来週の金曜日は日本の「勤動感謝の日」という休日なんですが、その前の日の事をご存知でしょうか？それは、米国の「Thanksgiving Day」（感謝の日）という事です。聞いた事ありますか？その休日の由来を尋ねると、１６２０年にMayflower号という船でアメリカ大陸に渡ったピルグリムファーザーズ（巡礼始祖）の話です。そのピューリタンの一団の人々がPlymouthに居を定めて、１６２１年の最初の収穫を神に感謝したりご馳走を食べたりしましたから、毎年１１月の第４木曜日に色々神様に恵まれたありがたいものを考えて感謝する法定休日になったんです。
その祭日に、家族の皆さんがそろって、一緒に七面鳥やパンプキンパイという伝統的なThanksgivingの料理を食べたり、話したりするので、アメリカ人にとってはとても大切な祭日なんです。その日にもパレードもあるし、アメリカンフットボールの重要な試合もあります。私はフットボールに興味がないので、親戚が帰ってから一日中テレビゲームをやっていました。この時季は私にとってはちょっと懐かしいですね。
では、県民の日と勤動感謝の日を楽しんでくださいね！また来週！
ところで，以上の文章はなんか変だと思ったら，それは自分で日本語の作文を書いていますからね
。すみません！Hello everyone. This is John! It’s already Friday isn’t it. Did you enjoy the Soba Matsuri on Sunday? I ate miso oden, yamame-yaki (grilled trout), tai-yaki (sea bream shaped pastries filled with sweet bean paste), a frankfurter, and of course tempura soba! I think I ate a bit too much, but it was so delicious that I couldn’t help it!
Next Friday is a holiday called Labor Thanksgiving Day here in Japan, but do you know anything about the day before that? In America, that day is called Thanksgiving Day (kansha no hi). Have you heard of it? If you trace the roots of that holiday, it goes back to the Pilgrim Fathers who first came to the American continent on a ship called the Mayflower in 1620. This group of Puritans established a colony in Plymouth, and in 1621 they held a great feast and gave thanks to God for their first harvest. Because of this, every year the fourth week of November is a legal holiday on which people think about the many things that God has blessed them with and give thanks for them.
On this holiday, families gather together and talk and share traditional Thanksgiving foods of turkey and pumpkin pie, and so for Americans this is a very important holiday. There are also parades on this day, as well as important football games. I don’t really have any interest in football, so after my relatives returned home I would spend the day playing video games. This time of year is a bit nostalgic for me.
Well, I hope you enjoy Prefectural Citizen’s Day and Labor Thanksgiving Day next week. See you then!
