许会有。但肯定不是以派的形式。它至少在后两代人之后才出现。

Linda Coombs, an Aquinnah Wampanoag and director of the Wampanoag Center for Bicultural History at Plimoth Plantation, guesses they ate "sobaheg," a Wampanoag favorite: a stewed mix of corn, roots, beans, squash and various meats. Plus the easy-to-gather local food: clams, lobsters, cod, eels, onions, turnips and greens from spinach to chard.

    　　Linda Coombs是一位万帕诺亚格土著人，同时他也是坐落于普利茅斯种植园万帕诺亚格中心二元文化历史研究的主管。据他猜测，他们吃了“sobaheg，”一种万帕诺亚格人钟爱的食物：一种将玉米，树根，豆子，南瓜和各种肉类放在一起长时间煮之后的食物。在加上一点很容易收集到的本地食物：蛤蚌，龙虾，鳕鱼，鳗鱼，洋葱，胡萝卜和菠菜甜菜等各式青菜。

So how did turkey get to be the Thanksgiving bird?

那么火鸡怎么成为了感恩节的吉祥物呢？

Gradually.

    　　逐渐走入人们的生活。

Two hundred fifty years after the original Thanksgiving dinner, one of the hottest cookbooks in America, a collection of recipes from Ohio housewives called the Buckeye Cookerie, suggested a bunch of 'traditional' Thanksgiving dinners, and many of them, says Beahrs, ignored the turkey:

    　　在最初那次感恩节盛宴250年之后，一本叫做《Buckeye Cookerie》的美国最热的烹调书籍，从俄亥俄的家庭主妇那收集了一系列的食谱，并在书中推荐了一系列的“传统”感恩节食物，据Beahrs说，他们其中的很多都忽略了火鸡。

Who put the turkey on top?

是谁把火鸡放在首当其冲的位置的呢？

Abe Lincoln helped by declaring Thanksgiving a national holiday. I'm sure the turkey and cranberry industries helped too, but Beahrs gives his biggest props to a 19th century magazine editor named Sarah Josepha Hale. She and her magazine, Godey's Lady's Book, campaigned for a national day, wrote letters to governors, to every member of Congress, even to the president, and when she wasn't lobbying, she was writing novels that romanticized turkeys in that over-the-top drooling-with-her-pen way that may make you laugh ... but it worked. Here's a passage from her 1827 novel, Northwood:

    　　亚伯汉姆林肯帮了很大的忙，他宣称感恩节为全国性节假日。我相信火鸡和红莓行业也起了很大的作用，但是Beahrs认为这最应该归功于一个19世纪的杂志编辑Sarah Josepha Hale。她和她的杂志《Godey's Lady's Book》在国庆日做活动，给政府有关部门，给国会的每个成员甚至给总统写信。而在她的游说结束之后，她开始写小说，用她的笔将吃火鸡这个流口水的过程浪漫化，你也许会笑，但是这确实起作用了。

Whoa! That’s a lot of food! But notice that while chicken pie was in the running back then, somehow 180 years later, turkey has wrestled chicken right off the table. Viva la turkey!

　　哇！真是一大堆的食物呢。但是请注意尽管鸡肉派180年之前还处于领先地位，但是现在火鸡已经把普通鸡挤下了餐桌。火鸡万岁！

　　最后祝大家感恩节快乐！美美的吃上一顿火鸡。

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