Customs
and Traditions
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.
The most popular holiday is Christmas.
Every year the people of Norway give the city of London a present. It's a big
Christmas tree and it stands in Trafalgar Square. Central streets are
beautifully decorated.
Before Christmas, groups of singers go
from house to house. They collect money for charity and sing carols,
traditional Christmas songs. Many churches hold a carol service on the 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 the end of their beds, hoping that Father
Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and fill them with toys
and sweets.
Christmas is a family holiday.
Relatives usually meet for the big Christmas dinner of turkey and Christmas
pudding. And everyone gives and receives presents. The 26th of December, Boxing
Day, is an extra holiday after Christmas Day. This is the time to visit friends
and relatives or perhaps sit at home and watch football.
New Year's Day is less popular in
Britain than Christmas. But in Scotland, Hogmanay is the biggest festival of
the year.
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 didn't 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, on a
bonfire and let off fireworks.
This dummy is called a "guy"
(like Guy Fawkes) and children can often be seen in the streets before the 5th
of November saying, "Penny for the guy." If they collect enough money
they can buy some fireworks.
There are also smaller, local
festivals in Britain.
Names
Christmas ['krismas] Day - Рождество (25 декабря)
New Year's Day - Новый год
Boxing Day - второй день
Рождества, день рождественских подарков (в этот день принято дарить подарки)
Good Friday - Великая пятница
(пятница на страстной неделе)
Easter [1:sta] Monday - первый
понедельник после Пасхи
May Day - майский праздник,
праздник весны (отмечается в первое воскресенье мая)
Spring Bank Holiday - весенний день отдыха (в мае или начале июня)
Summer Bank Holiday - летний
день отдыха (в августе или сентябре)
Trafalgar Square - Трафальгарская площадь
Norway ['nowei] - Норвегия
Father Christmas - Рождественский
дед, Дед Мороз
Hogmanay ['hogmanei] - хогманей,
канун Нового года
King James I - Джеймс I (король Англии с 1603 no 1625г.)
the Tower - Тауэр
Vocabulary
Christmas tree - рождественская елка
to decorate ['dekareit] - украшать
charity ['tfaeriti] - благотворительность
carol ['kaeral] - кэрол
(рождественская песня религиозного содержания, славящая
рождение Христа)
service ['saivis] - служба (церковная)
to hang (hung) - развешивать
stocking - чулок
chimney - труба
relative - родственник
turkey - индейка
Christmas pudding - рождественский
пудинг (с изюмом, цукатами и пряностями)
festival - празднество, праздник
to blow up - взорвать
to succeed - достигнуть цели,
добиться
bomb - бомба
to cut off smb's head - отрубить
кому-либо голову
to celebrate ['selibreit] - праздновать,
торжественно отмечать
to burn] - жечь, сжигать
dummy - кукла, чучело, манекен
straw [stro:] - солома
bonfire ['bonfaia] - костер
to let off fireworks ['faiawarks] - устроить фейерверк
local ['laukl] - местный
Questions
1. Are there many holidays in Great
Britain?
2. What is a "bank holiday"?
3. What is the most popular holiday in
Britain?
4. When is Christmas celebrated?
5. What are the traditional Christmas
songs called in Britain?
6. What do children leave at the end
of their beds and why?
7. What do the British do on Boxing
Day?
8. What is the name of New Year's Eve
in Scotland?
9. When is Guy Fawkes Night
celebrated?
10. What do you know about Guy Fawkes?
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