Depuis quatre siècles exactement, les Américains célèbrent la fête la plus importante de leur calendrier. Cette tradition nous ramène aux tout début de l’Amérique (plus de 150 ans avant la création des Etats-Unis) lorsque les premiers colons y débarquèrent. En 1621, les colons de Plymouth et les Wampanoag (1) ont partagé une fête des récoltes d’automne qui est aujourd’hui reconnue comme l’une des premières célébrations de Thanksgiving dans les colonies. Pendant plus de deux siècles, les journées d’action de grâce ont été célébrées par les colonies et les États. Ce n’est qu’en 1863, au milieu de la guerre civile, que le président Abraham Lincoln a proclamé une journée nationale de Thanksgiving qui se tiendrait chaque novembre (pour en savoir plus : Thanksgiving).
Pour consulter quelques statistiques amusantes sur la fête de Thanksgiving : Thanksgiving Fun Facts and Statistics
L’humoriste Art Buchwald avait dédié un de ses éditoriaux dans le Washington Post pour expliquer aux Français les origines de cette fête nationale.
This confidential column was leaked to me by a high government official in the Plymouth colony on the condition that I not reveal his name.
One of our most important holidays is Thanksgiving Day, known in France as le Jour de Merci Donnant.
Le Jour de Merci Donnant was first started by a group of Pilgrims (Pelerins) who fled from l’Angleterre before the McCarran Act to found a colony in the New World (le Nouveau Monde) where they could shoot Indians (les Peaux-Rouges) and eat turkey (dinde) to their hearts’ content.
They landed at a place called Plymouth (now a famous voiture Americaine ) in a wooden sailing ship called the Mayflower (or Fleur de Mai ) in 1620. But while the Pelerins were killing the dindes, the Peaux-Rouges were killing the Pelerins, and there were several hard winters ahead for both of them. The only way the Peaux-Rouges helped the Pelerins was when they taught them to grow corn (mais). The reason they did this was because they liked corn with their Pelerins.
In 1623, after another harsh year, the Pelerins’ crops were so good that they decided to have a celebration and give thanks because more mais was raised by the Pelerins than Pelerins were killed by Peaux-Rouges.
Every year on the Jour de Merci Donnant, parents tell their children an amusing story about the first celebration.
It concerns a brave capitaine named Miles Standish (known in France as Kilometres Deboutish) and a young, shy lieutenant named Jean Alden. Both of them were in love with a flower of Plymouth called Priscilla Mullens (no translation). The vieux capitaine said to the jeune lieutenant :
“Go to the damsel Priscilla ( allez tres vite chez Priscilla), the loveliest maiden of Plymouth ( la plus jolie demoiselle de Plymouth). Say that a blunt old captain, a man not of words but of action (un vieux Fanfan la Tulipe), offers his hand and his heart, the hand and heart of a soldier. Not in these words, you know, but this, in short, is my meaning.
“I am a maker of war (je suis un fabricant de la guerre) and not a maker of phrases. You, bred as a scholar (vous, qui tes pain comme un tudiant), can say it in elegant language, such as you read in your books of the pleadings and wooings of lovers, such as you think best adapted to win the heart of the maiden.”
Although Jean was fit to be tied (convenable tre emballe), friendship prevailed over love and he went to his duty. But instead of using elegant language, he blurted out his mission. Priscilla was muted with amazement and sorrow (rendue muette par l’tonnement et las tristesse).
At length she exclaimed, interrupting the ominous silence: “If the great captain of Plymouth is so very eager to wed me, why does he not come himself and take the trouble to woo me?” (Ou est-il, le vieux Kilometres? Pourquoi ne vient-il pas aupres de moi pour tenter sa chance?)
Jean said that Kilometres Deboutish was very busy and didn’t have time for those things. He staggered on, telling what a wonderful husband Kilometres would make. Finally Priscilla arched her eyebrows and said in a tremulous voice, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, Jean?” (Chacun a son gout.)
And so, on the fourth Thursday in November, American families sit down at a large table brimming with tasty dishes and, for the only time during the year, eat better than the French do.
No one can deny that le Jour de Merci Donnant is a grande fete and no matter how well fed American families are, they never forget to give thanks to Kilometres Deboutish, who made this great day possible.
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(1) Le peuple Wampanoag vivait au XVIIe siècle dans les actuels États du Massachusetts et du Rhode Island. Après les premiers contacts avec les Anglais, qui ont entraîné conflits et épidémies, les chiffres de la population ont chuté de près de 90 % pour atteindre 12 000 membres à l’époque de l’arrivée des Pères pèlerins en 1620 dans la future colonie de Plymouth.
Les Wampanoags contribuèrent d’ailleurs à sauver les colons de la famine en leur offrant de la nourriture, ainsi qu’en leur apprenant à pêcher, chasser et cultiver du maïs. La célébration de la première récolte en 1621 donna lieu à un repas commun entre Amérindiens et pèlerins de Plymouth, événement commémoré de nos jours chaque année aux États-Unis par la fête de Thanksgiving.
(Source : Wikipedia)