Traditions and holidays
Intro: The origin of the word “holiday” is actually “holy day”. Holidays originally represented special religious days. People think that many holidays celebrated in the present come from Christian tradition but truth is that Christians only borrowed ideas from previous religions (for example from Celts and Romans).
Christmas and Easter: Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year almost over the whole world and the one that many people – especially children – enjoy very much. Usually, Christmas holidays are connected with celebrations of year’s end. Christian tradition says, that Christmas is celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth, but it probably isn’t true. Before Christians, these days were festivities of Raman God Saturn called Saturnalia. In Britain, Christmas are marked by children awaiting the arrival of Father Christmas coming on his sledge, pulled by reindeer on Christmas Day. Socks are hung up and children believe he will fill them. He enters the house through the chimney and puts the children’s presents into their stockings. They open presents on December 25th at breakfast time. On noon, they have their traditional dinner – roast turkey and roast potatoes followed by Christmas pudding. There is an old custom of stirring into the pudding a coin, a thimble and a ring to bring wealth, work and a wedding to those who find it. In USA, children believe in Santa Claus – a cheerful fat man with white beard, dressed in a red suit. He lives at the North Pole where he makes toys during a year. There is a tradition to leave a glass of milk and chocolate cookies for his reindeer Rudolph. In our country, preparations for Christmas should begin four weeks before 24 December. This time is called Advent. Many people make Advent’s wreath with four candles. One of candles is lighted on in every advent’s Sunday. The most important day of Christmas is Christmas Eve. The children believe that Christ Child brings the presents and he puts them under the tree. Around six o’clock in the evening many families have Christmas dinner. They usually have fried carp with potatoes salad. Some people put some scales from carp in the purse because they believe that they will have much money in New Year. Time to unpack the presents under the tree comes after the meal.
The Easter weekend is in late March or early April, but the exact date changes every
year. Easter is a Christian holiday which celebrates the day when Jesus Christ came
back from the dead. It is an ancient symbol of spring and new life.
Easter is celebrated in many countries but traditions are different. In the USA, many
homes organise Easter egg hunt. Children look for dyed hard-boiled eggs hidden
around the house. The President himself has an annual Easter egg hunt on the lawn
around the White House.
In our country, on Easter Monday, boys with willow canes and small baskets come
into a girl’s house, say a rhyme and whip the girl on her legs and bottom. The girl
gives them chocolate, Easter eggs, some cake or some money and sadly more and
more often an alcohol.
British holidays and feast:
In the United Kingdom, they call official days off bank holidays. The banks close for a
day, and so do most businesses and services. New Year’s Day is the first bank holiday
in the year. May Day is in early May, Spring Bank Holiday at the end of May and then
finally Summer Bank Holiday at the end of August, when there is a mass rush to the
seaside. Christmas and Easter are also considered bank holidays.
St. Patrick was an Irish saint and his day (March 17th) is very important for Irish
people all over the world. It is very popular in cities where there are many Irish
Americans. Green is the Irish colour and some bars sell green beer. People often
wear something green on this day. In New York the Irish people always have a big St.
Patrick’s Day parade.
May 1st was an important day in the Middle Ages. In the very early morning, young
girls went to the fields and washed their faces with dew. They believed that this
made them very beautiful for a year after that. Also on May Day the young men of
each village tried to win prizes with their bows and arrows, and people danced round
the maypole. Many English villages still have a maypole, and on May 1st the villagers
dance around it.
The Queen´s officials Birthday are celebrated during June. It is connected with many
interesting ceremonials as Trooping the colours.
Midsummer’s Day, June 24th, is the longest day of the year. On that day people 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. We think the
Druids used it for a calendar. The Druids were the priests in Britain 2,000 years ago.
There are Druids in Britain today, too. And every June 24th a lot of them go to
Stonehenge and the sunrise ceremony is held here. On that morning the sun shines
on the 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. In
some parts of Cornwall, Northumbria and Scotland mid-summer fires are lit as in pre-
Christian times when this ritual was performed to give strength to the sun and drive
out evil.
November 30th – St. Andrew’s Day is the national holiday of Scotland. St. Andrew
was martyred on an X-shaped cross and became the Scottish patron saint. Nowadays
St. Andrew’s cross is the national flag of Scotland (white diagonals in the blue oblong)
and is also a part of the British national flag. The Scottish national symbol is a wild
plant – a thistle.
American national holidays:
There are 10 federal or national holidays in the US. These are designated by the
federal government, but each state can decide if they want to honour them, or have
different ones. Here’s a list of them by month.
In January, Americans celebrate New Year’s Day on the first, as well as Martin Luther
King Day. This day remembers a man who worked for equal rights among all races
and is celebrated on the third Monday of the month. In the US, most federal holidays
don’t have specific dates, but are celebrated on a certain day. That way, states and
companies who celebrate it will have a long weekend.
In February, the third Monday of the month is President’s Day, which honours all
American Presidents. It was originally held in honour of the birthday of first
president of US, George Washington, on February 22.
Then they have to wait until May, when they celebrate Memorial Day on the last
Monday of the month. This is also the unofficial start to summer. This holiday is held
to remember the soldiers who were killed in wars.
July brings them Independence Day, or as it is more commonly known, the Fourth of
July! This is when they remember their beginnings as an independent nation, free
from British rule. Independence Day is always held on July 4, and if it falls on a
weekend, either the Friday or the Monday is a day off.
On the first Monday in September, they have Labor Day, which celebrates working
people. Sadly, it also often signals the end of summer and the start of a new school
year for students.
The second Monday in October is Columbus Day, which commemorates explorer
Christopher Columbus’ landing in the New World in 1492.
Veteran’s Day is celebrated on the second Monday in November, and was originally
established to honour people who served in World War I. Now, it honours all
veterans of any war. Also in November is one of Americans’ favourite holidays –
Thanksgiving. It’s held on the fourth Thursday of November and was historically held
as thanks for a good harvest. Americans still get together with friends and family for
a good meal. Thanksgiving also brings them the unofficial start to the Christmas
shopping season, which is followed by Christmas celebrations.
My favourite holiday – Halloween:
My favourite festival is Halloween. It is a yearly celebration observed in a number of
countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows‘ Day.
It has got a mysterious atmosphere, some people believe that it has got a magical
significant. In the past, it was a Gaelic and Celtic festival called Samhain.
Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, attending costume
parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o‘-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple
bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories and
watching horror films.