Speaking
Discuss the major differences in religious life in the USA and the UK. Touch upon the following issues.
Do the majority of the people in the USA and Great Britain belong to one particular church or religious faith?
Is there a government-supported church?
Is there any mixing of religion and patriotism there?
Discuss the following paragraphs with your partner(s) and express your opinion.
One of the most important values associated with the Protestant heritage of America is the value of self-improvement. Protestant Christianity often emphasizes the natural wickedness of human nature. But Protestantism rejected the idea that acts of wickedness can be forgiven by a priest acting in God’s name. Individuals are therefore left alone before God to improve themselves or suffer eternal punishment by God. In this way, Protestantism encourages a strong desire for self-improvement.
In a Protestant culture people believe that ‘God helps those who help themselves’. The need for self-improvement reaches far beyond self-improvement in the purely moral or religious sense. In the United States this belief can be seen in countless books which explain how people can be happier and more successful in life by improving everything from their vocabulary to their tennis game, or even their whole personality.
WRITING
Write a brief description for a religion in the USA or the UK . Mention the following:
what believers are called;
what they believe;
the name of a holy place;
special customs and traditions.
UNIT 4
RRELIGION IN BELARUS AND RUSSIA
TEXT 1
Paganism
Before 990 A.D. Belarusians - a mix of several Eastern Slavic tribes (mostly Kryvichi and their branches) and several Baltic tribes (Yatviangians, Litts, Latts) - were pagans in their beliefs. As the Slavs have arrived from South to the lands of today's Belarus they have encountered and absorbed the cultures and beliefs of Baltic and other peoples inhabiting the land. There was already a rich Pagan heritage which reveals today through ancient names. Neman (Nioman, Niamunas) - one of the main rivers of the area is bearing the name of Celtic Goddess of War - Neman. Kupala - an ancient Goddess of Water. One of the mysterious peoples completely assimilated by us was Yatviangians. Ancient Belarusians believed in God of Sun - Yaryla, celebrated seasons of nature very much similar to druidic calendar. The cycles of folk songs that were sang at these celebrations still exist. The main pagan festivities are:
Spring Greeting - a plentitude of spring greeting songs -"Vesnavyya pesni" exists, including "Yur'ya". Yur'ia is related to calling Yaryla (Yur'ya), the Sun-God, to bring out the keys and open mothers Nature womb - to let out the grass, and flowers, and animals
Kupalle (Solstice, June 21). Kupalle - is the most loved and cherished pagan holiday in contemporary Belarus. It is a hedonistic summer celebration of fertility in the name of a female God - Kupala. It seems like she is considered a lunar Goddess by some pagan sources, although direct translation of the name is "She Who Bathes". Lately it was renamed into a Christian celebration of a male saint - Ivan Kupala. Kupalle usually involves youth going into the forests and the meadows, wearing flower and grass garlands (see these modern pictures of Belarusian girls in wreaths on Kupala night), dancing in karagods (circles around fires), jumping through fires, competing in strength and a lot's of eroticism. For those interested, you can watch a documentary "Night on Ivan Kupala" to learn more. Also here are some notes about celebration of Kupalle by Ukrainians in Canada. See more on Kupalle in Belarusian Holidays page.
Dzyady(October 31?) - I believe is celebrated twice a year in April and in late October - it's a celebration of dead, bringing bread and drinks to their groves etc. Unlike Halloween it's a light holiday of commemoration of dead. It does not involve any satanic stuff.
Kaliady (a week before Christmas) - pre-Christian celebration of the end of year. Later it was very nicely adopted for Christmas celebration by Orthodox and Catholic churches. Still they have a problem to explain the meaning of spruce (evergreen - eternal life returning) and people dressed as animals and fantastic beasts carrying the sun and the goat's head in their hands
TEXT 2