誰把火雞帶給了感恩節？關於感恩節的真相

Let's do this in question/answer form.

 

　　讓我們用問答的方式來闡述這個問題吧。

How long was the first Thanksgiving dinner?

第一次感恩節晚餐持續了多長時間？

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

    　　這不僅僅是一次晚餐。它持續了三天。

Who was there?

有誰在那？

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?")

    　　據作家Andrew Beahrs說，大約有50個新移民去了。在加上90個萬帕諾亞格的印第安人。“那兒每三個人中就有兩個是萬帕諾亞格人。”（這也解釋了為什麼在這次宴會期間英國人會解除他們的武裝空手上陣，在Beahrs看來就是針對目標的練習，微妙的表達出“想清楚誰在在這控制着火力”的意圖）

Was it a family event? Were there ladies there?

這是一次家族事件嗎？有女性參加嗎？

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."

    　　大概沒有。唯一的一個目擊證人提到“大概有90個男性。”這是一次政治集會。萬帕諾亞格人和新移民們是在商討成立軍事聯盟。萬帕諾亞格人的國王Massoasoit也出席了。而且英國的統治者William Bradford也在。據Beahrs說，第一次感恩節幾乎就是一次男性專有集會，而英國女性“有大部分可能都在做吃的吧。”

Was it held indoors? Around a big table?

這次聚會是在室內舉行的嗎？圍着一個大圓桌？

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

    　　不是的，第一次感恩節很有可能是在室外慶祝的，甚至包括其中的吃飯過程。英國人的房子太小了根本放不下所有的人。

Did they eat turkey?

他們吃了火雞嗎？

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."

    　　我不這樣認為。來自萬帕諾亞格的客人帶來了5隻鹿，所以菜單上肯定有鹿肉。而英國人帶了一些家禽，“很有可能是鴨子，鵝等遷徙的水上家禽，這類家禽資源在秋天非常豐富，”Beahrs說。“英國的統治者William Bradford確實那年提到過帶了火雞，但是這時候火雞和豐收慶祝沒有任何關係。”

How about cranberries?

那小紅莓呢？

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."

    　　對不起，，“如果有任何人在機會吃上了小紅莓，那肯定不是吃了甜醬，”Beahrs寫道。甜莓醬需要楓蜜來調和，而這種原料直到60年之後才普及。“萬帕諾亞格人經常生吃莓子，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？餐桌上還有什麼其他的東西？

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

    　　南瓜，或許會有。但肯定不是以派的形式。它至少在後兩代人之後才出現。

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是一位萬帕諾亞格土著人，同時他也是坐落於普利茅斯種植園萬帕諾亞格中心二元文化歷史研究的主管。據他猜測，他們吃了“sobaheg，”一種萬帕諾亞格人鍾愛的食物：一種將玉米，樹根，豆子，南瓜和各種肉類放在一起長時間煮之後的食物。在加上一點很容易收集到的本地食物：蛤蚌，龍蝦，鱈魚，鰻魚，洋蔥，胡蘿蔔和菠菜甜菜等各式青菜。

So how did turkey get to be the Thanksgiving bird?

那麼火雞怎麼成為了感恩節的吉祥物呢？

Gradually.

    　　逐漸走入人們的生活。

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:

    　　在最初那次感恩節盛宴250年之後，一本叫做《Buckeye Cookerie》的美國最熱的烹調書籍，從俄亥俄的家庭主婦那收集了一系列的食譜，並在書中推薦了一系列的“傳統”感恩節食物，據Beahrs說，他們其中的很多都忽略了火雞。

Who put the turkey on top?

是誰把火雞放在首當其衝的位置的呢？

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:

    　　亞伯漢姆林肯幫了很大的忙，他宣稱感恩節為全國性節假日。我相信火雞和紅莓行業也起了很大的作用，但是Beahrs認為這最應該歸功於一個19世紀的雜誌編輯Sarah Josepha Hale。她和她的雜誌《Godey's Lady's Book》在國慶日做活動，給政府有關部門，給國會的每個成員甚至給總統寫信。而在她的遊說結束之後，她開始寫小說，用她的筆將吃火雞這個流口水的過程浪漫化，你也許會笑，但是這確實起作用了。

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。但是請注意儘管雞肉派180年之前還處於領先地位，但是現在火雞已經把普通雞擠下了餐桌。火雞萬歲！

　　最後祝大家感恩節快樂！美美的吃上一頓火雞。

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