VENTE DE GATEAUX

Les élèves de la section euro ont vendu des gâteaux  sur le port de Sanary aujourd'hui samedi 29 novembre et la récolte a été très bonne ! L'argent récolté permettra de financer une partie du voyage à Londres qui aura lieu en avril 2015

THANKSGIVING

                                          THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada.


US President Barack Obama pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey,
"named Apple, in a ceremony with daughters Sasha and Malia, together with National Turkey Federation Chairman Yubert Envia, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC." - 25 November 2010


(telegraph.co.uk)

History of Thanksgiving

Modern Thanksgiving has its direct origins in American history. In 1609, a group of Puritans fleeing religious persecution in England moved to Holland. They ­lived in Holland for a number of years until a group of English investors -- the Merchant Adventurers -- financed a trip for more than 100 passengers to the New World.

On Sept. 6, 1620, they set sail on a ship called the Mayflower, leaving from England and arriving in the New World after 65 days. They settled in a town called Plymouth in what is now Massachusetts. The Pilgrims' first winter was so harsh that fewer than 50 of the group survived the season.
On March 16, 1621, an Abnaki Indian named Samoset entered the Plymouth settlement. He welcomed the Pilgrims in English, and the next day returned with another American Indian namedSquanto, who spoke English well. With Squanto's help, the Pilgrims were able to survive in the New World. He taught them how to get sap out of the maple trees, how to avoid plants that were poisonous and how to plant corn and other crops.
The harvest was very successful, due in large part to help from the American Indians. The Pilgrims had enough food for the winter and had learned how to survive in the New World. Plymouth Colony's Governor, William Bradford, decided to throw a celebratory feast and invited the colony's American Indian neighbors to take part. The American Indians brought food as well, and the celebration lasted for three days.
Historians believe that this celebration took place sometime in the fall. And although there are very few clues to reconstruct the feast, some scholars believe that food items, like venison and fish, were the main sources of protein, rather than turkey. It's also thought that the food preparation would have been greatly influenced by American Indian traditions since the Puritans had been instructed by American Indians on how to cultivate and cook items 

Many view the first Thanksgiving as an example of the possibility of great respect and cooperation between two different cultures. But others see it as a symbol of the colonists' eventual persecution of the American Indians. Sadly, the friendly spirit of the first Thanksgiving and the 50-year period of peace that followed is one exception in a long history of bloodshed between Native American tribes and European settlers.
In 1970, some American Indians began observing a Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving Day to remember the violence and discrimination suffered by their ancestors. The Day of Mourning is observed by gathering at the top of "Coles Hill," which overlooks Plymouth Rock.
In the next section, we'll look at how Thanksgiving spread throughout the colonies, eventually becoming an official U.S. holiday.
 
Thanksgiving Traditions

Apart from food, the biggest Thanksgiving traditions are football and parades. In an­cient harvest festivals, people usually celebrated with games and sports, so you could argue the football tradition has very deep roots.
 The traditional American Thanksgiving football game was usually between the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, but as football has become more popular, there are now more games on Thanksgiving day.
The tradition of Thanksgiving parades goes back to the early 20th century, when people began to associate Thanksgiving with the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In order to attract customers, stores like Macy's sponsored elaborate parades like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
It started in 1954

http://www.ibtimes.com/macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-2014-route-map-start-time-where-watch-live-stream-video-1727621

The Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts is the oldest public museum in the United States in continuous operation, having opened in 1824.

The Pilgrim Society, established in 1820, runs the museum. 

The museum tells the story of the Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony. 

Black Friday in the United States

Friday is the day after Thanksgiving Day in the USA and falls on the Friday after the fourth Thursday in November. It is a busy shopping day and is a holiday in some states.

Black 

What do people do?

Many people have a day off work or choose to take a day from their quota of annual leave on Black Friday. Some people use this to make trips to see family members or friends who live in other areas or to go on vacation. Others use it to start shopping for the Christmas season.

Shopping for Christmas presents is also popular on Black Friday. Many stores have special offers and lower their prices on some goods, such as toys.

Public life

Black Friday is not a federal holiday, but is a public holiday in some states. Many people take a day of their annual leave on the day after Thanksgiving Day. Many organizations also close for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Public transit systems may run on their normal schedule or may have changes. Some stores extend their opening hours on Black Friday. There can also be congestion on roads to popular shopping destinations.

Background

Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days in the USA. 

There are two popular theories as to why the day after Thanksgiving Day is called Black Friday. One theory is that the wheels of vehicles in heavy traffic on the day after Thanksgiving Day left many black markings on the road surface, leading to the term Black Friday.

The other theory is that the term Black Friday comes from an old way of recording business accounts. Losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Many businesses, particularly small businesses, started making profits prior to Christmas. Many hoped to start showing a profit, marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving Day.

To revise for your test : do the following quiz
http://www.quizrocket.com/thanksgiving-trivia

NATIVE AMERICANS

                                  NATIVE AMERICANS

How well do you know about Native Americans? Do this quiz
http://www.ducksters.com/history/native_americans_questions.php


                   Indian reservations and major Indian battles in the 19th century:

                                       Indian culture map

    

   Famous Indian chefs

Crazy Horse

                                                           

Sitting Bull

           


Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South 

Dakota (under construction)

Portrait of Pocahontas

Pocahontas Born: 1596 (exact date uncertain) Died: March (exact date uncertain) 1617 Have you seen the animated film "Pocahontas"? It tells the story of the daughter of Powhatan, the most powerful Indian chief of coastal Virginia in the early 1600s. Even today, her story fascinates people. Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhatan, an important chief of the Algonquian Indians (the Powhatans) who lived in the Virginia region. Her real name was "Matoaka." "Pocahontas" was a nickname meaning "playful" or "mischievous one." Pocahontas was only about 10 years old when her world changed forever. English settlers arrived from far across the ocean and created a settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. These new English settlers looked and acted very differently from Powhatan's tribe. Some of Pocahontas's people were afraid or even hateful of the newcomers. But the chief's daughter had a curious mind and a friendly manner. She wanted to know more about these newcomers. Pocahontas is most famous for reportedly saving the life of English Captain John Smith. Throughout her short life (she died at the age of 22), however, she was important in other ways as well. Pocahontas tried to promote peace between the Powhatans and the English colonists. She even converted to Christianity and married John Rolfe, a Jamestown colonist, a union which helped bring the two groups together. Her untimely death in England hurt the chance for continued peace in Virginia between the Algonquians and the colonists.

The Trail of Tears (Piste des Larmes)

It is the name given to the forced relocation and movement of Native American nations from southeastern parts of the United Statesfollowing the Indian Removal Act of 1830. 

The removal included many members of the Cherokee, Muscogee(Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, among others in the United States, from their homelands to Indian Territory in eastern sections of the present-day state of Oklahoma. The phrase originated from a description of the removal of the ChoctawNation in 1831.

Many Native Americans suffered from exposure, disease and starvation on the route to their destinations. Many died, including 2,000-6,000 of 16,542 relocated Cherokee.

 European Americans and African American freedmen and slaves also participated in the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek and Seminole forced relocations.

To revise for your test 

: http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/quizzes/natives/native_americans.htm

http://www.discip.crdp.ac-caen.fr/anglais/documents/america2/indians.htm

MOUNT RUSHMORE

Thanks to Estelle and Kassandra for their oral presentation

The southeastern face of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest is the site of four gigantic carved sculptures depicting the faces of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. 
Led by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum, work on the project began in 1927 and was finally completed in 1941. 
Over that time period, some 400 workers erected the sculpture under dangerous conditions, removing a total of 450,000 tons of rock in order to create the enormous carved heads, each of which reached a height of 60 feet (18 meters). 
In sculptor Gutzon Borglum’s original design, the four presidents were meant to be represented from the waist up, but insufficient funding brought the carving to a halt after completion of their faces.
 Known as the “Shrine of Democracy,” Mount Rushmore welcomes upwards of 2 million visitors every year, and is one of America’s most popular tourist attractions.