1.
A day for shopaholics
2.
The major entertainment of the day
3.
The menu of the first
Thanksgiving dinner
4.
Making the house ready for the holiday

5.
Following a woman’s advice
6.
Recipe for the main dish
7.
Lucky birds
8.
Different dates for one holiday
A.
The people who started to celebrate Thanksgiving Day were the Pilgrims, the English Protestant settlers, and the tribe of the Wampanoag. It was in 1621. Their meals differed greatly from the modern one. They consisted of corn, shellfish and deer meat. At those times there were a lot of wild turkey, but nobody cooked them on that day. Deer meat was the most popular food of the holiday.


B.
People of Canada celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October every year. It is celebrated to thank God for the past harvest and pray for the coming year. The United States, however, celebrates Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November every year. The reason behind the difference is geographical: autumn starts earlier in Canada than in America.


C.
Thanksgiving is the right time to decorate homes. You can add some autumn-colored pillows to the sofa, light a candle and arrange some yellow or orange flowers in a vase. Special message boards have become very popular recently. As guests arrive for Thanksgiving, let them write what they are thankful for on a paper leaf and pin it up at the board. Paper leaves can be cut from scrapbooks and painted in autumn colours.


D.
Watching football is definitely the most popular activity among Americans on Thanksgiving. The history of this tradition began in 1934. The reason was a great match between two football teams – the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears. That game turned out to be really successful. Since that time matches have been held every year (except the years of World War II) on Thanksgiving Day and have become very popular.


E.
Once, President Truman chose a turkey on Thanksgiving Day and sent it back to the farm. That happened in 1947. Since that time it has become a tradition. Nowadays the President selects two turkeys and frees them, in front of a large crowd. Then the turkeys are sent to a farm house to let them live in peace.


F.
Some people use the day after Thanksgiving Day to make trips to see family members or friends. Others use the day to go shopping. The Americans call the day after Thanksgiving ‘Black Friday’. It first got its name in 1960 in Philadelphia. At that time there were a lot of stores in the city. Many people visited the city for shopping, it was overcrowded and the local people considered it a bad black day. Nowadays ‘Black Friday’ means the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.


G.
In 1863 Sara Hale, an editor and writer, wrote a letter to President Lincoln and advised him to proclaim a national day of Thanksgiving. She selected the last Thursday in November because, as she said, the harvests were finished, the elections were over, and people were back from their summer vacations. She even suggested a list of dishes for the traditional holiday menu. President Lincoln liked her idea and declared a national holiday, Thanksgiving Day.