Happy New Year!
Exercise
1. Work in pairs and discuss the questions.
1.
How do you celebrate New Year?
2.
What do you know about New Year celebrations around the world?
3.
What do you think New Year celebrations everywhere have in common?
Now
read the text and compare your ideas with the writer’s.
(Text
+ audio)
Happy
New Year!
What
do a piece of coal, fireworks and twelve grapes have in common? They all belong
to New Year’s customs and rituals in different countries around the world.
In
Britain, on the stroke of midnight, people open their back door, to let out the
old year, and let in the first tall, dark man carrying a loaf of bread, salt
and a piece of coal. In China, as in many countries around the world, the New
Year is celebrated with a firework display. In Spain, as they listen to the
midnight clock ringing out the old year and ringing in the new, and after a long
and agreeable dinner, the dessert includes twelve grapes corresponding to
twelve strokes of the bell. By the time the bell stops, everyone is meant to
have swallowed their grapes. Of course, it’s almost impossible to do so in
time. This usually means that with a mouth full of grapes, they begin to look
at each other, they start laughing, and well, you can guess what happens next.
Many
of these traditions are to do with bringing good luck for the coming New Year. The
bread is a symbol of food, the salt represents money and the coal stands for
warmth. Ghosts and evil spirits are thought to be frightened of loud noise, so
we set off fireworks to scare them away. And the grapes are meant to represent fertile
land, a fruitful harvest and enough food to eat.
It’s
thought that the New Year used to be marked by some kind of natural transition,
such as a change in the weather, the beginning or end of the growing season, or
favourite food coming back into season. In the ancient Roman world the year was
comprised of ten months, not twelve. The end of the old year was on 31st
December, but just to complicate matters, the start of the New Year was on 1st
March. But the ancient Romans abolished the old calendar, and 1st
January became the official opening of a twelve-month year. There is no
transition or change at this point in the middle of winter, so the 1st January
also became a symbol of Man taking charge over Nature.
Of
course, many cultures celebrate New Year at other times of the year. In the
Islamic world, the year is based on twelve lunar months, amounting to 354 days,
so the Islamic New Year is 11 to 12 days earlier each year in relation to the
Western calendar, and can occur on any date - in fact, the Islamic New Year was
celebrated twice in 2008. The Jewish New Year occurs on the first two days of
the seventh month (usually at some time in September). Even in many Western
countries, the new school year commences in the autumn, and of course, all the
latest television series are launched as soon as everyone returns from their summer
holidays.
Despite
the diverse ways in which people celebrate New Year, the customs all consist of
certain common features. The first is the need to eliminate evil spirits. In
Scotland the old year is considered to be evil and a straw figure of Death in
disguise is taken in a parade around the town, then burnt, buried or drowned.
In some villages, barrels of tar are set on fire and rolled through the streets
to stop the citizens living at the mercy of the devil, and to chase him away.
Another
feature is the symbolic need to make yourself pure. In many cultures, homes are
cleaned in order to exclude the bad luck of the old year, and people wear new
clothes. In England, New Year’s Eve used to be a traditional time to clean the
chimneys. The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is a holy time when people
consider and show regret for what they might have done wrong in the past year,
and promise to do better in the future. Elsewhere in the West, people still
make New Year’s resolutions to abandon harmful behaviour and attitudes for
which they feel guilty.
Food
also has a symbolic role to play. Many cultures celebrate New Year with a
banquet full of rich and costly food. But there are also humble items of food
to show the person eating them is simple, careful with their money and honest.
In Italy, a traditional New Year’s dish is lentil soup. In Sweden and Norway,
people eat fish, carrots and cabbage to be sure of wealth in the year to come.
In the southern states of the US, a traditional New Year’s dish is composed of black-eyed
peas, which represent copper coins, and green vegetables, which represent dollar
bills. Each pea they eat equals one dollar’s worth of earning, and each portion
of greens equals $1, 000. In some states the tradition is to eat and digest 365
black-eyed peas, to ensure good luck and wealth every day of the year.
Despite
the many differences in the way different cultures celebrate the New Year,
these durable customs and rituals all show our similar optimistic wish to begin
a new cycle in life, to be sure of good fortune, and to direct our own fate. So
above all, New Year, wherever we spend it, and whatever we do, reminds us of
the dominant characteristics we all share, and the common humanity to which we
all belong.
Exercise
2. Match the countries and regions 1-6 with the traditional features of their
New Year celebrations (a)-(f).
|
1. China
|
a) lentil soup
|
|
2. Spain
|
b) fish
|
|
3. Italy
|
c) bread, salt
and coal
|
|
4. Northern
Europe
|
d) fireworks
|
|
5. Southern US
|
e) grapes
|
|
6. Britain
|
f) peas
|
Exercise
3. Choose the best answer to the questions.
1.
What does the passage suggest about New Year celebrations around the world?
a)
They are all very different.
b)
They are not all happy.
c)
They focus on the same themes.
d)
They provide an excuse for a holiday.
2.
Who made 1st January the first day of the Western year?
a)
The British.
b)
The ancient Romans.
c)
The Italians.
d)
The Jews.
3.
Why does the Islamic year start on a different day each year?
a)
For religious reasons.
b)
Because it has fewer days than the Western year.
c)
Because it only lasts for seven months.
d)
Because it is based on the lunar calendar.
4.
What is similar about New Year in English and Jewish traditions?
a)
The desire to be clean, pure or do better.
b)
People wear new clothes for the celebrations.
c)
They both include religious celebrations.
d)
People eat similar food.
5.
What symbolic value is shared by salt, peas and lentils?
a)
They represent basic food.
b)
They are a symbol of fertility.
c)
They stand for money and wealth.
d)
They represent the days of the past year.
6.
What is the main purpose of the passage?
a)
To give the writer’s opinion about the best way to celebrate New Year.
b)
To describe and compare the different ways of celebrating New Year around the world.
c)
To talk about the ways different religions mark New Year.
d)
To write a humorous piece about the most unusual New Year traditions.
7.
What is the writer’s opinion about New Year traditions?
a)
They are all just pointless rituals.
b)
New Year is not as important as other festivals.
c)
They make people feel better when faced with the uncertainty of the future.
d)
They show people are optimistic about making a better future for themselves.
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