One of the most peculiar features of life in England which immediately strikes any visitor to this country is the cherishing and preserving of many traditions, sometimes very archaic as they may seem. In England traditions play a very important part in the life of the people. Englishmen are proud of their traditions and have kept them up for hundreds of years. For instance, on Sundays theatres and shops are closed, people do not get letters and newspapers. Very few trams and buses run in the streets of London on Sundays. Uniforms are not particularly characteristic of this fact. However, when one sees the warders at the Tower of London with their funny flat hats, their trousers bound at the knee, and the royal monogram on their breast, one feels carried back to the age of Queen Elisabeth I.
And should you chance to see the Lord Mayor of London riding through the streets of the city with the black robe and gold chain, his medieval carriage, and all sheriffs, councillors and other members of the suit, you have a picture of living history.
Tourists visiting London are usually eager to see Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the Queen and the King. The house was bought by George III from the Duke of Buckingham, from whom it takes the name.
Queen Victoria was the first to make the Palace the official residence of the Sovereign. The colourful ceremony of the Changing of the Quard before the Palace is of great interest for a newcomer. The Quardsmen in their red coats and bearskin caps march behind the Drum Mayor and the Band. Whenever the Irish Quards are responsible for the quard duties at Buckingham Palace an Irish wolfhound appears on regimental ceremonial parades and marches at the head of the band.
A number of other ceremonies are of a similarly formal character, such as the King’s or Queen’s receptions and the State Opening of Parliament.
There are other customs of a similar peculiar character, such as the searching of the cellars underneath the Houses of Parliament by half a dozen “Beefeaters” before the opening of Parliament, in memory of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.
English people tend to be rather conservative. The conservative attitude consists of an acceptance of things which are familiar. All the same, several symbols of conservatism are being abandoned. The metric system came into general use in 1975. The twenty-four-hour clock was at last adopted for railway timetables in the 1960s-though not for most other timetables, such as radio programs. The decimal money was introduced, but the pound sterling as the basic unit was kept, one-hundredth part of it being a new penny. Temperatures have been measured in Centigrade as well as Fahrengrade for a number of years, tend to use Fahrengrade for general purpose.
The veteran car run. There is a new tradition in England now. Every year a large number of veteran cars drive from London to Brighton. Veteran cars are those which are made before 1904. The run takes place on the first Sunday in November. In November, 1896, a law was published. It said that a man with a red flag must walk in front of every car when it moved in the streets. In those days people were afraid of the cars.
The run begins at 8 o’clock in the morning from Hyde Park. Some cars look very funny. The drivers are dressed in the clothes of those times. The oldest cars move in front. The run is not a competition but a demonstration. Some cars reach Brighton, which is about a hundred kilometers from London, only late in the evening, others don’t get there, they have to stop on the way.
The Stone of Destiny. In Westminster Abbey in London there is a large stone which has an interesting history. Many hundreds of years ago it was a seat on which the kings of Scotland sat when they were crowned. When Scotland became part of Britain, the English king brought this stone to London. A large chair was made and the Stone of Destiny was put into the seat of the chair. Since that time the English kings sit on that chair when they are crowned.
The Theatre Royal. The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane of the oldest theatres in London. It was opened in 1663. The king was present at the performance, that is why it was called the Theatre Royal. Today most people call it Drury Lane by the name of the street in which it stands. The theatre has many traditions. One of them is the Badely cake, which began in the 18 century.
Robert Badely was a pastry-cook who became an actor and joined the Theatre Royal. He was a good actor, and the plays in which he acted were always a great success with the people of London. When R. Badely was very old, he left some money to the theatre. Robert Badely asked to buy cake and offer a piece of it to each actor and actress of the theatre on Twelfth Night every year. Twelfth Night is the 6th of January, the 12th Night after Christmas.
So, after the evening performance on Twelfth Night, the actors and actresses cone down into the hall in their stage clothes and eat the Badely cake.
Races in England. In England there is a day for pancakes. It is usually in March. At homes families have pancakes for dinner. At school children and teachers have pancakes for school dinner. You know that pancakes are very good for eat, but do you know that in England people race with pancakes, fight for them?
In some villages and towns in England there is a pancake race every year. Mothers of families run these races. First they must make the pancake and then run 4 hundred meters with the pancake on the frying-pan in their hands. When they are running this race they must throw the pancake up 3 times and catch it on the frying-pan. They must not drop it. The fathers and the children watch the mothers and call out to them: “Run, mum, run quickly!” At some universities and colleges students run pancake races too. They run with their pancakes on the frying-pans and throw them up. If the university or college is near the sea there are swimming pancake races. The students take their frying-pans with the pancakes into the cold water and swim with them. They hold the frying-pan in one hand. They must also throw the pancake up and catch it on the pan.
At Westminster School in London the boys have pancakes for dinner one day in March. But before dinner is the pancake fight. The school cook makes a very large pancake. Then he comes out of the kitten into the hall with the frying-pan and throws the pancake high up. The boys (one from each form) try to catch the pancake. They fight for it. The winner of the fight is the boy who gets the biggest piece of pancake.
In England there is also an egg-and-spoon race. People who run this race, men and women, boys and girls, must carry an egg in a spoon. They must not let it fall down. If the egg falls and breaks, they must pick it up with the spoon, not with their fingers. Usually there are not many winners in the egg-and-spoon race.
In the three-legged-race boys and girls run in pairs, with the right leg of one boy or girl tied to the left leg of the other. They do not run very quickly, because they do not want to fall. The people who watch the egg-and-spoon race and the three-legged-race always laugh very much.
holiday festival queen
Holidays in Great Britain
There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European countries. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday and Summer Bank Holiday.
Public Holidays in Britain are called bank holidays, because the banks as well as most of the offices and shops are closed.
They go to the seaside or to one of the big parks. Many families take a basket and put their lunch or tea in it. They will sit on the grass under a tree, have their meal in the open air. Good weather is very important. A wet Bank Holiday gives very little pleasure.
Londoners often visit the Zoo where they can see many interesting animals from different countries. But many of them go with their families to Hampstead Heath. This is a large piece of open land near London where there is a fair on some of the Bank Holidays. There are a lot of interesting things for children and young people at these fairs – merry-go-rounds, swings and many little shops which sell paper hats with the words “Kiss Me Quick”, coloured balloons, cakes and sweets. An important moment at the fair is the coming of the Pearly Kings and Queens. These are men and women who have sewed pearl buttons all over their dresses and suits. And their hats also have many pearl buttons over them. Those people who have the most beautiful costumes are named Pearly King and Queen for one year.
The most favourite holiday is Christmas. Every year the people of Norway give the city of London a present. It is a big Christmas tree and it stands in the Trafalgar Square.
Before Christmas, groups of singers go from house to house. They collect money for charities and sing carols, traditional Christmas songs. Many churches hold a service on Sunday before Christmas.
The fun starts the night before, on the 24th of December. Traditionally this is the day when people decorate their trees. Children hang stockings at their beds, hoping that Father Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and fill them with toys and sweets.
No one knows for sure who decorated the first Christmas tree. The custom if bringing an evergreen tree indoors and decorating it at Christmas started in Germany. One legend says that Martin Luther started the practice. Luther was an important Christian leader. According to the story, he noticed the starlit sky as he walked home one Christmas Eve about the year 1513. He thought the stars looked as if they were shining on the branches. When he arrived home, Martin Luther placed a small fir tree inside his house. He decorated it with lighted candles. Decorating Christmas trees became popular in Germany. Prince Albert of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, the German husband of Queen Victoria, took the tradition to England. Both German and England people brought it to America. And now nearly every family in Great Britain and the USA has a Christmas tree. The biggest Christmas tree in Britain is put up in Trafalgar Square in London. The people of Norway still give this tree every year to the British people to thank them for helping Norway against Hitler in the Second World War.
Christmas is a family holiday. All the family usually meet for the big Christmas dinner of turkey and Christmas pudding. And everyone gives and receive presents. The 26th of December, Boxing Day is an extra holiday after Christmas. It is the time to visit friends and relatives. This day postmen and servants receive their presents in the boxes.
New Year’s Day is less favourite in Britain than Christmas. It is true in the southern and eastern parts of the country. However, even there, the welcoming of the New Year is growing in popularity, particularly among young people who prefer to spend Christmas with kin, but New Year with friends. New Year’s parties go all night through. The most famous places of festivities are Piccadily Circus and Trafalgar Square in London where crowds of people greet the New Year with the linked- arm singing of “Old Lang Syne’, kissing total strangers, blowing whistles and automobile horns and shooting firecrackers. Someone usually falls into the fountain in Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately for all these midnight celebrators, January 1st is not a public holiday in England.
In Wales, the back door releases the Old Year at the first stroke of midnight: it is then locked “who keep the luck in” and at the last stroke the New Year is let in at the front.
But in Scotland Hogmanay, New Years Eve is the biggest festival of the Year. Nobody, however, can successfully explain where this word comes from. The 1st of January is a national holiday. People do not work on that day, and children do not go to school. After midnight people visit their friends. They carry cakes and spices ale to wish their hosts a good year. They have a good dinner on that day. After dinner there are apples, nuts and different sweet things to eat. All the members of the family and friends begin to play games and dance. The first visitor, or the first footer, must bring a special present – a piece of coal – to wish good luck and warmth to the house. This is an old Scottish custom. The first footer may also bring a loaf of white bread and a bottle of whisky. On entering he must place the coal on the fire, put the loaf on the table and pour a glass for the head of the house, all normally without speaking or being spoken to until he wishes everyone “A happy New Year”. He may also carry a silver coin to wish wealth. New Years Eve is the biggest festival of the Year Before 12 o’clock at night many people in the towns go out into the streets to dance and to sing Scottish songs.
When the town clocks begin to strike 12, the people come together. They cross their arms, join hands and sing the famous Scottish song “Auld Lang Syne”. It is about the old days and friendship between the people. The author of the song is Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. The music of the song is also Scottish.
Besides public holidays, there are some special festivals in Great Britain. One of them takes place on the 5th of November. On that day, in 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I. He did not succeed. The King’s men found the bomb, took Guy Fawkes to the Tower and cut off his head.
Since that day the British celebrate the 5th of November. They burn a dummy, made of straw and old clothes, in a bonfire and let off fireworks. This dummy is called a “guy” (like Guy Fawkes). Bonfire Night. It is a very interesting night for English boys and girls. On that evening they make bonfires and have fireworks. Some days before bonfire night they make the guy.
They make them of sticks and straw and then put men’s old clothes on him. They put an old hat on his head and old gloves on the sticks that are his hands. When the bonfire is ready, children or their parents put the guy on the bonfire an then light it.
Mother’s day in Britain. In Britain there is a holiday which people call Mother’s Day. On the old days many girls from working-class families in towns and cities and from farmers’ families in the country worked in rich houses. They had to do all the housework and their working day was usually very long, they often worked on Sundays too.
Once a year, it was usually one Sunday in March, they could visit their mothers. They went home on that day and brought presents for their mothers and for other members of the families. They could stay at home only one day, and then they went back to their work. People called that day Mothering Day or Mothering
Sunday. Later workers at the factories and girls who worked in houses of rich families received one free day a week, and Mothering Day became Mother’s Day. It is the last Sunday in March.
On that day sons and daughters visit theirs mothers and bring them flowers and little presents. The elder son must bring his mother a good cake. If sons or daughters cannot be with their mothers on that day, they usually send her presents. Mother’s Day must be a day of rest for the mother of the family, so her daughters cook dinner on that day and lay the table and the sons help to wash the plates and dishes after dinner.
Every country has its traditions. They play a very important role in the life of the people. One such tradition isEaster. Easter is a festival that occurs on the first Sunday after the full moon in spring. Easter marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. People buy new clothes to wear on Easter Sunday. There is a popular belief that wearing three new things at Easter will bring good luck in the year. After church services many people like to take walks down the streets in their new clothes. This colourful procession of people dressed in bright new spring clothes is called the Easter Parade. The word “Easter” comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn whose spring was celebrated in April. Before the arrival of Christianity, people believed that the sun died in winter and was born again in spring, on the day of the spring equinox (деньвесеннегоравноденствия) they would sing and dance as the sun rose in the sky. Although it is a Christian festival the customs and legends of Easter celebrations are pagan (языческий) in origin. Easter is the religious holiday celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God. It is at the end of Lent during which children all over the world give up sweets and make other sacrifices in preparation for the highest festival of the church year. What are Easter symbols? They are: the Cross. It has a special meaning to Christians. It represents Christ’s victory over death. It is a significant Easter symbol. The next symbol are eggs. Long ago some people believed that the earth appeared from a gigantic egg. On Easter Sunday families and friends exchange chocolate eggs. This custom dates back to ancient times when Egyptians and Persians used to paint eggs in bright colours to represent the sunlight of spring and give them to friends as a symbol of new life. The third symbol are Easter Rabbits. It is true that in ancient Egypt the rabbit symbolized the moon, new life and birth. All around the world, many children believe that the Easter rabbit brings eggs and hides them for children on Easter morning. There are many different legends but here is a popular one.
Long ago in Germany there lived an old woman who loved children. Each year she gave children presents to celebrate spring. But one year she had nothing to give because it was a bad year and she had become very poor. All she had were some eggs. So she coloured the eggs and hid them in the grass. When the children arrived, she told them to run into the yard to find their presents there. Just as one of the children uncovered the eggs, a large rabbit hopped away. So the children thought that the rabbit had left the eggs for them. And ever since children have searched for the eggs left by Easter rabbit on Easter morning.
It is called the Easter Egg Hunt. Eggs are the important part of Easter Sports. The Romans celebrated the Easter season by running races on an oval track and giving eggs as prizes. One of the traditional Easter egg games is the Easter Egg Roll. The rules of the Easter Egg Roll are to see who can roll an egg the greatest distance down a grassy hillside without breaking it.
The Robin Hood Dance. In a little village in Staffordshire a very old dance is performed in September every year. Six men in Robin Hood costumes carry deer’s horns set in wooden deer’s heads. They walk together with a number of other characters from the Robin Hood legends: Maid Marian, the girl whom Robin Hood loved and married, a knight on a wooden horse, a boy in the traditional costume of a jester, another boy with a bow and many musicians. The dance begins at 9 o’clock in the morning near the house where the costumes, the horns and all the other things are kept during the winter. The dancers walk through the wood and visit many farms where they eat, drink and dance. In the afternoon they get back through the village and dance in the streets. The dance ends in the middle of the night in the market-place. Very many people take part in the dance.
Literature
1.Е.Б. Полякова, Г.П. Раббот, Г.П. Шалаева. Английский язык для старших классов. Москва 1997год
2.А.П. Миньяр-Белоручева. Ответы на экзаменационные билеты 11 класса. Москва 2006 год
3.И.В. Ермолова Английский язык. Тесты для повторения и подготовки. Саратов: Лицей, 2006 год
4.Н.В. Кравченко. Английский язык. Ответы на билеты. 9 класс. Москва 2006 год
5.А.П. Старков, Б.С. Островский. Книга для чтения к учебнику А.П. Старкова для 11 класса. Москва 2002 год
6.Е.Г. Копыл, М.А. Боровик. Книга для чтения к учебнику английского языка для 7 класса. Москва 1981 год
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There are only six public holidays a year in Great Britain, that is days on which people need not go in to work. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Spring Bank Holiday and Late Summer Bank Holiday. In Scotland, the New Year’s Day is also a public holiday. Most of these holidays are of religious origin, though it would be right to say that for the greater part of the population they have long lost their religious significance and are simply days on which people relax, eat, drink and make merry. All the public holidays, except Christmas Day and Boxing Day observed on December 25th and 26th respectively, are movable, that is they do not fall on the same day each year. Good Friday and Easter Monday depend on Easter Sunday which falls on the first Sunday after a full moon on or after March 21st. the Spring Bank Holiday falls on the last Monday of May or on the first Monday of June, while the Late Summer Bank Holiday comes on the last Monday in August or on the first Monday in September, depending on which of the Mondays is nearer to June 1st and September 1st respectively.
Besides public holidays, there are other festivals, anniversaries and simply days, for example Pancake Day and Bonfire Night, on which certain traditions are observed, but unless they fall on a Sunday, they are ordinary working days.
In England the New Year is not as widely or as enthusiastically observed as Christmas. Some people ignore it completely and go to bed at the same time as usual on New Year’s Eve. Many others, however, do celebration it in one way or another, the type of celebration varying very much according to the local custom, family traditions and personal taste.
The most common type of celebration is a New Year party, either a family party or one arranged by a group of young people. This usually begins at about eight o’clock and goes on until the early hours of the morning. There is a lot of drinking, mainly beer, wine, gin and whisky; sometimes the hosts make a big bowl of punch which consists of wine, spirits, fruit juice and water in varying proportions. There is usually a buffer of cold meat, pies, sandwiches, savouries, cakes and biscuits. At midnight the wireless is turned on, so that everyone can hear the chimes of Big Ben, and on the hour a toast is drunk to the New Year. Then the party goes on.
Another popular way of celebrating the New Year is to go to a New Year’s dance. Most hotels and dance halls hold a special dance on New Year’s Eve. The hall is decorated, there are several different bands and the atmosphere is very gay.
The most famous celebration is in London round the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus where crowds gather and sing and welcome the New Year. In
Trafalgar Square there is also a big crowd and someone usually falls into the fountain.
Those who have no desire or no opportunity to celebrate the New Year themselves can sit and watch other people celebrating on television. It is an indication of the relative unimportance of the New Year in England that the television producers seem unable to find any traditional English festivities for their programmers and usually show Scottish ones.
January 1st, New Year’s Day, is not a public holiday, unfortunately for those who like to celebrate most of the night. Some people send New Year cards and give presents but this is not a widespread custom. This is the traditional time for making “New Year resolutions”, for example, to give up smoking, or to get up earlier. However, these are generally more talked about than put into practice.
Also on New Year’s Day the “New Year Honours List” is published in the newspapers; i.e. a list of those who are to be given honours of various types – knighthoods, etc.
In Canada New Year’s Day has a long tradition of celebration. New Year’s Eve in French Canada was (and still is) marked by the custom of groups of young men, to dress in COLOURful attire and go from house to house, singing and begging gifts for the poor. New Year’s Day was (and is) a time for paying calls on friends and neighbours and for asking the blessing of the head of the family. The early Governors held a public reception for the men of the community on New Year’s morning, a custom preserved down to the present day. While New Year’s Day is of less significance in English Canada than in French Canada, it’s a public holiday throughout the country. Wide spread merry-making begins on New Year’s Eve with house parties, dinner dances and special theatre entertainment. A customary feature of the occasion that suggests the Scottish contribution to the observation is the especially those that couldn’t be arranged for Christmas, are held on New Year’s Day. New Year isn’t such important holiday in England as Christmas. Some people don’t celebrate it at all.
In USA many people have New Year parties. A party usually begins at about 8 o’clock and goes on until early morning. At midnight they listen to the chimes of Big Ben, drink a toast to the New Year and Sing Auld Lang Syne.
In London crowds usually gather round the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus and welcome the New Year.
There 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 Englishman believes that he brings luck. This man (not a woman) must be healthy, young, pretty looking. He brings presents-bread, a piece of coal or a coin. On the New Year’s Day families watch the old year out and the New Year in.
In Scotland the New Year’s Day is also a public holiday. Some people ignore it completely and go to bed at the same time as usual on New Year’s Eve. Many others, however, do celebrate it in one way or another, the type of celebration varying very much according to the local custom, family tradition and personal taste.
The most common type of celebration is a New Year party, either a family party or one arranged by a group of young people. This usually begins at about eight o’clock and goes on until the early hours of the morning. There is a lot of drinking, mainly beer, wine, gin and whisky; sometimes the hosts make a big bowl of punch which consists of wine, spirits, fruit juice and water in varying proportions. There is usually a buffet supper of cold meat, pies, sandwiches, savories, cakes and biscuits. At midnight the wireless is turned on, so that everyone can hear the chimes of Big Ben, and on the hour a toast is drunk to the New Year. Then the party goes on.
Hogmanay Celebrations
Hogmanay is a Scottish name for New Year’s Eve, and is a time for merrymaking, the giving of presents and the observance of the old custom of First – Footing. One of the most interesting of Scottish Hogmanay celebrations is the Flambeaux Procession at Comrie, Perthshire. Such processions can be traced back to the time of the ancient Druids. There is a procession of townsfolk in fancy dress carrying large torches. They are led by pipers. When the procession has completed its tour, the flambeaux (torches) are thrown into a pile, and everyone dances around the blaze until the torches have burned out.
The Night of Hogmanay
Nowhere else in Britain is the arrival of the New Year celebrated so wholeheartedly as in Scotland.
Throughout Scotland, the preparations for greeting the New Year start with a minor “spring-cleaning”. Brass and silver must be glittering and fresh linen must be put on the beds. No routine work may be left unfinished; stockings must be darned, tears mended, clocks wound up, musical instruments tuned, and pictures hung straight. In addition, all outstanding bills are paid, overdue letters written and borrowed books returned. At least, that is the idea!
Most important of all, there must be plenty of good things to eat. Innumerable homes “reek of celestial grocery” – plum puddings and currant buns, spices and cordials, apples and lemons, tangerines and toffee. In mansion and farmhouse, in suburban villa and city tenement, the table is spread with festive fare. Essential to Hogmanay are “cakes and kebbuck” (oatcakes and cheese), shortbread, and either black bun or currant loaf. There are flanked with bottles of wine and the “mountain dew” that is the poetic name for whisky.
In the cities and burghs, the New Year receives a communal welcome, the traditional gathering-place being the Mercat Cross, the hub and symbol of the old burgh life. In Edinburgh, however, the crowd has slid a few yards down the hill from the Mercat Cross to the Tron Kirk – being lured thither, no doubt, by the four-faced clock in the tower. As the night advances, Princes Street becomes as thronged as it normally is at noon, and there is growing excitement in the air. Towards midnight, all steps turn to the Tron Kirk, where a lively, swaying crowd awaits “the Chaplin o’ the Twal” (the striking of 12 o’clock). As the hands of the clock in the tower approach the hour, a hush falls on the waiting throng, the atmosphere grows tense, and then suddenly there comes a roar from a myriad throats. The bells forth, the sirens scream – the New Year is born!
Many families prefer to bring in the New Year at home, with music or dancing, cards or talk. As the evening advances, the fire is piled high – for the brighter the fire, the better the luck. The members of the household seat themselves round the hearth, and when the hands of the clock approach the hour, the head of the house rises, goes to the main door, opens it wide, and holds it thus until the last stroke of midnight has died away. Then he shuts it quietly and returns to the family circle. He has let the Old Year out and the New Year in. now greetings and small gifts are exchanged, glasses are filled – and already the First-Footers are at the door.
The First-Footer, on crossing the threshold, greets the family with “A gude New Year to ane and a’!” or simply “A Happy New Year!” and pours out a glass from the flask he carries. This must be drunk to the dregs by the head of the house, who, in turn, pours out a glass for each of his visitors. The glass handed to the First-Footer himself must also be drunk to the dregs. A popular toast is:
“Your good health!”
The First-Footers must take something to eat as well as to drink, and after an exchange of greetings they go off again on their rounds.
ST. VALENTINE’S DAY – FEBRUARY 14
I’ll be your sweetheart, if you will be mine,
All of my life I’ll be your Valentine …
It’s here again, the day when boys and girls, sweethearts and lovers, husbands and wives, friends and neighbours, and even the office staff will exchange greetings of affections, undying love or satirical comment. And the quick, slick, modern way to do it is with a Valentine card.
There are all kinds, to suit all tastes, the lush satin cushions, boxed and be-ribboned, the entwined hearts, gold arrows, roses, cupids, doggerel rhymes, sick sentiment and sickly sentimentality – it’s all there. The publishers made sure it was there, as Mr Punch complained, “there weeks in advance!”
In his magazine, Punch, as long ago as 1880 he pointed out that no sooner was the avalanche of Christmas cards swept away than the publishers began to fill the shops with their novel valentines, full of “Hearts and Darts, Loves and Doves and Floating Fays and Flowers”.
It must have been one of these cards which Charles Dickens describes in Pickwick Papers. It was “a highly coloured representation of a couple of human hearts skewered together with an arrow, cooking before a cheerful fire” and “superintending the cooking” was a “highly indelicate young gentleman in a pair of wings and nothing else”.
In the last century, sweet-hearts of both sexes would spend hours fashioning a homemade card or present. The results of some of those painstaking efforts are still preserved in museums. Lace, ribbon, wild flowers, coloured paper, feathers and shells, all were brought into use. If the aspiring (or perspiring) lover had difficulty in thinking up a message or rhyme there was help at hand. He could dip into the quiver of Love or St. Valentine’s Sentimental Writer, these books giving varied selections to suit everyone’s choice. Sam Weller, of Pick wick Papers fame, took an hour and a half to write his “Valentine”, with much blotting and crossing out and warnings from his father not to descend to poetry.
The first Valentine of all was a bishop, a Christian martyr, who before the Romans put him to death sent a note of friendship to his jailer’s blind daughter.
The Christian Church took for his saint’s day February 14; the date of an old pagan festival when young Roman maidens threw decorated love missives into an urn to be drawn out by their boy friends.
A French writer who described how the guests of both sexes drew lots for partners by writing down names on pieces of paper noted this idea of lottery in 17th century England. “It is all the rage,” he wrote.
But apparently to bring the game into a family and friendly atmosphere one could withdraw from the situation by paying a forfeit, usually a pair of gloves.
One of the older versions of a well-known rhyme gives the same picture:
The rose is red, the violets are blue,
The honey’s sweet and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine.
I drew thee to my Valentine.
The lot was cast and then I drew
And fortune said it should be you.
Comic valentines are also traditional. The habit of sending gifts is dying out, which must be disappointing for the manufacturers, who nevertheless still hopefully dish out presents for Valentine’s Day in an attempt to cash in. and the demand for valentines is increasing. According to one manufacturer, an estimated 30 million cards will have been sent by January, 14 – and not all cheap stuff, either.
“Our cards cost from 6d to 15s 6d”, he says, but “ardent youngsters” want to pay more.” They can pay more. I saw a red satin heart-shaped cushion enthroning a “pearl” necklace and earrings for 25s. Another, in velvet bordered with gold lace, topped with a gilt leaf brooch, was 21s (and if anyone buys them … well, it must be love!).
There are all kinds:
The sick joke – reclining lady on the front, and inside she will “kick you in the ear”.
The satirical – “You are charming, witty, intelligent, etc.”, and “if you believe all this you must be …” – inside the card you find an animated cuckoo clock.
And the take-off of the sentimental – “Here’s the key to my heart … use it before I change the lock”.
And the attempts to send a serious message without being too sickly, ending with variations of “mine” and “thine” and “Valentine”.
So in the 20th century, when there are no longer any bars to communication between the sexes, the love missives of an older, slower time, edged carefully over the counters by the publishers and shopkeepers, still surge through the letter boxes.
Pancake Day is the popular name for Shrove Tuesday, the day preceding the first day of Lent. In medieval times the day was characterized by merrymaking and feasting, a relic of which is the eating of pancakes. Whatever religious significance Shrove Tuesday may have possessed in the olden days, it certainly has none now. A Morning Star correspondent who went to a cross-section of the people he knew to ask what they knew about Shrove Tuesday received these answers:
“It’s the day when I say to my wife: ‘Why don’t we make pancakes?’ and she says, ‘No, not this Tuesday! Anyway, we can make them any time.’”
“It is a religious festival the significance of which escapes me. What I do remember is that it is Pancake Day and we as children used to brag about how many pancakes we had eaten.”
“It’s pancake day and also the day of the student rags. Pancakes – luscious, beautiful pancakes. I never know the date – bears some relationship to some holy day.”
The origin of the festival is rather obscure, as is the origin of the custom of pancake eating.
Elfrica Viport, in her book on Christian Festivals, suggests that since the ingredients of the pancakes were all forbidden by the Church during Lent then they just had to be used up the day before.
Nancy Price in a book called Pagan’s Progress suggests that the pancake was a “thin flat cake eaten to stay the pangs of hunger before going to be shriven” (to confession).
In his Seasonal Feasts and Festivals E. O. James links up Shrove Tuesday with the Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) festivals or warmer countries. These jollifications were an integral element of seasonal ritual for the purpose of promoting fertility and conquering the malign forces of evil, especially at the approach of spring.”
The most consistent form of celebration in the old days was the all-over-town ball game or tug-of-war in which everyone let rip before the traditional feast, tearing here and tearing there, struggling to get the ball or rope into their part of the town. It seems that several dozen towns kept up these ball games until only a few years ago.
E. O. James in his book records instances where the Shrove Tuesday celebrations became pitched battles between citizens led by the local church authorities.
Today the only custom that is consistently observed throughout Britain is pancake eating, though here and there other customs still seem to survive. Among the latter, Pancake Races, the Pancake Greaze custom and Ashbourne’s Shrovetide Football are the best known. Shrovetide is also the time of Student Rags.
ST DAVID’S DAYOn the 1st of March each year one can see people walking around London with leeks pinned to their coats. А leek is the national emblem of Wales. The many Welsh people who live in London — or in other cities outside Wales — like to show their solidarity on their national day.
The day is actually called Saint David’s Day, after а sixth century abbot who became patron saint of Wales. David is the nearest English equivalent to the saint’s name, Dawi.
The saint was known traditionally as “the Waterman”, which perhaps means that he and his monks were teetotallers. А teetotaller is someone who drinks nо kind of alcohol, but it does not mean that he drinks only tea, as many people seem to think.
In spite of the leeks mentioned earlier, Saint David’s emblem is not that, but а dove. No one, not even the Welsh, can explain why they took leek to symbolize their country, but perhaps it was just as well. After all, they can't pin а dove to their coat!
MOTHERING SUNDAY (MOTHERS’ DAY)
Mothers’ Day is traditionally observed on the fourth Sunday in Lent (the Church season of penitence beginning on Ash Wednesday, the day of which varies from year to year). This is usually in March. The day used to be known as Mothering Sunday and dates from the time when many girls worked away from home as domestic servants in big households, where their hours of work were often very long Mothering Sunday was established as a holyday for these girls and gave them an
opportunity of going home to see their parents, especially their mother. They used to take presents with them, often given to them by the lady of the house.
When the labour situation changed and everyone was entitled to regular time off, this custom remained, although the day is now often called “Mothers’ Day”. People visit their mothers if possible and give them flowers and small presents. If they cannot go they send a “Mothers’ Day card”, or they may send one in any case. The family try to see that the mother has as little work to do as possible, sometimes
the husband or children take her breakfast in bed and they often help with the meals and the washing up. It is considered to be mother’s day off.
It is not a national holiday. It’s an Irish religious holiday. St. Patrick is the patron of Ireland. Irish and Irish Americans celebrate the day. On the day they decorate their houses and streets with green shamrocks and wear something green. In large cities long parades march through the streets. Those who aren’t Irish themselves also wear green neckties and hair ribbons and take part in the celebration.
During the Easter Holidays the attention of the progressive people in Great Britain and indeed throughout the world is riveted first and foremost on the Easter Peace Marches, which took place for the first time in 1958 and have since become traditional. The people who participate in these marches come from different sections of society. Alongside workers and students march university professors, doctors, scientists, and engineers. More often than not the columns are joined by progressive people from abroad.
The character of the marches has changed over the years. The high-point was reached in the early sixties; this was followed by a lapse in enthusiasm when attendance fell off during the middle and late sixties. More recent years have seen a rise in the number of people attending the annual Easter March, as global problems have begun to affect the conscience of a broader section of the English population.
London greets the spring, and its early visitors, with a truly spectacular Easter Parade in Battersea Park on Easter Sunday each year. It is sponsored by the London Tourist Board and is usually planned around a central theme related to the history and attractions of London. The great procession, or parade, begins at 3 p. m., but it is
advisable to find a vantage-point well before that hour. The parade consists of a great many interesting and decorated floats, entered by various organizations in and outside the metropolis. Some of the finest bands in the country take part in the parade. At the rear of the parade is usually the very beautiful Jersey float, created from thousands of lovely spring blooms and bearing the Easter Princess and her attendants. It is an afternoon to remember.
April Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day, named from the custom of playing practical jokes or sending friends on fools’ errands, on April 1st. Its timing seems related to the vernal equinox, when nature fools mankind with sudden changes from showers to sunshine. It is a season when all people, even the most dignified, are given an excuse to play the fool. In April comes the cuckoo, emblem of simpletons; hence in Scotland the victim is called “cuckoo” or “gowk”, as in the verse: On the first day of April, Hunt the gowk another mile. Hunting the gowk was a fruitless errand; so was hunting for hen’s teeth, for a square circle or for stirrup oil, the last-named proving to be several strokes from a leather strap.
May Day in Great BritainAs May 1st is not a public holiday in Great Britain, May Day celebrations are traditionally held on the Sunday following it, unless, of course, the 1st of May falls on a Sunday. On May Sunday workers march through the streets and hold meetings to voice their own demands and the demands of other progressive forces of the country. The issues involved may include demands for higher wages and better working conditions, protests against rising unemployment, demands for a change in the Government’s policy, etc.
May Spring FestivalThe 1st of May has also to some extent retained its old significance — that of а pagan spring festival. In ancient times it used to be celebrated with garlands and flowers, dancing and games on the village green. А Maypole was erected — a tall pole wreathed with flowers, to which in later times ribbons were attached and held by the dancers. The girls put on their best summer frocks, plaited flowers in their hair and round their waists and eagerly awaited the crowning of the May Queen. The most beautiful girl was crowned with а garland of flowers. After this great event Веге was dancing, often Morris dancing, with the dancers dressed in fancy costume, usually
Holidays and traditions in English – speaking countries.
representing characters in the Robin Hood legend. May-Day games and sports were followed by refreshments in the open.
This festival was disliked by the Puritans and suppressed during the Commonwealth, 1649 — 60. After the Restoration it was revived but has gradually almost died out. However, the Queen of May is still chosen in most counties, and in mаnу villages school Maypoles are erected around which the children dance. The famous ceremony of the meeting of the 1st of May still survives at Oxford, in Magdalen College. At 6 o’clock in the morning the college choir gathers in the upper gallery of the college tower to greet the coming of the new day with song.
TROOPING ТНE COLOUR
During the month of June, а day is set aside as the Queen’ s official birthday. This is usually the second Saturday in June. On this day there takes place on Horse Guards’ Parade in Whitehall the magnificent spectacle of Trooping the Colour, which begins at about 11.15 а. m. (unless rain intervenes, when the ceremony is usually postponed until conditions are suitable).
This is pageantry of rаrе splendour, with the Queen riding side-saddle on а highly trained horse.
The colours of one of the five regiments of Foot Guards are trooped before the Sovereign. As she rides on to Horse Guards’ parade the massed array of the Brigade of Guards, dressed in ceremonial uniforms, await her inspection.
For twenty minutes the whole parade stands rigidly to attention while being inspected by the Queen. Then comes the Trooping ceremony itself, to be followed by the famous March Past of the Guards to the music of massed bands, at which the Queen takes the Salute. The precision drill of the regiments is notable.
The ceremony ends with the Queen returning to Buckingham Palace at the head of her Guards.
The Escort to the Colour, chosen normally in strict rotation, then mounts guard at the Palace.
Midsummer's DayMidsummer's Day, June 24th, is the longest day of the year. On that day you can see a very old custom at Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, England. Stonehenge is one of Europe's biggest stone circles. A lot of the stones are ten or twelve metres high. It's also very old. The earliest part of Stonehenge is nearly 5,000 years old.
But what was Stonehenge? A holy place? A market? Or was it a kind of calendar? We think the Druids used it for a calendar. The Druids were the priests in Britain 2,000 years ago. They used the sun and the stones at Stonehenge to know the
start of months and seasons. There are Druids in Britain today, too. And every June 24th a lot of them go to Stonehenge. On that morning the sun shines on one famous stone - the Heel stone. For the Druids this is a very important moment in the year. But for a lot of British people it's just a strange old custom.
LATE SUMMER BANK HOLIDAYOn Bank Holiday the townsfolk usually flock into the country and to the coast. If the weather is fine many families take а picnic-lunch or tea with them and enjoy their meal in the open. Seaside towns near London, such as Southend, are invaded by thousands of trippers who come in cars and coaches, trains, motor cycles and bicycles. Great amusement parks like Southend Kursaal do а roaring trade with their scenic railways, shooting galleries, water-shoots, Crazy Houses, Hunted Houses and so on. Trippers will wear comic paper hats with slogans such as “Kiss Ме Quick”, and they will eat and drink the weirdest mixture of stuff you can imagine, sea food like cockles, mussels, whelks, shrimps and fried fish and chips, candy floss, beer, tea, soft, drinks, everything you can imagine.
Bank Holiday is also an occasion for big sports meetings at places like the White City Stadium, mainly all kinds of athletics. There are also horse rасe meetings all over the country, and most traditional of all, there are large fairs with swings, roundabouts, coconut shies, а Punch and Judy show, hoop-la stalls and every kind of side-show including, in recent years, bingo. These fairs are pitched on open spaces of common land, and the most famous of them is the huge one on Hampstead Heath near London. It is at Hampstead Heath you will see the Pearly Kings, those Cockney costers (street traders), who wear suits or frocks with thousands of tiny pearl buttons stitched all over them, also over their caps and hats, in case of their Queens. They hold horse and cart parades in which prizes are given for the smartest turn out. Horses and carts are gaily decorated. Many Londoners will visit Whipsnade Zoo. There is also much boating activity on the Thames, regattas at Henley and on other rivers, and the English climate being what it is, it invariably rains.
Happy Hampstead
August Bank Holiday would not be а real holiday for tens of thousands of Londoners without the Fair on Hampstead Heath!
Those who know London will know were to find the Heath – that vast stretch of open woodland which sprawls across two hills, bounded by Golders Green and Highgate to the west and east, and by Hampstead itself and Ken Wood to the south and north.
The site of the fair ground is near to Hampstead Heath station. From that station to the ground runs а broad road which is blocked with а solid, almost
immovable mass of humanity on those days when the fair is open. The walk is not more than а quarter of аmile, but it takes an average of half-an hour to cover it when the crowd is at its thickest.
But being on that road is comfortable compared with what it is like inside the fair ground itself. Неге there are, hundreds of stalls arranged in broad avenues inside a huge square bounded by the caravans of the show people and the lorries containing the generating plants which provide the stalls with their electricity.
The noise is deafening. Mechanical bands and the cries of the “barkers” (the showmen who stand outside the booths and by the stalls shouting to the crowds to come and try their luck are equalled by the laughter of the visitors and the din of machinery.
The visitors themselves are looking for fun, and they find it in full measure. There are fortune-tellers and rifle-ranges and “bumping cars”, there are bowling alleys and dart boards and coconut shies. There is something for everybody.
And for the lucky ones, or for those with more skill than most, there are prizes — table lamps and clocks and а hundred and one other things of value.
А visit to the fair at Happy Hampstead is something not easily forgotten. It is noisy, it is exhausting — but it is as exhilarating an experience as any in the world.
HENRY WOOD
PROMENADE CONCERTS“Ladies and gentlemen — the Proms!”
Amongst music-lovers in Britain — and, indeed, in very many other countries — the period between July and September 21 is а time of excitement, of anticipation, of great enthusiasm.
We are in the middle of the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts — the Proms.
London music-lovers are particularly fortunate, for those who are able to obtain tickets can attend the concerts in person. Every night at 7 о'clock (Sunday excepted) а vast audience assembled at the Royal Albert Hall rises for the playing and singing of the National Anthem. А few minutes later, when seats have been resumed, the first work of the evening begins.
But even if seats are not to be obtained, the important parts of the concerts can be heard — and are heard — by а very great number of people, because the ВВС broadcasts certain principal works every night throughout the season. The audience reached by this means is estimated to total several millions in Britain alone, and that total is probably equalled by the number of listeners abroad.
The reason why such а great audience is attracted is that the Proms present every year а large repertoire of classical works under the best conductors and with the best artists. А season provides an anthology of masterpieces.
The Proms started in 1895 when Sir Henry Wood formed the Queen’s Hall Orchestra. The purpose of the venture was to provide classical music to as many people who cared to come at а price all could afford to pay, those of lesser means being charged comparatively little — one shilling — to enter the Promenade, where standing was the rule.
The coming of the last war ended two Proms’ traditions. The first was that in 1939 it was nо longer possible to perform to London audiences — the whole organization was evacuated to Bristol. The second was that the Proms couldn’t return to the Queen’s Hall after the war was over — the Queen’s Hall had become а casualty of the air-raids (in 1941), and was gutted.
HALLOWEENHalloween means "holy evening" and takes place on October 31st. Although it is а much more important festival in the USA than in Britain, it is celebrated by many people in the United Kingdom. It is particularly connected with witches and ghosts.
At parties people dress up in strange costumes and pretend they are witches. They cut horrible faces in potatoes and other vegetables and put а candle inside, which shines through their eyes. People play different games such as trying to eat an apple from а bucket of water without using their hands.
In recent years children dressed in white sheets knock on doors at Halloween and ask if you would like а “trick” or “treat”. If you give them something nice, а “treat”, they go away. However, if you don’t, they play а “trick” on you, such as making а lot of noise or spilling flour on your front doorstep.
Guy Fawkes Night is one of the most popular festivals in Great Britain. It commemorates the discovery of the so-called Gunpowder Plot, and is widely celebrated throughout the country. Below, the reader will find the necessary information concerning the Plot, which, as he will see, may never have existed, and the description of the traditional celebrations.
Gunpowder Plot. Conspiracy to destroy the English Houses of Parliament and King James I when the latter opened Parliament on Nov. 5, 1605. Engineered by а group of Roman Catholics as а protest against anti-Papist measures. In May 1604 the conspirators rented а house adjoining the House of Lords, from which they dug а tunnel to а vault below that house, where they stored 36 barrels of gunpowder. It was planned that when king and parliament were destroyed the Roman Catholics should attempt to seize power. Preparations for the plot had been completed when, on October 26, one of the conspirators wrote to а kinsman, Lord Monteagle, warning
him to stay away from the House of Lords. On November 4 а search was made of the parliament vaults, and the gunpowder was found, together with Guy Fawkes (1570 — 1606), an English Roman Catholic in the pay of Spain (which was making political capital out of Roman Catholics discontent in England). Fawkes had been commissioned to set off the explosion. Arrested and tortured he revealed the names of the conspirators, some of whom were killed resisting arrest. Fawkes was hanged. Detection of the plot led to increased repression of English Roman Catholics. The Plot is still commemorated by an official ceremonial search of the vaults before the annual opening of Parliament, also by the burning of Fawkes's effigy and the explosion of fireworks every Nov. 5.
Thanksgiving Day
Every year, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. Families and friends get together for a big feast. It is a legal holiday in the US. Many people go to church in the morning and at home they have a big dinner with turkey. People gather to give the God thanks for all the good things in their lives.
Thanksgiving is the harvest festival. The celebration was held in 1621 after the first harvest in New England. In the end of 1620 the passengers from the Mayflower landed in America and started settling there. Only half of the people survived the terrible winter. In spring the Indians gave the settlers some seeds of Indian corn and the first harvest was very good. Later, Thanksgiving Days following harvest were celebrated in all the colonies of New England, but not on the same day. In October 1863 President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving. In 191, the US Congress Named fourth Thursday of November a Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving Day is a “day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed”. Regular annual observance began in 1879. Since 1957 Thanksgiving Day has been observed on the second Monday in October.
St. Andrew’s Day
In some areas, such as Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Northamptonshire, St Andrew was regarded as the patron saint of lace-makers and his day was thus kept as a holiday, or “tendering feast”, by many in that trade. Thomas Sternberg, describing customs in mid-19th-century Northampton shire, claims that St Andrew’s Day Old Style (11 December) was a major festival day “in many out of the way villages” of the country: “… the day is one of unbridled license- a kind of carnival; village scholars bar out the master, the lace schools are deserted, and drinking and feasting prevail to a riotous extent. Towards evening the villagers walk about and masquerade, the women wearing men’s dress and the men wearing female
Holidays and traditions in English – speaking countries.
attire, visiting one another’s cottages and drinking hot Elderberry wine, the chief beverage of the season …”. In Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, a future of the day was the making and eating of Tandry Wigs. A strange belief reported Wright and Lones dedicate that wherever lilies of the valley grow wild the parish church is usually to St Andrew.
CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONSChristmas Day is observed on the 25th of December. In Britain this day was а festival long before the conversion to Christianity. The English historian the Venerable Bede relates that “the ancient peoples of Angli began the year on the 25th of December, and the very night was called in their tongue modranecht, that is ‘mother’s night’. Thus it is not surprising that many social customs connected with the celebration of Christmas go back to pagan times, as, for instance, the giving of presents. Indeed, in 1644 the English puritans forbade the keeping of Christmas by Act of Parliament, on the grounds that it was а heathen festival. At the Restoration Charles II revived the feast.
Though religion in Britain has been steadily losing ground and Christmas has practically no religious significance for the majority of the population of modern Britain, it is still the most widely celebrated festival in all its parts except Scotland. The reason for this is clear. With its numerous, often rather quaint social customs, it is undoubtedly the most colourful holiday of the year, and, moreover one that has always been, even in the days when most people were practising Christian, а time for eating, drinking and making merry.
However, despite the popularity of Christmas, quite а number of English people dislike this festival, and even those who seem to celebrate it wholeheartedly, have certain reservations about it. The main reason for this is that Christmas has become the most commercialized festival of the year. The customs and traditions connected with Christmas, for example giving presents and having а real spree once а year, made it an easy prey to the retailers, who, using modern methods of advertising, force the customer to buy what he neither wants nor, often, can reasonably afford.
It is not only children and members of the family that exchange presents nowadays. Advertising has widened this circle to include not only friends and distant relations, but also people you work with. An average English family sends dozens and dozens of Christmas cards, and gives and receive almost as many often practically useless presents. For people who are well off this entails no hardship, but it is no small burden for families with small budgets. Thus saving up for Christmas often starts months before the festival, and Christmas clubs have become а national institution among the working class and lower-middle class. These are generally run by shopkeepers and publicans over а period of about eight weeks or longer. Into these the housewives pay each week а certain amount of money for their Christmas bird
and joint, their Christmas groceries and so on, the husband as а rule paying into the club run by the local pub, for the drinks.
As much of this spending is forced upon people and often means that а family has to do without things they really need, it inevitably leads to resentment towards the
festival. Needless to say that it isn’t the old customs and traditions that are to blame, but those who make huge profits out of the nationwide spending spree which they themselves had boosted beyond any reasonable proportion.
The Christmas PantomimeА pantomime is а traditional English entertainment at Christmas. It is meant for children, but adults enjoy just as much. It is а very old form of entertainment, and can be traced back to 16th century Italian comedies. Harlequin is а character from these old comedies.
There have been а lot of changes over the years. Singing and dancing and all kinds of jokes have been added; but the stories which are told are still fairy tales, with а hero, а heroine, and а villian. Because they are fairy tales we do not have to ask who will win in the end! The hero always wins the beautiful princess, the fairy queen it triumphant and the demon king is defeated. In every pantomime there are always three main characters. These are the “principal boy”, the “principal girl”, and the “dame”. The principal boy is the hero and he is always played by а girl. The principal girl is the heroine, who always marries the principal boy in the end. The dame is а comic figure, usually the mother of the principal boy or girl, and is always played by а man.
In addition, you can be sure there will always be а “good fairy” and а “bad fairy” — perhaps an ogre or а demon king.
Pantomimes are changing all the time. Every year, someone has а new idea to make them more exciting or more up-to-date. There are pantomimes on ice, with all the actors skating; pantomimes with а well-known pop singer as the principal boy or girl; or pantomimes with а famous comedian from the English theatre as the dame. But the old stories remain, side by side with the new ideas.
BOXING DAYThis is the day when one visits friends, goes for а long walk or just sits around recovering from too much food — everything to eat is cold. In the country there are usually Boxing Day Meets (fox- hunting). In the big cities and towns tradition on that day demands а visit to the pantomime, where once again one is entertained by the story of Cinderella, Puss in Boots or whoever it may be — the story being protracted
and elaborated into as many spectacular scenes as the producer thinks one can take at а sitting.
ELECTING LONDON’S LORD MAYOROne of the most important functions of the City’s eighty-four Livery Companies is the election of London's Lord Mayor at the Guildhall at 12 noon on Michaelmas Day (September 29th). The public are admitted to the ceremony. It provides one of the many impressive and colourful spectacles for which London is famed. The reigning Lord Мауоr and Sheriffs, carrying posies, walk in procession to the Guildhall and take their places on the dais, which is strewn with sweet-smelling herbs. The Recorder announces that the representatives of the Livery Companies have been called together to select two Aldermen for the office of Lord Мауоr of London. From the selected two, the Court of Aldermen will choose one. The Мауоr, Aldermen and other senior officials then withdraw, and the Livery select their two nominations. Usually the choice is unanimous, and the Liverymen all hold up their hands and shout “All!”. The Sergeant-at-Arms takes the mace from the table and, accompanied by the Sheriffs, takes the two names to the Court of Aldermen, who then proceed to select the Mayor Elect. The bells of the City ring out as the Мауоr and the Mayor Elect leave the Guildhall the state coach for the Mansion House.
II. Customs, Weddings, Births and Christenings.
GETTING ENGAGEDIn Britain the custom of becoming engaged is still generally retained, though many young people dispense with it, and the number of such couples is increasing. As а rule, an engagement is announced as soon as а girl has accepted а proposal of marriage, but in some cases it is done а good time afterwards. Rules of etiquette dictate that the girl’s parents should be the first to hear the news; in practice, however, it is often the couple’s friends who are taken into confidence before either of the parents. If а man has not yet met his future in-laws he does so at the first opportunity, whereas his parents usually write them а friendly letter. It is then up to the girl’s mother to invite her daughter’s future in-laws, to а meal or drinks. Quite often, of course, the man has been а frequent visitor at the girl’s house long before the engagement, and their families are already well acquainted.
When а girl accepts а proposal, the man generally gives her а ring in token of the betrothal. It is worn on the third finger of the left hand before marriage and together with the wedding ring after it. Engagement rings range from expensive
diamond rings to rings with Victorian semi-precious stones costing only а few pounds.
In most cases the engagement itself amounts only to announcements being made to the parents on both sides and to friends and relations, but some people arrange an engagement party, and among the better-off people it is customary to put an announcement in the newspaper.
In the book Etiquette the author writes that “as soon as congratulations and the first gaieties of announcement are over, а man should have а talk with the girl’s father about the date of their wedding, where they will live, how well off he is and his future plans and prospects”. Nowadays this is often not done, one of the reasons being that today the young people enjoy а greater degree of financial independence that they used to, to be able to decide these matters for themselves. However, in working class families, where the family ties are still strong and each member of the family is more economically dependent upon the rest, things are rather different. Quite often, particularly in the larger towns, the couple will have no option but to live after marriage with either the girl’s or the man’s people. Housing shortage in Britain is still acute, and the rents are very high. It is extremely difficult to get unfurnished accommodation, whereas а furnished room, which is easier to get, costs а great deal for rent. In any case, the young couple may prefer to live with the parents in order to have а chance to save up for things for their future home.
But if the young people, particularly those of the higher-paid section of the population, often make their own decisions concerning the wedding and their future, the parents, particularly the girl’s, still play an important part in the ensuing activities, as we shall see later.
The period of engagement is usually short, three or four months, but this is entirely а matter of choice and circumstances.
The CeremonyThe parents and close relatives of the bride and groom arrive а few minutes before the bride. The bridegroom and his best man should be in their places at least ten minutes before the service starts. The bridesmaids and pages wait in the church porch with whoever is to arrange the bride’s veil before she goes up the aisle.
The bride, by tradition, arrives а couple of minutes late but this should not be exaggerated. She arrives with whoever is giving her away. The verger signals to the organist to start playing, and the bride moves up the aisle with her veil over her face (although many brides do not follow this custom). She goes in on her father’s right arm, and the bridesmaids follow her according to the plan at the rehearsal the day before. The bridesmaids and ushers go to their places in the front pews during the ceremony, except for the chief bridesmaid who usually stands behind the bride and holds her bouquet.
After the ceremony the couple go into the vestry to sign the register with their parents, best man, bridesmaids and perhaps а close relation such as а grandmother. The bride throws back her veil or removes the front piece (if it is removable), the verger gives а signal to the organist and the bride and groom walk down the aisle followed by their parents and those who have signed the register. The bride’s mother walks down the aisle on the left arm of the bridegroom’s father and the bridegroom’s mother walks down on the left arm of the bride’s father (or whoever has given the bride away). Guests wait until the wedding procession has passed them before leaving to go on to the reception.
Marriage in ScotlandIn Scotland, people over the age of sixteen do not require their parents’ consent in order to marry. Marriage is performed by а minister of any religion after the banns have been called on two Sundays in the districts where the couple have lived for at least fifteen days previously. Weddings may take place in churches or private houses, and there is no forbidden time.
Alternatively, the couple may give notice to the registrar of the district in which they have both lived for fifteen days previously. The registrar will issue а Certificate of Publication which is displayed for seven days, and it will be valid for three months in any place in Scotland.
Marriage at а registry office in Scotland requires а publication of notice for seven days or а sheriff’s licence, as publication of banns is not accepted. Such а licence is immediately valid but expires after ten days. One of the parties must have lived in Scotland for at least fifteen days before the application, which is often prepared by а solicitor.
The ReceptionThe bride’s parents stand first in the receiving line, followed by the groom's parents and the bride and groom. Guests line up outside the reception room and give their names to the major-domo who will announce them. They need only shake hands and say “How do you do?” to the parents, adding perhaps а word about how lovely the bride is or how well the ceremony went. The bride introduces to her husband any friends that he may not already know, and vice versa.
The important parts of the reception are the cutting of the cake and the toast to the bride and groom. There should never be any long speeches. When all the guests have been received, the major-domo requests silence and the bride cuts the cake, with her husband’s hand upon hers.
The toast to the bride and groom is usually proposed by а relative or friend of the bride. Не may say, “Mу Lords (if any are present), ladies and gentlemen, I have
pleasure in proposing the toast to the bride and bridegroom.” Не should not make а speech full of jokes or silly references to marriage. It should be short and dignified. The bridegroom replies with а few words of thanks. Не mау or mау not then propose the health of the bridesmaids. The best man replies with а few words of thanks. If а meal is provided, the toasts will come at the end of it.
After the toasts the bride and groom mау move around the room talking to their friends until it is time for them to go and change. When they are ready to leave, guests gather to see them off.
Wedding Presents can be anything, according to your pocket and your friendship with the bride or groom. Such presents are usually fairly substantial compared with most other presents, and should preferably be things useful for а future home. Some brides have lists at а large store near their homes. It is always wise to ask if there is one, as this eliminates your sending something the couple may have already. The list should contain items of all prices and when one is bought it is crossed off. А wedding is one of the few occasions when money can be given, usually as а cheque. Presents are sent after the invitations have been received, usually to the bride’s home. You address the card to both the bride and bridegroom.
BIRTHS AND CHRISTENINGSWhen а child is born its parents may wish to announce the birth in а national or local newspaper. The announcement may read as follows:
Smith. On February 12th, 1999, at St. Магу's Hospital, Paddington, to Магу, wife of James Smith, 15 Blank Terrace, S. W. 3, а daughter. (The, name can be added in brackets.)
The birth must be registered at the local registrar's office within six weeks in England and Wales and three weeks in Scotland. А child is usually christened in the first six months of its life.
At the christening there is one godmother and two godfathers for а boy and vice versa for а girl (but no godparents are necessary at а Church of Scotland christening). The godmother always holds the baby during the ceremony and gives it to the clergyman just before he baptizes it. She makes the responses during the ceremony and tells the clergyman the names when asked. The true role of godparents is to watch over the spiritual welfare of their godchildren until confirmation, or at least to show interest in them throughout their childhood.
Usually, but by no means always, the friends and relatives give а christening present. Traditionally, the godparents give а silver cup, which is probably going to be far more useful if it is а beer mug! Other presents should preferably be something
intended to last а lifetime, such as а leather-bound bible or poetry book, а silver spoon or а crystal and silver scent bottle.
Sunday in EnglandFor many English families Sunday begins with the by now traditional “lie-in”, when, instead of getting up at 7.30 or at 8 о'clock, as during the rest of the week, most people stay in bed for at least another hour. And there are many younger реoplе — Saturday night revellers in particular – who never see the light of day before midday: what is usually referred to as “getting up at the crack of noon”.
Church bells are another typical feature of an English Sunday morning, although by many their summons remains unanswered, especially by those in need of physical rather than spiritual comfort. But whether people get out of bed for morning service or not, their first meaningful contact with the world beyond the four walls of their bedroom will be the delicious aroma of bacon and eggs being fried by mother downstairs in the kitchen. This smell is for most people sоmuch а part of Sunday mornings that they would not be the same without it.
During the mid-morning most people indulge in some fairly light activity such as gardening, washing the саг, shelling peas or chopping mint for Sunday lunch, or taking the dog for а walk. Another most popular pre-lunch activity consists of а visit to а “pub” — either а walk to the “lосаl”, or often nowadays а drive to а more pleasant “country pub” if one lives in а built-up area. It is unusual for anyone tо drink а lot during а lunchtime “session”, the idea being to have а quiet drink and а chat, perhaps discussing the previous evening’s entertainment or afternoon’s sport. One additional attraction of Sunday lunchtime drinks is that most men go to the pub alone, that is to say without their wives or girlfriends, who generally prefer to stay at home and prepare the lunch.
Sunday has always been а favourite day for inviting people — friends, relations, colleagues — to afternoon tea, and there are nо signs that this custom is losing popularity
nowadays.
In recent years television has become increasingly popular, and Sunday evening is now regarded as the peak viewing period of the week.
Concerning the differences between а typically English Sunday and а Sunday on the Continent, there are still many forms of entertainment which а visitor from Europe would be surprised to find missing on Sundays in England. Professional sport, for example, was for many years forbidden on Sundays, and although the restrictions have been relaxed in recent years, it is still difficult to find any large sporting fixture taking place on Sundays. This is in marked contrast to the situation in most European countries where Sunday afternoon is the most popular time for so-called “spectator sports” — football, horse-racing and, in Spain of course, bullfighting.
On the Continent museums and art galleries also attract large numbers of visitors on Sundays, whereas in England it is only in recent times that such places as the National Portrait Gallery and “The Tate” have been open on such days – at present between 2 р. m. and 6 р. m. One of the most popular attractions in London on Sunday afternoons, especially in summer, is the Tower, although this too was closed for many years on Sundays.
FIREPLACESIn English homes, the fireplace has always been, until recent times, the natural centre of interest in а room. People may like to sit at а window on а summer day, but for many months of the year they prefer to sit round the fire and watch the dancing flames.
In the Middle Ages the fireplaces in the halls of large castles were very wide. Only wood was burnt, and large logs were carted in from the forests, and supported as they burnt, on metal bars. Such wide fireplaces may still be seen in old inns, and in some of them there are even seats inside the fireplace.
Elizabethan fireplaces often had carved stone or woodwork over the fireplace, reaching to the ceiling. There were sometimes columns on each side of the fireplace.
In the 18th century, space was often provided over the fireplace for а painting or mirror.
When coal fires became common, fireplaces became much smaller. Grates were used to hold the coal. Above the fireplace there was usually а shelf on which there was often а clock, and perhaps framed photographs.
DANCINGDancing is popular, and the numerous large and opulent-looking public dance-halls are an important element in the folklore and courtship procedures of all but the upper and middle classes. They manage to survive against the competition of the more modern, smaller, noisier discotheques. They are strictly places for dancing, with good floors and good bands, but often no tables for people to sit at when they are not actually dancing, only rows of chairs round the walls. They are visited mainly by young unmarried people. Girls tend to go in groups of two or three, friends from the same street or the same or officeсе, relying much on each other’s support as they go in; the young men sometimes go in groups too, but often alone. All the girls tend to congregate together between dances, and the young men similarly. At the beginning of each dance а man chooses а girl from the mass, and will ask the same girl to dance with him again if he finds her company agreeable, but the girl may refuse. Most of the dancers go home as they come — but not quite at all. If а couple like one another
the young man may offer an invitation to go to а cinema on some future night, and this invitation may be succeeded by others. After several рrе-arranged meetings а
couple may regard themselves as “going steady” together though for а long time they will meet only in public places, and an invitation home implies great admiration. Young people are thoroughly emancipated, and find it easy enough to meet each other.
III. COSTUMES AND CLOTHESMany British costumes and uniforms have a long history. One is the uniform of the Beefeaters at the Tower of London. This came first from France. Another is the uniform of the Horse Guards at Horse Guards' Parade, not far from Buckingham Palace. Thousands of visitors take photographs of the Horse Guards, but the Guards never move or smile. In fact some visitors think the Guards aren't real. And that brings us to...Britannia. She wears traditional clothes, too. But she’s not a real person. She is symbol of Britain.
Lots of ordinary clothes have a long tradition. The famous bowler hat, for example. A man called Beaulieu made the first one in 1850.
The very cold winters in the Crimea in the war of 1853-56 gave us the names of the cardigan and the balaclava. Lord Cardigan led the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava (1854). A "cardigan" is now a warm woollen short coat with buttons, and a "balaclava" is a woollen hat.
Another British soldier, Wellington, gave his name to a pair of boots. They have a shorter name today - "Wellies" raced on the river Thames and the Oxford boat won. That started a tradition. Now, every Spring, the University Boat Race goes from Putney to Mort lake on the Thames. That's 6.7 kilometres. The Cambridge rowers wear light blue shirts and the Oxford rowers wear dark blue. There are eight men in each boat. There's also a "cox". The cox controls the boat. Traditionally coxes are men, but Susan Brown became the first woman cox in 1981. She was the cox for Oxford and they won.
Introduction.
At the end of the 9th form my classmates and I were given a very interesting task for the examination: to write the reports on different themes. I introduced with all of them very carefully and choose one that I like more then others. The theme of my report is “Holidays and Traditions in English- Speaking Countries”. I was eager to work with the material on this theme because it’s really interesting and exciting for me to know more about the customs and traditions that came to people’s life many hundreds years ago. I’m also interested in their everyday way of life and I can get something for myself. I worked hard and did my best to deal with different kinds of information and literature to make my report differ from the reports of my classmates. I tried to explain everything with simple phrases to make my listeners and readers be satisfied with my work. I wish everybody could get a lot of new information about customs and traditions of many civilized countries and may be hold them in future too. I hope that my report will be interesting for everybody.
Conclusion.
I feel proud of myself because I did my best to cope with this work and I hope that I did it quiet well. In my report I tried to show the life of different nations, which live in English – speaking countries. I wrote about their customs, traditions and holidays, about their costumes and clothes. It was very interesting to look for the information for my project.
nreferat.ru
If you arrive in Great Britain you'll hear the word “tradition” everywhere. Englishmen have sentimental love for things and traditions. They never throw away old things.
In many houses in Great Britain they have fire-places and though their bedrooms are awfully cold, the English people do not want to have central heating because they do not want to have changes.
Therefore the Yeomen-Warders are dressed in traditional medieval clothes and the traditional dress of the Horse Guards regiment has existed since the twelfth century.
In the House of Lords of the British Parliament there are two rows of benches for lords and a sack of wool for the Lord Chancellor to sit on it. This is so because in the old times wool made England rich and powerful. In the House of Commons you will see two rows of benches for the two parties: the government on one side and the opposition — on the other. In front of the benches there is the strip on a carpet and when a member speaking in the House puts his foot beyond that strip, there is a shout “Order!”. This dates from the time when the members had swords on them and during the discussion might want to start fighting. The word “order” reminded them that no fighting was allowed in the House.
Another old custom remains from the time when there was a lot of robbers in London. In those days the shouting “Who goes home?” was often heard in the Houses of Parliament and the members went in groups along the dark narrow streets of the old city. In modem London with its well-lit streets the shouting “Who goes home?” is still heard.
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Для подгоᴛᴏʙки данной работы были использованы материалы с сайта http://english-language.chat.ru/
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bigreferat.ru
One of the most peculiar features of life in England which immediately strikes any visitor to this country is the cherishing and preserving of many traditions, sometimes very archaic as they may seem. In England traditions play a very important part in the life of the people. Englishmen are proud of their traditions and have kept them up for hundreds of years. For instance, on Sundays theatres and shops are closed, people do not get letters and newspapers. Very few trams and buses run in the streets of London on Sundays. Uniforms are not particularly characteristic of this fact. However, when one sees the warders at the Tower of London with their funny flat hats, their trousers bound at the knee, and the royal monogram on their breast, one feels carried back to the age of Queen Elisabeth I.
And should you chance to see the Lord Mayor of London riding through the streets of the city with the black robe and gold chain, his medieval carriage, and all sheriffs, councillors and other members of the suit, you have a picture of living history.
Tourists visiting London are usually eager to seeBuckingham Palace,the official London residence of the Queen and the King. The house was bought by George III from the Duke of Buckingham, from whom it takes the name.
Queen Victoria was the first to make the Palace the official residence of the Sovereign. The colourful ceremony of the Changing of the Quard before the Palace is of great interest for a newcomer. The Quardsmen in their red coats and bearskin caps march behind the Drum Mayor and the Band. Whenever the Irish Quards are responsible for the quard duties at Buckingham Palace an Irish wolfhound appears on regimental ceremonial parades and marches at the head of the band.
A number of other ceremonies are of a similarly formal character, such as the King’s or Queen’s receptions and the State Opening of Parliament.
There are other customs of a similar peculiar character, such as the searching of the cellars underneath the Houses of Parliament by half a dozen “Beefeaters” before the opening of Parliament, in memory of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.
English people tend to be rather conservative. The conservative attitude consists of an acceptance of things which are familiar. All the same, several symbols of conservatism are being abandoned. The metric system came into general use in 1975. The twenty-four-hour clock was at last adopted for railway timetables in the 1960s-though not for most other timetables, such as radio programs. The decimal money was introduced, but the pound sterling as the basic unit was kept, one-hundredth part of it being a new penny. Temperatures have been measured in Centigrade as well as Fahrengrade for a number of years, tend to use Fahrengrade for general purpose.
The veteran car run.There is a new tradition in England now. Every year a large number of veteran cars drive from London to Brighton. Veteran cars are those which are made before 1904. The run takes place on the first Sunday in November. In November, 1896, a law was published. It said that a man with a red flag must walk in front of every car when it moved in the streets. In those days people were afraid of the cars.
The run begins at 8 o’clock in the morning from Hyde Park. Some cars look very funny. The drivers are dressed in the clothes of those times. The oldest cars move in front. The run is not a competition but a demonstration. Some cars reach Brighton, which is about a hundred kilometers from London, only late in the evening, others don’t get there, they have to stop on the way.
The Stone of Destiny.In Westminster Abbey in London there is a large stone which has an interesting history. Many hundreds of years ago it was a seat on which the kings of Scotland sat when they were crowned. When Scotland became part of Britain, the English king brought this stone to London. A large chair was made and the Stone of Destiny was put into the seat of the chair. Since that time the English kings sit on that chair when they are crowned.
The Theatre Royal.The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane of the oldest theatres in London. It was opened in 1663. The king was present at the performance, that is why it was called the Theatre Royal. Today most people call it Drury Lane by the name of the street in which it stands. The theatre has many traditions. One of them is the Badely cake, which began in the 18 century.
Robert Badely was a pastry-cook who became an actor and joined the Theatre Royal. He was a good actor, and the plays in which he acted were always a great success with the people of London. When R. Badely was very old, he left some money to the theatre. Robert Badely asked to buy cake and offer a piece of it to each actor and actress of the theatre on Twelfth Night every year. Twelfth Night is the 6thof January, the 12thNight after Christmas.
So, after the evening performance on Twelfth Night, the actors and actresses cone down into the hall in their stage clothes and eat the Badely cake.
Races in England.In England there is a day for pancakes. It is usually in March. At homes families have pancakes for dinner. At school children and teachers have pancakes for school dinner. You know that pancakes are very good for eat, but do you know that in England people race with pancakes, fight for them?
In some villages and towns in England there isa pancake raceevery year. Mothers of families run these races. First they must make the pancake and then run 4 hundred meters with the pancake on the frying-pan in their hands. When they are running this race they must throw the pancake up 3 times and catch it on the frying-pan. They must not drop it. The fathers and the children watch the mothers and call out to them: “Run, mum, run quickly!” At some universities and colleges students run pancake races too. They run with their pancakes on the frying-pans and throw them up. If the university or college is near the sea there are swimming pancake races. The students take their frying-pans with the pancakes into the cold water and swim with them. They hold the frying-pan in one hand. They must also throw the pancake up and catch it on the pan.
At Westminster School in Londonthe boys have pancakes for dinner one day in March. But before dinner isthe pancake fight. The school cook makes a very large pancake. Then he comes out of the kitten into the hall with the frying-pan and throws the pancake high up. The boys (one from each form) try to catch the pancake. They fight for it. The winner of the fight is the boy who gets the biggest piece of pancake.
In England there is alsoan egg-and-spoon race.People who run this race, men and women, boys and girls, must carry an egg in a spoon. They must not let it fall down. If the egg falls and breaks, they must pick it up with the spoon, not with their fingers. Usually there are not many winners in the egg-and-spoon race.
Inthe three-legged-raceboys and girls run in pairs, with the right leg of one boy or girl tied to the left leg of the other. They do not run very quickly, because they do not want to fall. The people who watch the egg-and-spoon race and the three-legged-race always laugh very much.
holiday festival queen
Holidays in Great Britain
There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European countries. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday and Summer Bank Holiday.
Public Holidays in Britain are called bank holidays, because the banks as well as most of the offices and shops are closed.
They go to the seaside or to one of the big parks. Many families take a basket and put their lunch or tea in it. They will sit on the grass under a tree, have their meal in the open air. Good weather is very important. A wet Bank Holiday gives very little pleasure.
Londoners often visit the Zoo where they can see many interesting animals from different countries. But many of them go with their families to Hampstead Heath. This is a large piece of open land near London where there is a fair on some of the Bank Holidays. There are a lot of interesting things for children and young people at these fairs – merry-go-rounds, swings and many little shops which sell paper hats with the words “Kiss Me Quick”, coloured balloons, cakes and sweets. An important moment at the fair is the coming of the Pearly Kings and Queens. These are men and women who have sewed pearl buttons all over their dresses and suits. And their hats also have many pearl buttons over them. Those people who have the most beautiful costumes are named Pearly King and Queen for one year.
The most favourite holiday isChristmas.Every year the people of Norway give the city of London a present. It is a big Christmas tree and it stands in the Trafalgar Square.
Before Christmas, groups of singers go from house to house. They collect money for charities and sing carols, traditional Christmas songs. Many churches hold a service on Sunday before Christmas.
The fun starts the night before,on the 24thof December.Traditionally this is the day when people decorate their trees. Children hang stockings at their beds, hoping that Father Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and fill them with toys and sweets.
No one knows for sure who decoratedthe first Christmas tree. The custom if bringing an evergreen tree indoors and decorating it at Christmas started in Germany. One legend says thatMartin Lutherstarted the practice. Luther was an important Christian leader. According to the story, he noticed the starlit sky as he walked home one Christmas Eve about the year 1513. He thought the stars looked as if they were shining on the branches. When he arrived home, Martin Luther placed a small fir tree inside his house. He decorated it with lighted candles. Decorating Christmas trees became popular in Germany. Prince Albert of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, the German husband of Queen Victoria, took the tradition to England. Both German and England people brought it to America. And now nearly every family in Great Britain and the USA has a Christmas tree. The biggest Christmas tree in Britain is put up in Trafalgar Square in London. The people of Norway still give this tree every year to the British people to thank them for helping Norway against Hitler in the Second World War.
Christmasis a family holiday. All the family usually meet for the big Christmas dinner of turkey and Christmas pudding. And everyone gives and receive presents. The 26thof December, Boxing Day is an extra holiday after Christmas. It is the time to visit friends and relatives. This day postmen and servants receive their presents in the boxes.
New Year’s Dayis less favourite in Britain than Christmas. It is true in the southern and eastern parts of the country. However, even there, the welcoming of the New Year is growing in popularity, particularly among young people who prefer to spend Christmas with kin, but New Year with friends. New Year’s parties go all night through. The most famous places of festivities are Piccadily Circus and Trafalgar Square in London where crowds of people greet the New Year with the linked- arm singing of “Old Lang Syne’, kissing total strangers, blowing whistles and automobile horns and shooting firecrackers. Someone usually falls into the fountain in Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately for all these midnight celebrators, January 1stis not a public holiday in England.
In Wales, the back door releases the Old Year at the first stroke of midnight: it is then locked “who keep the luck in” and at the last stroke the New Year is let in at the front.
But inScotland Hogmanay, New Years Eveis the biggest festival of the Year. Nobody, however, can successfully explain where this word comes from. The 1stof January is a national holiday. People do not work on that day, and children do not go to school. After midnight people visit their friends. They carry cakes and spices ale to wish their hosts a good year. They have a good dinner on that day. After dinner there are apples, nuts and different sweet things to eat. All the members of the family and friends begin to play games and dance. The first visitor, orthe first footer,must bring a special present – a piece of coal – to wish good luck and warmth to the house. This is an old Scottish custom. The first footer may also bring a loaf of white bread and a bottle of whisky. On entering he must place the coal on the fire, put the loaf on the table and pour a glass for the head of the house, all normally without speaking or being spoken to until he wishes everyone “A happy New Year”. He may also carry a silver coin to wish wealth. New Years Eve is the biggest festival of the Year Before 12 o’clock at night many people in the towns go out into the streets to dance and to sing Scottish songs.
When the town clocks begin to strike 12, the people come together. They cross their arms, join hands and sing the famous Scottish song “Auld Lang Syne”. It is about the old days and friendship between the people. The author of the song isRobert Burns, Scotland’s national poet.The music of the song is also Scottish.
Besides public holidays, there are some special festivals in Great Britain. One of them takes place on the 5thof November. On that day, in 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I. He did not succeed. The King’s men found the bomb, took Guy Fawkes to the Tower and cut off his head.
Since that day the British celebrate the 5thof November. They burn a dummy, made of straw and old clothes, in a bonfire and let off fireworks. This dummy is called a “guy” (like Guy Fawkes).Bonfire Night.It is a very interesting night for English boys and girls. On that evening they make bonfires and have fireworks. Some days before bonfire night they make the guy.
They make them of sticks and straw and then put men’s old clothes on him. They put an old hat on his head and old gloves on the sticks that are his hands. When the bonfire is ready, children or their parents put the guy on the bonfire an then light it.
Mother’s day in Britain.In Britain there is a holiday which people call Mother’s Day. On the old days many girls from working-class families in towns and cities and from farmers’ families in the country worked in rich houses. They had to do all the housework and their working day was usually very long, they often worked on Sundays too.
Once a year, it was usually one Sunday in March, they could visit their mothers. They went home on that day and brought presents for their mothers and for other members of the families. They could stay at home only one day, and then they went back to their work. People called that day Mothering Day or Mothering
Sunday. Later workers at the factories and girls who worked in houses of rich families received one free day a week, and Mothering Day became Mother’s Day. It is the last Sunday in March.
On that day sons and daughters visit theirs mothers and bring them flowers and little presents. The elder son must bring his mother a good cake. If sons or daughters cannot be with their mothers on that day, they usually send her presents. Mother’s Day must be a day of rest for the mother of the family, so her daughters cook dinner on that day and lay the table and the sons help to wash the plates and dishes after dinner.
Every country has its traditions. They play a very important role in the life of the people. One such tradition isEaster. Easter is a festival that occurs on the first Sunday after the full moon in spring. Easter marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. People buy new clothes to wear on Easter Sunday. There is a popular belief that wearing three new things at Easter will bring good luck in the year. After church services many people like to take walks down the streets in their new clothes. This colourful procession of people dressed in bright new spring clothes is called the Easter Parade. The word “Easter” comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn whose spring was celebrated in April. Before the arrival of Christianity, people believed that the sun died in winter and was born again in spring, on the day of the spring equinox (деньвесеннегоравноденствия) they would sing and dance as the sun rose in the sky. Although it is a Christian festival the customs and legends of Easter celebrations are pagan (языческий) in origin. Easter is the religious holiday celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God. It is at the end of Lent during which children all over the world give up sweets and make other sacrifices in preparation for the highest festival of the church year. What are Easter symbols? They are:the Cross.It has a special meaning to Christians. It represents Christ’s victory over death. It is a significant Easter symbol. The next symbol areeggs. Long ago some people believed that the earth appeared from a gigantic egg. On Easter Sunday families and friends exchange chocolate eggs. This custom dates back to ancient times when Egyptians and Persians used to paint eggs in bright colours to represent the sunlight of spring and give them to friends as a symbol of new life. The third symbol are Easter Rabbits. It is true that in ancient Egypt the rabbit symbolized the moon, new life and birth. All around the world, many children believe that the Easter rabbit brings eggs and hides them for children on Easter morning. There are many different legends but here is a popular one.
Long ago in Germany there lived an old woman who loved children. Each year she gave children presents to celebrate spring. But one year she had nothing to give because it was a bad year and she had become very poor. All she had were some eggs. So she coloured the eggs and hid them in the grass. When the children arrived, she told them to run into the yard to find their presents there. Just as one of the children uncovered the eggs, a large rabbit hopped away. So the children thought that the rabbit had left the eggs for them. And ever since children have searched for the eggs left by Easter rabbit on Easter morning.
It is calledthe Easter Egg Hunt. Eggs are the important part of Easter Sports. The Romans celebrated the Easter season by running races on an oval track and giving eggs as prizes. One of the traditional Easter egg games is the Easter Egg Roll. The rules of the Easter Egg Roll are to see who can roll an egg the greatest distance down a grassy hillside without breaking it.
The Robin Hood Dance.In a little village in Staffordshire a very old dance is performed in September every year. Six men in Robin Hood costumes carry deer’s horns set in wooden deer’s heads. They walk together with a number of other characters from the Robin Hood legends: Maid Marian, the girl whom Robin Hood loved and married, a knight on a wooden horse, a boy in the traditional costume of a jester, another boy with a bow and many musicians. The dance begins at 9 o’clock in the morning near the house where the costumes, the horns and all the other things are kept during the winter. The dancers walk through the wood and visit many farms where they eat, drink and dance. In the afternoon they get back through the village and dance in the streets. The dance ends in the middle of the night in the market-place. Very many people take part in the dance.
Literature
1.Е.Б. Полякова, Г.П. Раббот, Г.П. Шалаева. Английский язык для старших классов. Москва 1997год
2.А.П. Миньяр-Белоручева. Ответы на экзаменационные билеты 11 класса. Москва 2006 год
3.И.В. Ермолова Английский язык. Тесты для повторения и подготовки. Саратов: Лицей, 2006 год
4.Н.В. Кравченко. Английский язык. Ответы на билеты. 9 класс. Москва 2006 год
5.А.П. Старков, Б.С. Островский. Книга для чтения к учебнику А.П. Старкова для 11 класса. Москва 2002 год
6.Е.Г. Копыл, М.А. Боровик. Книга для чтения к учебнику английского языка для 7 класса. Москва 1981 год
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One of the most peculiar features of life in England which immediately strikes any visitor to this country is the cherishing and preserving of many traditions, sometimes very archaic as they may seem. In England traditions play a very important part in the life of the people. Englishmen are proud of their traditions and have kept them up for hundreds of years. For instance, on Sundays theatres and shops are closed, people do not get letters and newspapers. Very few trams and buses run in the streets of London on Sundays. Uniforms are not particularly characteristic of this fact. However, when one sees the warders at the Tower of London with their funny flat hats, their trousers bound at the knee, and the royal monogram on their breast, one feels carried back to the age of Queen Elisabeth I.
And should you chance to see the Lord Mayor of London riding through the streets of the city with the black robe and gold chain, his medieval carriage, and all sheriffs, councillors and other members of the suit, you have a picture of living history.
Tourists visiting London are usually eager to see Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the Queen and the King. The house was bought by George III from the Duke of Buckingham, from whom it takes the name.
Queen Victoria was the first to make the Palace the official residence of the Sovereign. The colourful ceremony of the Changing of the Quard before the Palace is of great interest for a newcomer. The Quardsmen in their red coats and bearskin caps march behind the Drum Mayor and the Band. Whenever the Irish Quards are responsible for the quard duties at Buckingham Palace an Irish wolfhound appears on regimental ceremonial parades and marches at the head of the band.
A number of other ceremonies are of a similarly formal character, such as the King’s or Queen’s receptions and the State Opening of Parliament.
There are other customs of a similar peculiar character, such as the searching of the cellars underneath the Houses of Parliament by half a dozen “Beefeaters” before the opening of Parliament, in memory of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.
English people tend to be rather conservative. The conservative attitude consists of an acceptance of things which are familiar. All the same, several symbols of conservatism are being abandoned. The metric system came into general use in 1975. The twenty-four-hour clock was at last adopted for railway timetables in the 1960s-though not for most other timetables, such as radio programs. The decimal money was introduced, but the pound sterling as the basic unit was kept, one-hundredth part of it being a new penny. Temperatures have been measured in Centigrade as well as Fahrengrade for a number of years, tend to use Fahrengrade for general purpose.
The veteran car run. There is a new tradition in England now. Every year a large number of veteran cars drive from London to Brighton. Veteran cars are those which are made before 1904. The run takes place on the first Sunday in November. In November, 1896, a law was published. It said that a man with a red flag must walk in front of every car when it moved in the streets. In those days people were afraid of the cars.
The run begins at 8 o’clock in the morning from Hyde Park. Some cars look very funny. The drivers are dressed in the clothes of those times. The oldest cars move in front. The run is not a competition but a demonstration. Some cars reach Brighton, which is about a hundred kilometers from London, only late in the evening, others don’t get there, they have to stop on the way.
The Stone of Destiny. In Westminster Abbey in London there is a large stone which has an interesting history. Many hundreds of years ago it was a seat on which the kings of Scotland sat when they were crowned. When Scotland became part of Britain, the English king brought this stone to London. A large chair was made and the Stone of Destiny was put into the seat of the chair. Since that time the English kings sit on that chair when they are crowned.
The Theatre Royal. The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane of the oldest theatres in London. It was opened in 1663. The king was present at the performance, that is why it was called the Theatre Royal. Today most people call it Drury Lane by the name of the street in which it stands. The theatre has many traditions. One of them is the Badely cake, which began in the 18 century.
Robert Badely was a pastry-cook who became an actor and joined the Theatre Royal. He was a good actor, and the plays in which he acted were always a great success with the people of London. When R. Badely was very old, he left some money to the theatre. Robert Badely asked to buy cake and offer a piece of it to each actor and actress of the theatre on Twelfth Night every year. Twelfth Night is the 6th of January, the 12th Night after Christmas.
So, after the evening performance on Twelfth Night, the actors and actresses cone down into the hall in their stage clothes and eat the Badely cake.
Races in England. In England there is a day for pancakes. It is usually in March. At homes families have pancakes for dinner. At school children and teachers have pancakes for school dinner. You know that pancakes are very good for eat, but do you know that in England people race with pancakes, fight for them?
In some villages and towns in England there is a pancake race every year. Mothers of families run these races. First they must make the pancake and then run 4 hundred meters with the pancake on the frying-pan in their hands. When they are running this race they must throw the pancake up 3 times and catch it on the frying-pan. They must not drop it. The fathers and the children watch the mothers and call out to them: “Run, mum, run quickly!” At some universities and colleges students run pancake races too. They run with their pancakes on the frying-pans and throw them up. If the university or college is near the sea there are swimming pancake races. The students take their frying-pans with the pancakes into the cold water and swim with them. They hold the frying-pan in one hand. They must also throw the pancake up and catch it on the pan.
At Westminster School in London the boys have pancakes for dinner one day in March. But before dinner is the pancake fight. The school cook makes a very large pancake. Then he comes out of the kitten into the hall with the frying-pan and throws the pancake high up. The boys (one from each form) try to catch the pancake. They fight for it. The winner of the fight is the boy who gets the biggest piece of pancake.
In England there is also an egg-and-spoon race. People who run this race, men and women, boys and girls, must carry an egg in a spoon. They must not let it fall down. If the egg falls and breaks, they must pick it up with the spoon, not with their fingers. Usually there are not many winners in the egg-and-spoon race.
In the three-legged-race boys and girls run in pairs, with the right leg of one boy or girl tied to the left leg of the other. They do not run very quickly, because they do not want to fall. The people who watch the egg-and-spoon race and the three-legged-race always laugh very much.
holiday festival queen
Holidays in Great Britain
There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European countries. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday and Summer Bank Holiday.
Public Holidays in Britain are called bank holidays, because the banks as well as most of the offices and shops are closed.
They go to the seaside or to one of the big parks. Many families take a basket and put their lunch or tea in it. They will sit on the grass under a tree, have their meal in the open air. Good weather is very important. A wet Bank Holiday gives very little pleasure.
Londoners often visit the Zoo where they can see many interesting animals from different countries. But many of them go with their families to Hampstead Heath. This is a large piece of open land near London where there is a fair on some of the Bank Holidays. There are a lot of interesting things for children and young people at these fairs – merry-go-rounds, swings and many little shops which sell paper hats with the words “Kiss Me Quick”, coloured balloons, cakes and sweets. An important moment at the fair is the coming of the Pearly Kings and Queens. These are men and women who have sewed pearl buttons all over their dresses and suits. And their hats also have many pearl buttons over them. Those people who have the most beautiful costumes are named Pearly King and Queen for one year.
The most favourite holiday is Christmas. Every year the people of Norway give the city of London a present. It is a big Christmas tree and it stands in the Trafalgar Square.
Before Christmas, groups of singers go from house to house. They collect money for charities and sing carols, traditional Christmas songs. Many churches hold a service on Sunday before Christmas.
The fun starts the night before, on the 24th of December. Traditionally this is the day when people decorate their trees. Children hang stockings at their beds, hoping that Father Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and fill them with toys and sweets.
No one knows for sure who decorated the first Christmas tree. The custom if bringing an evergreen tree indoors and decorating it at Christmas started in Germany. One legend says that Martin Luther started the practice. Luther was an important Christian leader. According to the story, he noticed the starlit sky as he walked home one Christmas Eve about the year 1513. He thought the stars looked as if they were shining on the branches. When he arrived home, Martin Luther placed a small fir tree inside his house. He decorated it with lighted candles. Decorating Christmas trees became popular in Germany. Prince Albert of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, the German husband of Queen Victoria, took the tradition to England. Both German and England people brought it to America. And now nearly every family in Great Britain and the USA has a Christmas tree. The biggest Christmas tree in Britain is put up in Trafalgar Square in London. The people of Norway still give this tree every year to the British people to thank them for helping Norway against Hitler in the Second World War.
Christmas is a family holiday. All the family usually meet for the big Christmas dinner of turkey and Christmas pudding. And everyone gives and receive presents. The 26th of December, Boxing Day is an extra holiday after Christmas. It is the time to visit friends and relatives. This day postmen and servants receive their presents in the boxes.
New Year’s Day is less favourite in Britain than Christmas. It is true in the southern and eastern parts of the country. However, even there, the welcoming of the New Year is growing in popularity, particularly among young people who prefer to spend Christmas with kin, but New Year with friends. New Year’s parties go all night through. The most famous places of festivities are Piccadily Circus and Trafalgar Square in London where crowds of people greet the New Year with the linked- arm singing of “Old Lang Syne’, kissing total strangers, blowing whistles and automobile horns and shooting firecrackers. Someone usually falls into the fountain in Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately for all these midnight celebrators, January 1st is not a public holiday in England.
In Wales, the back door releases the Old Year at the first stroke of midnight: it is then locked “who keep the luck in” and at the last stroke the New Year is let in at the front.
But in Scotland Hogmanay, New Years Eve is the biggest festival of the Year. Nobody, however, can successfully explain where this word comes from. The 1st of January is a national holiday. People do not work on that day, and children do not go to school. After midnight people visit their friends. They carry cakes and spices ale to wish their hosts a good year. They have a good dinner on that day. After dinner there are apples, nuts and different sweet things to eat. All the members of the family and friends begin to play games and dance. The first visitor, or the first footer, must bring a special present – a piece of coal – to wish good luck and warmth to the house. This is an old Scottish custom. The first footer may also bring a loaf of white bread and a bottle of whisky. On entering he must place the coal on the fire, put the loaf on the table and pour a glass for the head of the house, all normally without speaking or being spoken to until he wishes everyone “A happy New Year”. He may also carry a silver coin to wish wealth. New Years Eve is the biggest festival of the Year Before 12 o’clock at night many people in the towns go out into the streets to dance and to sing Scottish songs.
When the town clocks begin to strike 12, the people come together. They cross their arms, join hands and sing the famous Scottish song “Auld Lang Syne”. It is about the old days and friendship between the people. The author of the song is Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. The music of the song is also Scottish.
Besides public holidays, there are some special festivals in Great Britain. One of them takes place on the 5th of November. On that day, in 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I. He did not succeed. The King’s men found the bomb, took Guy Fawkes to the Tower and cut off his head.
Since that day the British celebrate the 5th of November. They burn a dummy, made of straw and old clothes, in a bonfire and let off fireworks. This dummy is called a “guy” (like Guy Fawkes). Bonfire Night. It is a very interesting night for English boys and girls. On that evening they make bonfires and have fireworks. Some days before bonfire night they make the guy.
They make them of sticks and straw and then put men’s old clothes on him. They put an old hat on his head and old gloves on the sticks that are his hands. When the bonfire is ready, children or their parents put the guy on the bonfire an then light it.
Mother’s day in Britain. In Britain there is a holiday which people call Mother’s Day. On the old days many girls from working-class families in towns and cities and from farmers’ families in the country worked in rich houses. They had to do all the housework and their working day was usually very long, they often worked on Sundays too.
Once a year, it was usually one Sunday in March, they could visit their mothers. They went home on that day and brought presents for their mothers and for other members of the families. They could stay at home only one day, and then they went back to their work. People called that day Mothering Day or Mothering
Sunday. Later workers at the factories and girls who worked in houses of rich families received one free day a week, and Mothering Day became Mother’s Day. It is the last Sunday in March.
On that day sons and daughters visit theirs mothers and bring them flowers and little presents. The elder son must bring his mother a good cake. If sons or daughters cannot be with their mothers on that day, they usually send her presents. Mother’s Day must be a day of rest for the mother of the family, so her daughters cook dinner on that day and lay the table and the sons help to wash the plates and dishes after dinner.
Every country has its traditions. They play a very important role in the life of the people. One such tradition isEaster. Easter is a festival that occurs on the first Sunday after the full moon in spring. Easter marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. People buy new clothes to wear on Easter Sunday. There is a popular belief that wearing three new things at Easter will bring good luck in the year. After church services many people like to take walks down the streets in their new clothes. This colourful procession of people dressed in bright new spring clothes is called the Easter Parade. The word “Easter” comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn whose spring was celebrated in April. Before the arrival of Christianity, people believed that the sun died in winter and was born again in spring, on the day of the spring equinox (деньвесеннегоравноденствия) they would sing and dance as the sun rose in the sky. Although it is a Christian festival the customs and legends of Easter celebrations are pagan (языческий) in origin. Easter is the religious holiday celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God. It is at the end of Lent during which children all over the world give up sweets and make other sacrifices in preparation for the highest festival of the church year. What are Easter symbols? They are: the Cross. It has a special meaning to Christians. It represents Christ’s victory over death. It is a significant Easter symbol. The next symbol are eggs. Long ago some people believed that the earth appeared from a gigantic egg. On Easter Sunday families and friends exchange chocolate eggs. This custom dates back to ancient times when Egyptians and Persians used to paint eggs in bright colours to represent the sunlight of spring and give them to friends as a symbol of new life. The third symbol are Easter Rabbits. It is true that in ancient Egypt the rabbit symbolized the moon, new life and birth. All around the world, many children believe that the Easter rabbit brings eggs and hides them for children on Easter morning. There are many different legends but here is a popular one.
Long ago in Germany there lived an old woman who loved children. Each year she gave children presents to celebrate spring. But one year she had nothing to give because it was a bad year and she had become very poor. All she had were some eggs. So she coloured the eggs and hid them in the grass. When the children arrived, she told them to run into the yard to find their presents there. Just as one of the children uncovered the eggs, a large rabbit hopped away. So the children thought that the rabbit had left the eggs for them. And ever since children have searched for the eggs left by Easter rabbit on Easter morning.
It is called the Easter Egg Hunt. Eggs are the important part of Easter Sports. The Romans celebrated the Easter season by running races on an oval track and giving eggs as prizes. One of the traditional Easter egg games is the Easter Egg Roll. The rules of the Easter Egg Roll are to see who can roll an egg the greatest distance down a grassy hillside without breaking it.
The Robin Hood Dance. In a little village in Staffordshire a very old dance is performed in September every year. Six men in Robin Hood costumes carry deer’s horns set in wooden deer’s heads. They walk together with a number of other characters from the Robin Hood legends: Maid Marian, the girl whom Robin Hood loved and married, a knight on a wooden horse, a boy in the traditional costume of a jester, another boy with a bow and many musicians. The dance begins at 9 o’clock in the morning near the house where the costumes, the horns and all the other things are kept during the winter. The dancers walk through the wood and visit many farms where they eat, drink and dance. In the afternoon they get back through the village and dance in the streets. The dance ends in the middle of the night in the market-place. Very many people take part in the dance.
Literature
1.Е.Б. Полякова, Г.П. Раббот, Г.П. Шалаева. Английский язык для старших классов. Москва 1997год
2.А.П. Миньяр-Белоручева. Ответы на экзаменационные билеты 11 класса. Москва 2006 год
3.И.В. Ермолова Английский язык. Тесты для повторения и подготовки. Саратов: Лицей, 2006 год
4.Н.В. Кравченко. Английский язык. Ответы на билеты. 9 класс. Москва 2006 год
5.А.П. Старков, Б.С. Островский. Книга для чтения к учебнику А.П. Старкова для 11 класса. Москва 2002 год
6.Е.Г. Копыл, М.А. Боровик. Книга для чтения к учебнику английского языка для 7 класса. Москва 1981 год
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