Holidays in Great Britain

    Father's Day is held on the third Sunday of June in the United Kingdom. It is a day to honor fathers and father figures, such as grandfathers and fathers-in-law. Many people make a special effort to visit their fathers or to send them a card or gifts. On Father's Day, many people make a special effort to visit their father. They often take or send cards and gifts. Common Father's Day gifts are ties, socks, underwear, sweaters, slippers and other items of clothing. Other people give tools for household maintenance or garden work, luxury food items or drinks. Many Father's Day gifts have slogans such as "The World's Best Dad", "For My Father" or just a simple "Dad" on them. The increase in print-on-demand services offered by photo processing companies has made personalized gifts even more popular for Father's Day. Photographs of children can be printed on desk calendars, mugs, T-shirts, mouse mats, bags and even ties. Many fathers are expected to take these to the office to remind them of their families while they are working. In the days and weeks before Father's Day, many schools, Sunday schools and children's organizations help their pupils to prepare a handmade card or gift for their father. Mothers and other family members may help children to make personalized gifts, such as calendars with drawings made by the children. Some families celebrate Father's Day by planning an outing or weekend trip, perhaps just for the male members of the family. This may be a simple walk in the countryside or a whole planned "experience". Popular Father's Day experiences include driving a fire engine, rally car, tank or even airplane or taking a golf, football or cricket lesson with a celebrity coach. Other families organize a special meal at home or in a pub or restaurant. A common Father's Day meal is a traditional roast dinner with meat, stuffing, potatoes and vegetables, which can be eaten in a pub and accompanied by pints of ale or lager.⁸

    On February 14th it s Saint Valentine s Day in Britain. It is not a national holiday. Banks and offices do not close, but it is a happy little festival in honour of St. Valentine. On this day, people send Valentine cards to their husbands, wives, girlfriends and boyfriends. You can also send a card to a person you do not know. But traditionally you must never write your name on it. Some British newspapers have got a page for Valentine s

Day messages on February 14th. This lovely day is widely celebrated among people of all ages by the exchanging of valentines. Saint Valentine was a martyr but this feast goes back to pagan times and the Roman feast of Lupercalia. The names of young unmarried girls were put into a vase. The young men each picked a name, and discovered the identity of their brides. This custom came to Britain when the Romans invaded it.

But the church moved the festival to the nearest Christian saint s day this was Saint Valentine s Day. Midsummer s Day, June 24th, is the longest day of the year. On that day you can see a very old custom at Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, England. Stonehenge is on of Europe s biggest stone circles. A lot of the stones are ten or twelve metres high. It is also very old. The earliest part of Stonehenge is nearly 5,000 years old. But what was Stonehenge A holy place A market Or was it a kind of calendar Many people think that the Druids used it for a calendar. The Druids were the priests in Britain 2,000 years ago. They used the sun and the stones at Stonehenge to know the start of months and seasons. There are Druids in Britain today, too. And every June 24th a lot of them go to Stonehenge. On that morning the sun shines on one famous stone the Heel stone. For the Druids this is a very important moment in the year. But for a lot of British people it is just a strange old custom. Londoners celebrate carnivals. And one of them isEurope s biggest street carnival. A lot of people in the Notting Hill area of London come from the West Indies a group of islands in the Caribbean. And for two days in August, Nutting Hill is the West Indies. There is West Indian food and music in the streets. There is also a big parade and people dance day and night.

    Emancipation Day, as it has known by motorists ever since. Emancipation is still on the first Sunday of the month, but nowadays there is an important condition of entry every car taking part must be at least 60 years old. The Run is not a race. Entrants are limited to a maximum average speed of 20 miles per hour. The great thing is not speed but quality of performance, and the dedicated enthusiasts have a conversation all their own. The Highland Games this sporting tradition is Scottish. In the Highlands the mountains of Scotland families, or clans, started the Games hundreds of years ago. Some of the sports are the Games are international the high jump and the long jump, for example. But other sports happen only at the Highland Games. One is tossing the caber. Tossing means throwing, and a caber is a long, heavy piece of wood. In tossing the caber you lift the caber it can be five or six metres tall. Then you throw it in front of you. At the Highland Games a lot of men wear kilts. These are traditional Scottish skirts for men. But they are not all the same. Each clan has a different tartan. That is the name for the pattern on the kilt. So at the Highland Games there are traditional sports and traditional instrument the bagpipes. The bagpipes are very loud. They say Scots soldier played them before a battle. The noise frightened the soldiers on other side. The world s most famous tennis tournament is Wimbledon. It started at a small club in south London in the nineteenth century. Now a lot of the nineteenth century traditions have changed. For example, the women players don t have to wear long skirts. And the men players do not have to wear long trousers. But other traditions have not changed at Wimbledon. The courts are still grass, and visitors still eat strawberries and cream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                Conclusion

 

    British holidays are important cultural events that bring visitors and locals together. National and unofficial holidays in Britain feature long-standing traditions and provide an excuse to celebrate! It may seem strange, but in Britain more holidays than in many other countries. Some of them are public holidays. In England and Wales currently only five holidays (New Year, Easter Monday, in spring and late summer, Boxing Day), they are also common to have two holidays (Good Friday and Christmas Day). In Scotland and Northern Ireland, they have six holidays, as well as two other public holiday. Feasts and festivals serve to meet specific social and psychological needs of the people of the country. Holidays can be religious and secular, national and local, official and unofficial. Non official holidays and festivals in Great Britain are also widely spread. Some of them are modern, others have the long history, but all of them are celebrated with great pleasure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

List of references:

1. CHEAP HOLIDAYS | HOTELS BOOKING | TRAVEL TIPS[electronic resource]– http://aboutcheapholidays.com/spring-bank-holiday-2013-in-united-kingdom
2. Let's learn English together! [electronic resource]–http://www.lengto.ru/publ/topiki/easter_in_great_britain/3-1-0-20
3. Mandy Barrow. British Life & Culture Special Events and Celebrations[electronic resource] http://www.projectbritain.com/easter/goodfriday.htm
4. Pretanic World Holiday Traditions from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland that may pre-date the Christian Era [electronic resource] http://www.pretanicworld.com/Calendar.html
5. Timeanddate[electronic resource]–http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/uk/father-day
6. Голицынский Ю. Great Britain изд. Каро г. С Петербург, 1999г,с.105.
7. Рис-Пармен Christmas, журнал Англия, №77 с.65
8. Колуфман К.И. Страницы Британской истории изд. Титул г. Обнинск, 1999г,с.125

¹ Рис-Пармен Christmas, журнал Англия, №77 с.65

² Pretanic World Holiday Traditions from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland that may pre-date the Christian Era [electronic resource] http://www.pretanicworld.com/Calendar.html

3 Mandy Barrow. British Life & Culture Special Events and Celebrations[electronic resource] http://www.projectbritain.com/easter/goodfriday.htm

4 CHEAP HOLIDAYS | HOTELS BOOKING | TRAVEL TIPS[electronic resource]– http://aboutcheapholidays.com/spring-bank-holiday-2013-in-united-

5 Let's learn English together! [electronic resource]–http://www.lengto.ru/publ/topiki/easter_in_great_britain/3-1-0-20

⁶ Колуфман К.И. Страницы Британской истории изд. Титул г. Обнинск, 1999г,с.125

⁷ Голицынский Ю. Great Britain изд. Каро г. С Петербург, 1999г,с.105.

⁸ Timeanddate[electronic resource]–http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/uk/father-day