Holidays in our
Life.
Hello,
my dear friends. Today we have guests from Great Britain and the United States
of America. They want to tell us about the main holidays in their countries.
They are:
1) New Year's
Day.
2) Valentine's
Day
3) Easter
4) Mother's
Day
5) Independence
Day
6) Columbus
Day
7) Halloween
8) Bonfire
Night
9) Thanksgiving
Day
10) Christmas. Let's
listen to them.
1. New Year's Day celebrates the start of a new year. We
celebrate New Year's Day on the first day of January, but the celebration
actually begins on December 31, New Year's Eve. the night before New Year's
Day. I like New Year's Eve, because my parents allow me to stay up until
midnight. Some people stay up all night! We blow horns and whistles at midnight
to announce the beginning of a new year. Some people shake hands, kiss, hug,
sing, and shout "Happy New Year!"
( a song
"Happy New Year")
2. One of my
favorite holidays is Valentine's Day. We celebrate
this holiday on February 14. It is a day of love and friendship. We send
greeting cards to our sweethearts and friends and ask them to "Be My
Valentine". This means "be my friend or love". We also decorate
our classrooms with big red hearts and give red roses and chocolate to our
sweethearts, friends and family, (a dance)
1 want to add some
words about this day. There is a beautiful legend behind St Valentine's Day.
Saint Valentine lived in Rome in the third century AD. At that time the Emperor
of Rome was Claudius. He wasn't very popular because he was trying to get more
and more people for his army. The men didn't want to go to the army and
Claudius thought that it was because they didn't want to leave their wives and
children. "If they don't get married, they'll join the army." he
thought and passed a law which banned marriage. Valentine was a Christian
priest who didn't like the new law. He secretly married people who were in
love. One night the Emperor's soldiers caught him and put him in prison.
Valentine was going to die. Many young people felt sorry for Valentine and
visited him in prison. One of them was the daughter of a prison guard. On the
day of his execution Valentine wrote a letter to her and signed it "Love
from your Valentine." This was on 14 February 269 AD. Since then 14 February
has been the Day of Love, when people send love letters and presents to each
other. They don't sign the cards with their names, but write "Guess
Who" or "Your Valentine". At first this was a European
tradition, but then it became popular in other countries. It came to Russian
too, but a lot of people say, "If you love somebody, you should show it
every day, not only one day a year." ( a song "Love you Like a Love
Song, Baby. "
3.
The other interesting holiday in our countries is Easter. Easter is celebrated on a Sunday
in April or May. The week before Easter we color eggs. On Easter Sunday
children wake up to find that the Easter Bunny has left them a basket of candy.
4. Mother's Day. We
honor our mothers on the second Sunday in May. This day is called Mother's Day.
I usually buy my Mum a nice greeting card and flowers. My Dad usually makes a
big dinner and we
eat it together with our grandparents. It is our way of saying, 'Thanks for
being such a great Mum." ( a song "Que Sera, Sera")
5. Independence
Day. On July 4, the United States celebrate Independent Day. It is
called Independence Day because on July 4, 1776. our founding fathers declared
that the United States would be free and independent from England. We usually
have a big picnic in our neighborhood and then we watch a fireworks display at
night.
6.Columbus Dav. Christopher
Columbus discovered America on October 12. 1492. At that time many European
people thought that the world was flat and that if a ship sailed to the edge of
the world, it would fall off! But Columbus believed the world was round and
made the journey
to America.
7.Halloween. It is one of the best holidays for children.
American children celebrate Halloween on October 31. Children wear masks and
colorful costumes. The most popular costumes are ghosts, witches and skeletons.
The children walk door to door in the neighborhood and shout "trick or
treat!" Most of the people give them a treat - candy or fruit. We also
decorate our houses and schools in the traditional Halloween colors: orange and
black. Popular decorations are witches, ghosts, skeletons, black cats and
jack-o-lantern. Jack-o-lantem are pumpkins we carve to look like faces.
Everyone tries to look scary on Halloween.
(a dance)
8. Bonfire
Night is one of the funniest and interesting holidays of the year which
we celebrate on the fifth of November at night. It is called Guy Fawkes Night
or Bonfire Night. We make a guy, a figure of a man and put it on top of a
bonfire. We make bonfires in the big field far from the houses and trees. There
we eat jacket potatoes and watch the fireworks. They are really beautiful!
9. Thanksgiving
Day. There is one day a year when all Americans stay home with their
families and eat a big dinner. This is Thanksgiving Day. The pilgrims
celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day in the fall of 1621. The pilgrims sailed
to America from Plymouth, England, in September 1620. They came to America for
religious freedom. They were among the first European settlers in America. The
name of the ship was the "Mayflower''. They landed at Plymouth Rock, in
what is now the state Massachusetts, in December, 1620.
10. Christmas.
Americans celebrate Christmas on December 25. Christmas is a religious holiday
and one of the happiest holidays of the year, because it is the day that
Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We buy gifts for our family and
friends. We choose a tree and decorate it with ornaments and lights. And we
prepare special foods and cookies. Christmas is also the day that Santa Claus
visits us and brings us presents in bright papers and ribbons. He delivers them
on Christmas Eve, when we are sleeping. How does he get into our house? He
climbs down the chimney and leaves the presents under the Christmas tree. In
the morning we open our presents together and then we go to church. People wish
each other "Merry Christmas!"
In
the big cities the shops are open every day and there are beautiful Christmas
trees and decorations in the windows. People go out and buy presents. There are
a lot of nice things in the shops, so you can find very good presents
everywhere. I like to do Christmas shopping and listen to Christmas songs.
Children write letters to Sar.ta
Claus. In the letters they tell Santa Claus what they want for Christmas and
promise to be good in the coming year. Santa always brings them something, so
everybody is happy.
On Christmas Day
nobody works, so all of the family is together. On the morning of the 25th
of December children find a lot of presents in their stockings. Then
everybody has Christmas dinner. There is always a turkey and Christmas pudding
on the table.
I hope you liked our guests. They told us about their
holidays. They are so interesting! I think you liked them all. And now our
meeting is over. Thank you very much ! Good -bye.
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