UK
1.1 New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day
· New Year’s Eve is the evening before New Year’s Day
· People traditionally take a shower in the fountains on Trafalgar Square
· in Scotland called Hogmanay
1.2 Valentine’s day
· many people send a card to the one they love or someone who they have fallen in love with
· these cards are usually unsigned - so people spent a lot of time trying to guess who has sent them
1.3 Lent[i]
· the day before lent is called is Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday) - people usually eat pancakes
· pancake is a flat cake made from thin batter[ii] (milk, flour and eggs) and cooked on both sides usually in a frying pan
· some towns hold pancake races on this day - people run through the streets holding a frying pan and throwing the pancake in the air and who drops the pancake looses the race
· Lent starts with Ash[iii] Wednesday
· this habit dates back to the time when Christ went into the desert and fasted[iv] for forty days
· today this habit is not so common - people are not able to stay forty days without food - and only eating pancakes remains from this habit today
1.4 Easter
· first Sunday after the first spring full moon
· Palm Sunday - the Sunday before Easter celebrated in commemoration of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem
· Good Friday - eating cross buns[v] - bought in bakeries, toasted and eaten with butter
· Easter Sunday – people celebrate the idea of new birth by giving each other chocolate eggs
· Easter Monday (holiday) people travel to the seaside - watch sport events such as football or horse-racing
1.5 May Day
· 1st May - celebrating the end of winter
· public holiday in honour of working people
· people made Maypoles - tall ribbon-wreathed[vi] poles[vii] - usually forming a centre for the dances
· dancers are dancing traditional dances such as the Morris dance
1.6 Halloween
· Hallowe’en means “holy evening” - old Celtic feast
· 31st October - the eve of All Saints’ Day or All Hallows Day
· people, mainly children are dressed up in disguise[viii] to pretend that they are ghosts or witches
· connected with witches[ix] and ghosts[x]
· people cut horrible faces from potatoes, pumpkins[xi] and other vegetables and put candles inside them to shine through the eyes, nose and mouth
· outside the houses there are huge orange carved pumpkins with candles lit inside
· some games such as trying to eat an apple from a bucket of water without using hands are played
1.7 Guy Fawkes Night
· 5th November - from history (see ¯)
· people make fireworks and bonfires[xii] and throw a dummy[xiii] into it – the dummy is called “guy” (like Guy Fawkes)
· children collect money to have fireworks - they say “Penny for the guy”
· now many fireworks are organised by the local councils to avoid the danger of accidents
· history: In 1605 King James I. was on the throne. As a Protestant, he was very unpopular with the Roman Catholics. Some of them planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament on the 5th November of that year, when the King was going to open the Parliament. Under the House of Lords they had stored thirty-six barrels of gunpowder[xiv], which were to be exploded by a man called Guy Fawkes. However one of the plotters[xv] spoke about these plans and Fawkes was discovered, arrested and later hanged.
1.8 Remembrance Sunday
· formerly[xvi] Armistice Day, or Poppy Day
· the Sunday nearest to the 11th November - commemorating the armistice[xvii] of the 11th November 1918 terminating the First World War, and all those who died in the two World Wars
· a two-minute silence is observer at 11 am
· people wear an artificial poppy[xviii] on that day - originally the poppies symbolised the soldiers who died in the cornfields[xix] of Flanders[xx] and Belgium in the First World War
1.9 Christmas
· 24th December - Christmas Eve
· 25th December - Christmas Day with Christmas morning
· 26th December - Boxing Day
· most important festival of the year - it combines the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ and the traditional festivities of winter
· traditions - most important is giving presents; Christmas tree came from Norway - in the corner of the front room, glittering[xxi] with coloured lights and decorations; families decorate their houses with brightly coloured paper or holly[xxii]
· on the Sunday before Christmas many churches hold a carol[xxiii] service where special hymns are sung
· sometimes carol-singers can be heard on the streets as they collect money for charity
· on Christmas Eve children put a long sock or stocking[xxiv] at the end of their bed and they hope that Father Christmas (Santa Claus) will come down the chimney during the night and bring them small presents, fruit and nuts - no traditional celebration
· at Christmas morning presents are found under the Christmas tree
· on Christmas Day the family sits down to a big turkey dinner followed by Christmas pudding
· they will probably pull a cracker with another member of the family - it will make a loud crack and a coloured hat, small toy and joke will fall out
· in the afternoon they watch the Queen on television as she delivers her traditional Christmas message to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth
· at tea-time people eat a piece of Christmas cake or hot minced pie[xxv]
· on Boxing Day people visit friends and relatives or some of the many sporting events
· on Boxing Day it is also usual to give a present of money to tradesmen - the milkman, the postman, etc.
· people usually go to a pantomime on that day - based on traditional fairy tale, especially for children - these tales come from all over the world - “The Sleeping Beauty” from Persia, “Little Red Ridding Hood” was written by Brothers Grimm of Germany, etc.
1.10 Some other special days
· Twelfth Night - 6th January
· April Fool’s Day - 1st April
· Mother’s Day or Mothering Sunday - second Sunday in May
· Father’s Day - third Sunday in June
· Bank Holidays - public holidays when banks, post offices, shops and some attractions are closed. Bank holidays remain constant each year, i.e. they always occur on Monday (the late Spring Bank Holiday is the last Monday in May), but the date changes each year
· Midsummer Dar - 24th June - ceremonies in honour of the Sun have been held from the earliest times. This day is preceded by Midsummer Night when supernatural beings are said to wander about.
1.11 Special local feasts
· St. David’s Day - 1st March - the patron of Wales
· Sr. Patrick’s Day - 17th March - the patron of Ireland
· St. George’s Day - 23rd April - the patron of England
· The Queen’s Official Birthday - Saturday after 9th June
· St. Andrew’s Day - 30th November - the patron of Scotland
[i] púst
[ii] lité těsto
[iii] popeleční středa
[iv] postit se
[v] mazanec
[vi] ověnčený mašlemi
[vii] tyč, bidlo
[viii] přestrojení
[ix] čarodějnice
[x] duch
[xi] dýně
[xii] hranice
[xiii] panák
[xiv] střelný prach
[xv] spiklenec
[xvi] dříve
[xvii] příměří
[xviii] květ máku
[xix] obilné pole
[xx] Vlámsko
[xxi] třpytit se
[xxii] cesmína - rostlina
[xxiii] koleda
[xxiv] punčocha
[xxv] koláč, asi jako náš biskupský chlebíček
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