The fourth Thursday in November is a national day of thanksgiving in the United States. Thetradition is a very old one, dating to the arrival of the first English settlers in North America inthe 17th century who, after their first successful harvests, paused to celebrate their bountyand give thanks for surviving their first terrible winter in what was then a wilderness.

Falling in the autumn, Thanksgiving has much in common with harvest holidays in other nationsand cultures, such as Vietnam’s Trung Thu [[CHOONG TWO]] celebration and Homowo, theannual yam festival in Ghana. Still,

It also is a time for people to look back at the year, take stock and think about the future. Withour nation dealing with crises in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and West Africa, the loominguncertainties of 2015 likely will be on many minds today. President Abraham Lincoln proclaimedthe first official Thanksgiving amid similar serious circumstances, the American Civil War.

But like their colonial ancestors, Americans are essentially an optimistic people. Surroundedby friends and family, today as in the past, they will enter into the spirit of the day, givingthanks for life’s blessings and the promise of the future living in a free land.

[感恩节的意义英文版]