new year

On New Year’s Eve, people traditionally take a shower in the fountains in Trafalgar Square ! The Christmas tree is an annual gift from Norway.

I’m in love !

On 14th February, St Valentine’s Day, many people send a card to the one they love or someone whom they have fallen in love with. People usually do not sign these cards and a lot of time is spent trying to guess who has sent them!

Pancake Day

Ash Wednesday is the day iin February when the Christian period of Lent begins. This refers to the time when Christ went into the desert and fasted for forty days. Although not many people actually give up eating during this period, on Pancake Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, they eat lots of pancakes. These are made from flour, milk and eggs, and fried in a hot pan.

Some towns also hold pancake races on that day. People run through the streets holding a ffrying pan and throwing the pancake in the air. Of course if they drop the pancake they lose the race!

Easter eggs

At Easter time, the British celebrate the idea of new birth by giving each other chocolate Easter eggs which aare opened and eaten on Easter Sunday. On Good Friday bakers sell hot cross buns, which are toasted and eaten with butter. Easter Monday is a holiday and many people travel to the seaside for the day or go and watch one of the many sporting events, such as football or horse – racing.

May is here

As summer comes, Britain likes to celebrate the end of the winter. Much of this celebration is connected with dancing, which is performed to encourage life and growth and to drive away harmful spirits. Children may be seen dancing round the Maypole on village greens, weaving their brightly coloured scarves into a beautiful pattern. Morris men dance all day long on 1st May, wwaving their white handkerchiefs to drive away the evil spirits and welcome in the new ones.

Ghosts and witches

Hallowe’en means ‘holy evening’, and takes place on 31st October. Although it is a much more important festival in the United States than Britain, it is celebrated by many people in the UK. It is particularly connected with witches and ghosts.

At parties people dress up in strange costumes and pretend they are witches. They cut horrible faces in potatoes aand other vegetables and put a candle inside, which shines through the eyes. People may play difficult games such as trying to eat an apple from a bucket of water without using their hands.

In recent years children dressed in white sheets knock on doors at Hallowe’en and ask if you would like a ‘trick’ or ‘treat’. If you give them something nice, a ‘treat’, they go away. However, if you don’t they play a ‘trick’ on you, such as making a lot of noise or spilling flour on your front doorstep!

Guy Fawkes Night

In 1605 King James I was on the throne. As a Protestant, he was very unpopular with Roman Catholics. Some of them planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5th November of that year, when the King was going to open Parliament. Under the House of Lords they had stored thirty – six barrels of gun powder, which were to be exploded ...