The best Christmas movies for kids

Have you seen the best Christmas movies for kids? Curl up with a warm blanket and enjoy a festive marathon with the fam!

1.Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States.

2.The Plymouth Pilgrims were the first to celebrate the Thanksgiving.

3.The pilgrims sailed on the ship, which was known by the name of 'Mayflower'.

4.They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day in the fall of 1621.

5.The pilgrims did not serve pumpkin pie, Rather, they made stewed pumpkin at the first Thanksgiving feast.

6.The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days.

7.The state of New York officially made Thanksgiving Day an annual custom in 1817.

8.It has been estimated that 88% of Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving.

9.No turkey or spoons were there in the first thanksgiving.

10.About 46 million turkeys are eaten in America for Thanksgiving dinner.

Did you know…

Easter originated as a Pagan tradition, celebrated by the Anglo-Saxons in honor of their goddess of birth and springtime—Eastre (also known as Oestre or Ostara).

「復活節」乃源自異教徒(即非基督徒)傳統，是盎格魯撒克遜人(就是講英語的人)藉以紀念他們的新生與春天女神-- 依絲翠(Eastre)，也叫做伊斯特拉(Oestre)或奧斯塔拉(Ostara)。

During the second century, when Christian missionaries were attempting to convert the population to Christianity, many Pagans who converted to Chris­tianity still refused to give up their traditional religious celebrations. “Easter” began to be celebrated as a Christian holiday, in order to allow former Pagans to celebrate Eastre without being blasphemous. It became a hybrid celebration of both the Pagan Eastre and the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ.

西元二世紀期間，基督教傳教士想要改變人民的信仰成為基督教，然而，許多已經改教為基督教的異教徒仍不願放棄他們的傳統，於是，「復活節」開始被當作基督教的節日慶祝，為的是允許從前曾是異教徒的人紀念依絲翠女神，而不致褻謾神；也就是說，「復活節」在當時變成一種混合體的節慶：合併懷念「異教依絲翠女神」和慶祝「耶穌基督死而復活的基督教傳統」。

Modern Easter traditions…

Most Easter traditions originated from the Pagan festival of Eastre. For exam­ple the fertility goddess Eastre was associated with a sacred earth animal—the rabbit. The tradition of the Easter Bunny may have started in Germany where the goddess Eastre was known as Ostara. As one story goes, Ostara arrived late one Spring, and many animals had been frozen by the snow. She saved a small bird whose wings had been frozen, and she transformed him into a white snow-hare so he could run fast and survive the winters. However, she allowed the bird the ability to lay eggs one day a year. And every year during the Eastre or Ostara Festival the snow hare would lay colorful eggs and give them out to the children.

大部分的復活節傳統源自異教依絲翠女神節慶，例如兔子，即是與富有生產力的依絲翠女神有關的神聖動物。復活節兔子(Easter Bunny)的傳統很可能是始於德國，在當地依絲翠女神叫做奧斯塔拉(Ostara)。其中一個故事提到：某個春天，奧斯塔拉來得較晚，很多動物因此已被雪凍僵，她搶救了一隻翅膀已被冰凍的小鳥，並且將他變成一隻白色雪兔，這樣他就可以跑很快，即使冬天也能生存下去。但是，奧斯塔拉曾經賦予那隻鳥每一年有一天可以下蛋的能力，因此，每年的依絲翠女神節或奧斯塔拉節，那隻雪兔也會下彩色蛋，然後發給小孩子。

Eggs have been longtime symbols of rebirth and fertility, even as far back as ancient Greece and Rome. During the Festival of Eastre it was customary to exchange colored eggs with one’s neighbors. Colored and decorated eggs were given as a token of good fortune and wishes for a prosperous year. According to some, the tradition of Easter egg hunts began during the rise of Christianity in Europe. Since egg-giving was a Pagan tradition, some people were persecuted because of it. So people began hiding eggs instead of giving them as gifts, and soon it became a game for children to hunt for the hidden eggs.

一直以來，「蛋」是再生與生產力(豐饒)的象徵，甚至追朔到古希臘或古羅馬亦是具有此象徵意義。在依絲翠女神節，依照習俗，人們和鄰居交換彩蛋，上了顏色或裝飾過的蛋被賦予好運與期待豐收之年的意義。另有些復活節傳統，復活節尋蛋始於基督宗教在歐洲的興起，因為送彩蛋是異教徒傳統，有些人因此被迫害。因此後來人們不再送彩蛋，取來代之的是將蛋藏起來，很快地，這就變成一種小孩玩的藏蛋遊戲。

Vocabulary

Blasphemous 亵謾神的 – A violation against God or other sacred things

Hybrid 混合物 – A mix of two different things

Fertility 生產(殖)力 – Ability to produce young

Persecuted 被迫害的 – Harassed or harmed, especially due to one’s race or beliefs

每週一二四五中午 ，開放電腦教室，提供學生參與 Cool English 平台英語聽力比賽

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It's a piece of cake!