1. In September 1620, a small group of people known in the world history as the Pilgrims sailed to America from Plymouth, England.
2. They left their country because the government did not permit them to practice religion in their own way.
3. The voyage was long and hard; the ship called the “Mayflower” was small and crowded; some of the people fell ill, some of them died.
4. After 66 days at sea, the Pilgrims finally set foot on shore.
5. They gave the place where they landed the same name as the place they had come from – Plymouth (now it is the territory of the state of Massachusetts).
6. They started to build houses, but winter came soon.
7. The Pilgrims did not have enough warm clothing and food; half of them died that winter.
8. The Pilgrims were not the first settlers in the New World.
9. America was inhabited by the Indians whose ancestors had come from Asia across the Bering Strait and spread across the continent.
10. The first migration is considered to have been 40,000 years ago.
11. The newcomers made friends with the natives who taught them how to hunt, fish, and plant new vegetables: beans, corn, and pumpkins (by the way, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and tobacco came from America too).
12. In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims gathered the harvest that turned out to be very rich.
13. They wanted to give thanks to God for the food, so they made a big Thanksgiving feast.
14. The feast lasted three days.
15. The Indian friends were invited to share it.
16. There was plenty of food: roast turkey as the main dish, beans, cornbread, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie for dessert.
17. Today, Thanksgiving Day is a lot like the first celebration: relatives and friends get together for a big dinner; they eat the same food.
18. Besides, in big cities there are Thanksgiving parades.
19. For modern Americans, Thanksgiving Day celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November is also a day for giving thanks for the good things they have enjoyed during the year.
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