Holidays in Great Britain
E
very
country and every nation has own traditions and customs. It's very
important to know traditions and customs of other countries. It helps
to know more about the history and line of different nations.
English are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up. As I know all English people celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December. It's the season of good will. It's the most beautiful time of the year – the time of love, joy and hopes. Christmas Day is a family holiday. All the people look forward to it, expecting something special. It is the time when all the family gets together round the Christmas tree decorated with toys and sweets. Little children believe that when they are asleep Santa Claus comes with a big bag of toys. They often hang up large stockings for the presents. All families have Christmas dinners. They eat traditional dishes – turkey, duck, pudding. On the New Year's Day they watch the old year out and the New Year in.
T
here
are some traditions on New Year's Day. One of them is the old First
Footing. The first man to come into the house is very important. The
Englishmen believe that he brings luck. This man (not a woman) must
be healthy, young, and pretty-looking. He brings presents – bread,
a piece of coal or a coin. Another best-loved holiday is St.
Valentine's Day on the 14th of February – the holiday of love and
affection, the day of sending and
giving presents to those you love –
Englishmen with these word ask to become friends or companion
Valentines often are decorated with symbols of love – red hearts
and roses, ribbons and laces . In England tradition of celebrating
Easter is deep-rooted in the history of the nation. Easter is a
church holiday. There is a popular belief that wearing 3 new things
on Easter will bring good luck. Traditionally Easter parades of
people in bright new spring clothes are held on this day. Another
custom is decorating eggs for children. Eggs are hidden in the yards,
little children believe that the Easter rabbit comes and leaves eggs
for them. Easter candies are made in the form of eggs, little
chickens and rabbits. Halloween is the day or evening before All
Saints Day. In Halloween children dress up costumes and masks over
their faces. They go out into the streets to beg. People give them
sweets, cookies and apples. A favorite Halloween custom is to make a
jack-o-lantern (the children scrape out a pumpkin and cut the eyes,
nose and mouth). They light a candle inside the pumpkin to scare
their friends.
A few words about superstitions in Britain. The people believe that if they put shoes on the table, they will have bad luck. The English won't kill a spider, especially money spiders (small red ones). This is very unlucky. Some animals are also lucky (black cats bring good luck, white horses are also lucky. The most unlucky thing is to break a mirror. This brings 7 years of bad luck. The number 13 is the most unlucky number, especially Combination Friday, the 13th.
According to the Act of Parliament of 1871 there are 4 bank holidays: Easter Monday, whit-Monday, Dec 26th, Boxing Day. Other public holidays are Good Friday, May Day. Also there is a Pancake Day, April's Fool Day, Mother's Day.
Text 5
Task 1. Read and translate the text. Make the vocabulary of unknown words.
Task 2. Make a short annotation to the text.