Customs and Holidays of Great Britain

Exercise 3 Read and translate the text.

Exercise 2 Read the international words and translate them.

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Official, date, national, unofficial, tradition, card, colleague, serious report, spaghetti, bank, financial institutions, idea, chocolate, public holiday, folklore, presents, pudding, whisky.

There are only eight official public holidays a year in Great Britain. They are New Year Holiday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day Holiday, Spring Holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The exact date of some holidays varies each year. Scotland and Northern Ireland have some different national holidays. But there are many more unofficial holidays with which different customs and traditions are connected. On 14th February, St. Valentine’s Day, many people send cards to the one they love or someone whom they have fallen in love with. People usually do not sign these cards and a lot of time is spent trying to guess who has sent them. Indeed, some people go to great length to disguise their handwriting in order to maintain their anonymity. Many people hope for cards on St Valentine’s Day and failure to receive any can cause great disappointment.

Mothering Sunday, or Mother’s Day as it is usually called, falls three weeks before Easter Sunday. On this day mother is rewarded for all work looking after the house and family during the rest of the year. Her husband and family usually buy her a card and a small gift, and traditionally bring her breakfast in bed. Sometimes she will also be taken out for lunch. Father’s Day, as the name implies, is when Dad gets treats. Father’s day is on the third Sunday in June but is less widely celebrated than Mother’s Day. Normally called April Fools’ Day, this day falls on 1 April. It is a day when you can light-heartedly make fools of your family, friends and colleagues by playing tricks on them. The joke, however, must be received or believed by midday otherwise it is the joker and not the victim who becomes the fool. Even newspapers, television and radio programmes join in the fun, publishing and broadcasting amusing and unlikely tales. The most famous April Fool’s joke was perpetrated by the BBC’s television programme “Panorama”. The programme presented a serious report about spaghetti growing on trees in Italy. It examined the problems of cultivating and harvesting spaghetti and included interviews with spaghetti farmers.

Good Friday and Easter Monday and bank holidays, and the banks and other financial institutions, offices and shops are closed on these days. At Easter times the British celebrate the idea of new birth by giving each other chocolate Easter eggs which are opened eaten on Easter Sunday. They are often filled with sweets or a small gift. Tradition says that these eggs are delivered by the Easter Bunny (Rabbit) and it is a popular game for the children to hunt for small eggs concealed around the house or garden. Fish is traditionally eaten on Good Friday and Easter cake is an iced fruit cake with a marzipan ring on the top.

As summer comes, Britain likes to celebrate the end of the winter. In previous centuries May Day which marked the Spring festival was widely celebrated. It became a public holiday only in relatively recent years and falls on the first Monday of May. In many towns and villages you can still find remnants of the old traditions. Often a local girl is chosen and crowned “Queen of the May”, and people dance round a may pole – a tall pole with coloured ribbons on the top. Dancing is performed to encourage life and growth and to drive away harmful spirits.

Although Midsummer’s Eve is not traditionally a widely celebrated festival in Britain, it is celebrated by druids (practitioners of an ancient religion) at the prehistoric stone circle of Stonehenge. In recent years, groups of travellers and hippies have also tried to claim the right to enter the circle to see the sunrise on Midsummer’s Day, but they have generally not been allowed, largely because of fears of damage to the ancient monument. Halloween means “holy evening” and takes place on 31st October. According to folklore, on this night witches and roam spirits roam the country. These days people dress up as witches, ghosts and have parties. They cut horrible faces in potatoes, pumpkins and other vegetables and put a candle inside, which shines through the eyes. Groups of children also play “trick-or-treat” on their neighbours, going from door to door and playing a harmless but slightly unpleasant trick on anyone who refuses to give them a sweet or other gift.

In 1605 a group of Catholic conspirators, led by Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the Protestant Parliament of King James I. on 5 November the so-called “Gunpowder Plot” was discovered. Fawkes and his associates were caught and later burned at the stake. Since that day the British traditionally celebrate 5th November by burning a dummy, made of straw and old clothes, on a bonfire and let off fireworks.

Most people in Britain see Christmas as the major festival of the year an occasion for parties, giving and receiving gifts, eating and drinking, and generally having fun. On Christmas Eve children hang stockings over the fireplace. They hope that Father Christmas or Santa Claus will come down the chimney during the night and bring them small presents. They are usually not disappointed. Lunch is the most important point of Christmas Day. The traditional lunch consists of roast turkey with vegetables followed by Christmas pudding, which is made with dried fruit and brandy. A coin is put in it sometimes. The day after Christmas is called Boxing Day and this too is a public holiday. People all over Britain celebrate the passing of the old year the coming of the new. In Scotland, Hogmanay – as it is called there – is almost as important as Christmas. The Scots take New Year’s Eve very seriously. First footers go from house to after midnight carrying lumps of coal (symbol of good luck) and they expect a glass of whisky in each house they visit.

Дата добавления: 2017-01-13