Holidays in Great Britain

                                           Сontents       

                  Introduction…………………………………………………………………..……2

1. Public Holidays in Great Britain…………………………….…………...3-12
2. Religious festivals in Great Britain……………………………..……....13-17
3. Notable dates in Great Britain………………………………………......18-30

Conclusion………………………………………………………………...………31

List of references………………………………………………………….………32

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         Introduction

Great Britain is famous for its old traditions. Some of them existed in ancient times and have survived through centuries. Some of them appeared when Christianity came to British Isles. Celebrations are a part of the British culture.  In order to understand the culture of these people better it is insufficiently to know only the language, it is very important to get acquainted with holidays, history of holidays and traditions of holidays. There are many kinds of celebrations in Britain - from royal to religious and from traditional to more modern. Many festivals and holidays in Britain are several centuries old. Every town, village and hamlet in Britain has its own traditions, some involving months of careful planning and preparations of costumes and choreography, others requiring simply a worrying desire to make a complete and utter fool of oneself.  
   Public holidays in G.B. are called bank holidays because the banks are as well as most of the offices and shops are closed. There are not so many public holidays a year in Great Britain, that is, the days on which people need not to go work. They are: New Year's Day, May Day holiday, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Spring Bank Holiday and Late Summer Bank Holiday. Most of these holidays are of religious origin. If a bank holiday is on a weekend, a ‘substitute’ weekday becomes a bank holiday, normally the following Monday. Your employer doesn’t have to give you paid leave on bank or public holidays. All the public holidays, except Christmas Day, New Year and Boxing Day, are movable, they do not fall on the same day each year. Besides public holidays, there are other festivals, anniversaries and simply days, for example Pancake Day and Bonfire High on which certain traditions are observed.

 

 

 

 

1. Public holidays in Great Britain

There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European countries. They are:  New Year's Day , Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Spring Bank Holiday and Late Summer Bank Holiday. Northern Ireland celebrates two additional Bank Holidays:St. Patrick's Day March 17 or the nearest Monday if it falls on a weekend and Battle of the Boyne (Orangemen's Day) July 12 or the nearest Monday if it falls on a weekend.

New Year in United Kingdom is celebrated on January 1, the first day of the first month as per the Gregorian Calendar. This day was officially declared as New Year's Day in 1752. It is the time to ring out the old year and bring the new one by merry making. New Year is the much awaited celebration for the people of UK. They love to enjoy each and every minute of the going year. Theme parties, salsa dance and live performances are the some of the rocking events of New Year in UK. Another enthralling part of the New Year festivities are the New Year cruises in England. These are the most unique and memorable part of New Year in England. So, if you are planning to have an exciting New Year blast, England is all set for one. A very old custom of 'first footing' is still followed in Britain with sincerity. It is said that the first male visitor to the house on the New Year's day brings good luck. A blonde, a red-haired or a woman is not allowed to enter the house first as they are supposed to bring bad luck. The male visitor usually brings money, bread or coal as these are considered auspicious gifts. At some places, there is a tradition of gifting the holy mistletoe. It is believed to bring prosperity for the recipient. Another tradition which is popularly celebrated is the "burning of the bush". It symbolizes burning of all past events. New Year celebrations in Britain is a colorful affair. New Year is celebrated as the most important festival in United Kingdom. Midnight parties, lavish meals, champagnes, music, dance and fireworks are the important parts of New Year in England. It is the biggest night-out of the year. Apart from parties and meals, another important part of New Year celebrations in UK is the biggest New Year parade. The parade starts at noon walking down the streets via Whitehall, Pall Mall and finishing in Berkley square. Musicians, dancers, acrobats, march, drums and other entertainers do a splendid job to make the event most distinguished one. Everyone present at the Berkley is openly invited to join the carnival and enjoy the festive occasion. In Scotland they always seem to celebrate New Year better than anywhere else. The celebration of New Year's Eve is called "Hogmanay". The word Hogmanay comes from a kind of oat cake that was traditionally given to children on New Year's Eve.In Edinburgh the celebrations always include a massive party from Prince's Street to the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle. Unfortunately due to overcrowding in the past the event is now ticket only.

    Christmas Day is celebrated in the United Kingdom on December 25. It traditionally celebrates Jesus Christ's birth. Christmas Day sees the opening of presents and many families attend Christmas services at church. Christmas dinner consists traditionally of a roast turkey, goose or chicken with stuffing and roast potatoes. This is followed by mince pies and Christmas pudding flaming with brandy, which might contain coins or lucky charms for children. (The pudding is usually prepared weeks beforehand and is customarily stirred by each member of the family as a wish is made.) Later in the day, a Christmas cake may be served - a rich baked fruit cake with marzipan, icing and sugar frosting. British children don’t open their presents on December 24th like it is in Poland. Father Christmas brings their presents in the night. Then they open them on the morning of the 25th. Children find their presents in sack, pillow case or socks hang up above the bed or fireplace. Traditionally people decorate their trees on Christmas Eve 24thDecember. They take down them twelve days later, on Twelfth Night (5th January). An older taradition is Christmas mistleote. People put  
a piece of this green plant with its white berries over the door. Mistletoe brings good luck, people say. Also, at Christmas British people kiss their friends and family under the mistletoe. Nearly all organizations, except hospitals and shelters for the homeless, are closed on Christmas Day. Some public houses and smaller stores selling food may open for a few hours in the middle of the day. Public transport services do not run to their normal timetables and may even not run at all. Public life closes down almost totally on Christmas Day. Many churches hold special services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Some also organize shelter, company and food for the homeless or those who need help. Others hold events for people who wish to return to the spiritual aspects of Christmas and turn away from the commercial aspects of modern Christmas celebrations.

    On Christmas Day at 3.00 in the afternoon, the Queen makes  
a speech on radio and TV. It is ten minutes long. In it Queen talks to the people of United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.  
The Commonwealth is a large group of countries, which in the past were all  
in the British Empire. Australia India, Canada and New Zeland are among  
the 49 members. The British Broadcasting Corporation sends the Queen’s speech to every Commonwealth country. In her speech the Queen talks about the past year. Traditinally in speeches, kings or queens say “we”, not “I”. Queen Elizabeth II doesn’t do this, she says “My husband and I”, or just “I”.  
The Queen doesn’t make her Christmas speech on Christmas Day,  
she films it a few weeks before. Then she spends Christmas with her family at Windsor. ¹

    The day after Christmas Day, December 26, is known as Boxing Day in Britain. It was also known as the Feast of St Stephen, when in olden days church alms-boxes were opened and the contents given to the poor. This custom turned into the giving of Christmas boxes, which were gifts of food, money or other items to household servants and then to public tradesmen, such as postmen and dustmen (garbage collectors).In many parts of Britain these traditions live on, with gifts of food, clothing or money from local churches being given to the poor or needy, and many people still give small gifts to their favorite trades people. For many people Boxing Day is a time to recover from the excesses of Christmas day and an opportunity to spent time with family, friends and neighbors. Some people choose to go for a walk in the countryside, while other flock to the post-Christmas sales in large stores that often begin on Boxing Day. Some people even spend part of the night and early morning queuing to get into the stores when the best bargains are still available. Boxing Day is also an important day for sports events. Traditionally, using dogs to hunt for foxes was a popular sport amongst the upper classes. Pictures of hunters on horseback dressed in red coats and surrounded by hunting dogs are often seen as symbolic of Boxing Day. Nowadays, fox hunting is outlawed. Horse racing and football (soccer) are now popular sports.

    May Day on May 1 is an ancient Northern Hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures.Traditional British May Day rites and celebrations include Morris dancing, crowning a May Queen and celebrations involving a Maypole. Much of this tradition derives from the pagan Anglo-Saxon customs held during "Þrimilci-mōnaþ" (the Old English name for the month of May meaning Month of Three Milkings) along with many Celtic traditions.May Day has been a traditional day of festivities throughout the centuries. May Day is most associated with towns and villages celebrating springtime fertility and revelry with village fetes and community gatherings. Since the reform of the Catholic Calendar, May 1st is the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, the patron saint of workers. Seeding has been completed by this date and it was convenient to give farm labourers a day off. Perhaps the most significant of the traditions is the Maypole, around which traditional dancers circle with ribbons.

The May Day bank holiday, on the first Monday in May, was traditionally the only one to affect the state school calendar, although new arrangements in some areas to even out the length of school terms mean that the Good Friday and Easter Monday bank holidays, which vary from year to year, may also fall during term time. The May Day bank holiday was created in 1978. In February 2011, the UK Parliament was reported to be considering scrapping the bank holiday associated with May Day, replacing it with a bank holiday in October, possibly co-inciding with Trafalgar Day (celebrated on 21 October), to create a "United Kingdom Day"

May Day was abolished and its celebration banned by puritan parliaments during the Interregnum, but reinstated with the restoration of Charles II in 1660.  1 May 1707 was the day the Act of Union came into effect, joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

In Oxford, it is traditional for May Morning revellers to gather below the Great Tower of Magdalen College at 6:00 am to listen to the college choir sing traditional madrigals as a conclusion to the previous night's celebrations. It is then thought to be traditional for some people to jump off Magdalen Bridgeinto the River Cherwell. However this has actually only been fashionable since the 1970s, possibly due to the presence of TV cameras. In recent years, the bridge has been closed on 1 May to prevent people from jumping, as the water under the bridge is only 2 feet (61 cm) deep and jumping from the bridge has resulted in serious injury in the past. There are still people who insist on climbing the barriers and leaping into the water, causing themselves injury.

In Durham, students of the University of Durham gather on Prebend's Bridge to see the sunrise and enjoy festivities, folk music, dancing, madrigal singing and a barbecue breakfast. This is an emerging Durham tradition, with patchy observance since 2001.

Whitstable, Kent, hosts a good example of more traditional May Day festivities, where the Jack in the Green festival was revived in 1976 and continues to lead an annual procession of morris dancers through the town on the May Bank Holiday. A separate revival occurred in Hastings in 1983 and has become a major event in the town calendar. A traditional Sweeps Festival is performed over the May bank holiday in Rochester, Kent, where the Jack in the Green is woken at dawn on 1 May by Morris dancers.

At 7:15 p.m. on 1 May each year, the Kettle Bridge Clogs morris dancing side dance across Barming Bridge (otherwise known as the Kettle Bridge), which spans the River Medway near Maidstone, to mark the official start of their morris dancing season. Also know as Ashtoria Day in Northern parts of rural Cumbria. A celebration of unity and female bonding. Although not very well known, it is often cause for huge celebration.

The Maydayrun involves thousands of motorbikes taking a 55-mile (89 km) trip from London (Locksbottom) to the Hastings seafront, East Sussex. The event has been taking place for almost 30 years now and has grown in interest from around the country, both commercially and publicly. The event is not officially organised; the police only manage the traffic, and volunteers manage the parking.

Padstow in Cornwall holds its annual 'Obby-Oss' (Hobby Horse) day of festivities. This is believed to be one of the oldest fertility rites in the UK; revellers dance with the Oss through the streets of the town and even through the private gardens of the citizens, accompanied by accordion players and followers dressed in white with red or blue sashes who sing the traditional 'May Day' song. The whole town is decorated with springtime greenery, and every year thousands of onlookers attend. Prior to the 19th century distinctive May day celebrations were widespread throughout West Cornwall, and are being revived in St. Ives and Penzance.

Kingsand, Cawsand and Millbrook in Cornwall celebrate Flower Boat Ritual on the May Day bank holiday. A model of the ship The Black Prince is covered in flowers and is taken in procession from the Quay at Millbrook to the beach at Cawsand where it is cast adrift. The houses in the villages are decorated with flowers and people traditionally wear red and white clothes. There are further celebrations in Cawsand Square with Morris dancing and May pole dancing. In St Andrews, some of the students gather on the beach late on April 30 and run into the North Sea at sunrise on May Day, occasionally naked. This is accompanied by torchlit processions and much elated celebration.²

Both Edinburgh and Glasgow organize Mayday festivals and rallies. In Edinburgh, the Beltane Fire Festival is held on the evening of May eve and into the early hours of May Day on the city's Calton Hill. An older Edinburgh tradition has it that young women who climb Arthur's Seat and wash their faces in the morning dew will have lifelong beauty.

    Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ following his time in the desert and his triumphal re-entrance into Jerusalem. This is a very important event in many Christian churches and is seen by some as the foundation of the Religion. Many churches hold special services on Good Friday to remind their congregations about Christ's suffering.  Good Friday falls on the Friday before the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.

It can seem strange that a day of death and suffering is known as 'Good' Friday. There are a number of theories as to why the day marking the crucifixion of Jesus is known in this way.  The word 'Good' may be a different spelling or rendering of 'God' or it may have another, now lost, meaning of 'holy'. Another theory is that the tragedy of the crucifixion of Jesus brought great 'good' to his followers.

More recently, the Good Friday Agreement, or Belfast Agreement was a major step in the political process to end the troubles and sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. It was signed on Good Friday April 10, 1998 by the Governments of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland and later endorsed by referendums in Both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. People who regularly attend church will probably attend a special church service on Good Friday. For other people, it is a day off work in the spring. Some people use the day to work in their gardens, while others take advantage of the long Easter weekend and the school holidays at this time of year to take a short vacation. Many Catholics do not eat meat on Good Friday. This means that, in some areas, it is common to eat fish on this day. It is traditional for all denominations to eat hot cross buns. These are made of leavened dough, to which sugar, currants and spices have been added. The top of the bun is marked with a cross made of flour and water paste or rice paper. The buns are eaten as they are or split in half, toasted and spread with butter. There is a traditional rhyme about these buns, which is often used to teach children basic music notes.

    Easter Monday occurs after Easter Sunday, which commemorates Jesus Christ's resurrection, according to Christian belief. It is a bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not Scotland. For many people, it is just a welcome day off to enjoy the spring weather or work on their garden or home improvements. In some places, there are egg rolling competitions. People take the eggs to the top of a hill and roll them down. The first egg to get to the foot of that hill is the winner.³

    The Spring bank holiday, also known as the late May bank holiday, is a time for people in the United Kingdom to have a day off work or school. It falls on the last Monday of May but it used to be on the Monday after Pentecost. The spring bank holiday started as the Monday after Pentecost. This is known as Whitsun or Whit Monday in the United Kingdom. The Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, moved this bank holiday to the last Monday in May, following a trail period of this arrangement from 1965 to 1970.

In 2002 this bank holiday was moved to June 4 to follow an extra bank holiday on June 3. This gave people a four-day weekend to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. This marked the 50th year of her accession to the throne of the United Kingdom. The spring bank holiday will also be moved to June 4 in 2012 to form a long weekend together with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee bank holiday. On Cooper's Hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, people race down a steep hill following a large round cheese. The hill is concave and has an incline of 1:1 in some places. The first person to cross the finishing line wins a Double Gloucester cheese weighing about 8lbs (around 3.5kg). The custom may have been started by the Romans or ancient Britons and be an ancient fertility rite or a way of guaranteeing the rights of the villagers to graze their livestock on the surrounding land. In some years, there have been a lot of injuries, causing the event to be cancelled a couple of times in recent years. In these years, the cheese was rolled down the hill, but nobody was allowed to chase it.

In Endon in Staffordshire, the villagers dress their well, hold a fayre (village celebration) and crown a girl as the Well Dressing Queen. Local men hold a competition, known as 'Tossing the Sheaf', in which they compete to see who can toss a bale of straw the highest. In other places, boats are blessed, Morris dancers put on displays and local festivals are held.⁴

    In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Summer Bank Holiday is on the last Monday of August. In Scotland it is on the first Monday of August. This day marks the end of the summer holidays for many people who return to work or school in the autumn. The summer bank holiday was introduced in the Bank Holidays Act 1871 and first observed in that year. It was originally intended to give bank employees the opportunity to participate and attend cricket matches. Exactly one hundred years later, the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 moved this bank holiday to the last Monday in August for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This followed a trial period from 1965 to 1970 of the new date. In Scotland, it remained on the first Monday in August. For many people, the summer bank holiday marks the end of the summer. Some people take trips or short vacations during the three day weekend. For others, it is another opportunity to work in their gardens or carry out home improvements.

In London the Notting Hill Carnival is held. This street festival is best known for its exuberant costumes, dancing and music played by steel drum bands. The festival has been held every year since 1965 and was originally organized by immigrants from the Caribbean, particularly Trinidad, to the United Kingdom. It started as a protest against the racism, poor working and housing conditions that they suffered. Today, the Notting Hill Carnival is a multicultural celebration, attracting over two million people. It is thought to be the second largest street carnival in the world. In the past, a considerable amount of public disorder occurred round the event, but it has been calmer in recent years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Religious festivals in Great Britain.

 

Ash Wednesday.The name given to the first day of Lent, which occurs 46 days (i.e. 40 days not counting Sundays) before Easter. It can occur as early as 4th February or as late as 10th March. Ash Wednesday the day when many Christians focus their attention on three practices: fasting, praying and almsgiving

Ash Wednesday is so-named from the practice undertaken by Christians to show repentance of their sins. They kneel before a priest who sprinkles ashes on their foreheads - these ashes are produced from the burning of Palm Crosses from the previous year's Palm Sunday. In some churches, the ashes may be mixed with the Oil of the Catechumens (or ordinary oil), and the paste is applied by the priest to make the sign of the cross on each person's forehead. As he does so, he recites the words: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return".

The Sunday before Easter is known as Palm Sunday. It celebrates Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of Passover. In United Kingdom, churches may as well have a parade which involves individual waving palm leaves and singing songs. Several churches provide people a pan cake at the final of their service. The activity of children around or on this occasion may comprise story telling regarding biblical events connecting to Palm Sunday and skill creating palm crosses. In some areas of the country Palm Sunday was a traditional day for visiting wells and leaving an offering for the spirit of the well. In some places pins were dropped in the wells whilst in other places rags were hung around the wells. It was thought by doing this the spirit of the well would keep the water fresh and clean.Sallow, or pussy willow, was used in many places as a palm substitute, and was commonly known as English Palm amongst country folk. Box, yew, hazel, common willow and daffodils (Lent Lilies) were other alternatives in the days before palm was easily available as an import from Spain.

For Christians Easter Sunday is the high point of the year. They celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. As in many other European and New World countries, eggs and rabbits (signs of fertility and new life) are traditional symbols of Easter in the British Isles. Chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs, often adorned in colorful foil wrappers, are given to children as presents or are hidden for the Easter morning "egg hunt." The tradition of decorating real eggs for Easter dates back to the Middle Ages. In 1290 the English king, Edward I, ordered 450 eggs to be covered in gold leaf to be given as Easter presents. It is thought that the bright hues used to decorate Easter eggs were meant to mirror the colors of the reawakening spring growth. nother British Easter custom is egg rolling or the egg race, when competitors try to be the first to roll their egg across a course or down a hill… without breaking it! Aside from eggs, the best-known English Easter food is probably the hot cross bun. Dating back to medieval times, the buns were traditionally eaten on Good Friday, but they are now popular all around the Easter season. These sweet treats, fragrant with fruit and spices, are marked with a cross, either slashed into the dough before baking, or drizzled on in icing afterwards. The history of hot cross buns dates far back to the pre-Christian era. It is thought that they are descendants of the small cakes offered to Eostre, the goddess of spring. They may have been marked with a cross even in ancient times, to represent the four quarters of the moon. In later centuries the church, unable to stamp out ancient pagan traditions, decided instead to "Christianize" the buns by associating the cross with that of Jesus. Easter Sunday in the British Isles is traditionally marked by church services, often held at dawn so that worshippers can view the sunrise, a symbol of Christ's resurrection. Afterwards Easter eggs are exchanged and eaten. Easter parades were also once an important tradition, during which people would wear their new clothes - the ladies in particular would show off their new "Easter bonnets" - as another sign of spring's renewal. Later the family would gather for Easter lunch or dinner, which in England traditionally consisted of roast spring lamb with mint sauce, potatoes and green peas. There was time to rest from the celebrations the next day, since Easter Monday is traditionally a holiday in Britain.⁵