大学英语Ⅲ课件---unit5 How to Celebrate Holidayspre-reading.pptVIP

Listen to the song and point out the holidays of this year you have heard. List your favorite holidays and do the ranking then tell us how you usually celebrate your favorite holidays. Holidays in Western Culture Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November. For many Americans, it is the most important holiday apart from Christmas. Schools, offices and most businesses close for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a time for tradition and sharing. Even if they live far away, family members gather for a reunion at the house of an older relative. All give thanks together for the good things that they have. Thanksgiving is associated with the time when Europeans first came to North America.  Almost 400 years ago, the Pilgrims settled in what is now the state of Massachusetts. Their first winter in the New World was difficult. Without fresh food, many of them died. In the following spring, the American Indians taught them how to grow corn. In the next autumn, bountiful crops of corn, beans and pumpkins were harvested. The colonists had much to be thankful for, so they held a big feast to thank God and the Native Americans. St. Valentines Day falls on February 14. It is a day for sweethearts. April Fools Day falls on April 1st. It is traditionally a day to play practical jokes on others, send people on fools errands, and fool the unsuspecting. Easter Day (Sunday) falls on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. It is regarded as “a salute to spring” or “marking re-birth” of Christ. Rabbit is the symbol of Easter Day because it is believed to have multiple births. Christians consider eggs to be “the seed of life” so they are symbolic of resurrection of Jesus Christ. Children roll eggs down hills on Easter Day, a game which has been connected to the rolling away of the rock from Christ’s tomb when he was resurrected. Every year the First Lady will invite children to the White House for Egg Roll. Easter Monday is the only day of the year when tourists are allowe