British Holidays Czech American and British Holidays Autor

British Holidays Czech, American and British Holidays Autor: Mgr. Veronika Richterová VY_32_INOVACE_45 -09_VP_British_Holidays Projekt: CZ. 1. 07/1. 5. 00/34. 0859

BRITISH HOLIDAYS

There are eight public holidays. WHAT IS A PUBLIC HOLIDAY? Public holiday /bank holiday/– is a day off. Banks, post offices, schools and other institutions are closed. People spend time together with their families.

Official public holidays are: • • New Year’s Day (1 January) Good Friday and Easter Monday (moveable) Spring Bank Holiday (last Monday in May) Summer (August) Bank Holiday (last Monday in August) • Christmas Day and Boxing Day (25 and 26 December)

Besides these public holidays there are other specific days that are popular BUT! They don‘t mean day off and many of these have become commersialized today EXAMPLE: St. Valentine‘s Day, Mother‘s Day, Father‘s Day, April Fool‘s Day, etc….

NEW YEAR‘S DAY • This is the first bank holiday of the year. This day celebrates the start of the New Year. • Many people prepare a big meal including pork meat for good luck and lentils for prosperity.

ST. VALENTINE‘S DAY • St. Valentine’s Day is celebrated on the 14 th of February. St. Valentine was the patron saint of people in love. • People send love cards and letters, buy flowers and chocolate, give presents to each other and spend time in a romantic way.

EASTER • Easter is a moveable holiday (in March or April) and it commemorates the death of Jesus Christ and the start of spring. • Some British traditions are similar as in the Czech Republic (children paint, decorate and eat chocolate eggs).

• But there also some special traditions. On Good Friday people eat traditional Easter buns with a cross on the top. • On Easter Sunday people give chocolate Easter eggs as presents. Children also look for chocolate eggs and bunnies hidden in the garden. This is called egg hunt.

• Another traditions is egg rolling. People take decorated eggs to the top of a hill and let them roll down. The first egg to get to the foot of the hill is the winner. • The last interesting British tradition is the decoration of Easter bonnets. Girls decorate their hats (Easter bonnets). They put a lot of flowers on them and wear them in parades.

APRIL FOOL‘S DAY • It is the day when people tell jokes and want to trick each other. Hey! Listen to that joke! What?

HALLOWEEN • Halloween is celebrated on the 31 st of October. Although it originated in the UK, it is more popular in America nowadays. • Children and young people love this day. They wear funny or scary costumes or masks, such as ghosts, witches, zombies, or vampires.

• A popular activity is trick-or-treating. Children walk around the neighborhood in their costumes, knock on people's doors and say 'trick or treat' and are given some candy or they do some trick. NOBODY‘S AT HOME! OK, no treat? Let‘s do the trick!

• Pumpkin is a symbol of Halloween. People I‘M put a candle inside it and put it in front of. H-LI!their AN JACK TER -O house after dark. N! • There also many costume halloween parties, with special games and Halloween programme.

GUY FAWKES NIGHT • It is a British celebration held on November 5 th. It commemorates a catholic rebel Guy Fawkes who wanted to destroy the Houses of Parliament with a bomb in 1605, but it was discovered and he was executed. OH MY GOD! HOW HAVE THEY KNOWN. . ? HELP!!!

• Nowadays the British have fireworks in public parks and in the gardens. There also bonfires and parties.

ST. PATRICK‘S DAY • St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on the 17 th of March. St. Patrick is an Irish patron, but this holiday is celebrated all around the world. • St. Patrick was a priest, he went to Ireland to teach people about God (he brought Christianity there). He used shamrocks. IRELAND

• There are many legends – Leprechauns are small dwarfs who grant wishes but some say I AM RICH they are bad. I AM GOOD AND I AM AND I GRANT WISHES! BAD! • On this day people wear green colour, they dye rivers green, drink beer (Guiness), dance and have parades.

MAY DAY • This holiday has an origin in Chicago‘s strike in 1886. • Today, Labour Day honours all workers. They have a day off to relax. It is the same as in the Czech Republic but the British also celebrate the beginning of spring with dancing and singing.

MOTHER‘S DAY • It is celebrated in May and it is a moveable holiday. It is similar to the Czech Republic. Children and husbands buy presents to their mothers and wifes, the family spends time together.

FATHER‘S DAY • It is celebrated in June and it is a moveable holiday. This holiday is celebrated on different days in different countries. It is similar to the Mother‘s Day. Children buy presents to their fathers, the family spends time together.

REMEMBRANCE DAY • It is celebrated on the 11 th of November and it commemorates all the war veterans and official end of WWI. People make parades and there is a special mass. • In America it is called Veterans Day.

CHRISTMAS • Christmas is a Christian holiday, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is time for family and friends, people eat good food and spend time together. • In the UK it is a bit different than in the Czech Republic.

BRITISH CHRISTMAS DATE NAME OF THE HOLIDAY FEATURES 24 th of December Christmas Eve No presents, time spent with family 25 th of December Christmas Day Presents found in the morning, Christmas dinner 26 th of December Boxing Day Presents for poor people or servants, charity 31 st of December New Year‘s Eve Celebrations, fireworks 1 st of January New Year‘s Day New Year‘s dinner

CHRISTMAS EVE • This day is not celebrated as Christmas day, only preparations for Christmas are finished (Christmas tree, presents, decoration of the house – more often decoration is mistletoe and holly than Christmas trees with candles…) • On this day there also office parties.

CHRISTMAS DAY • Christmas Day begins in the morning when people go to find their presents. Children believe that Father Christmas brings these presents into their stockings hanged at the fireplace or at the beds. He comes through the chimney.

• At midday they eat Christmas dinner (roast turkey and Christmas pudding). People can listen to the Queen´s Christmas speech. Some people go to church for a mass. • They have a tradition to pull out a „cracker“, which is a decoration that looks like something sweet.

BOXING DAY • It is a public holiday. In the past days people used to give boxes (money or little presents) to people who worked for them. • These days, people give money to charity. OMG! THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MY SIR! HERE IS YOUR PRESENT!

NEW YEAR‘S EVE • At midnight The English drink a toast to the New Year. In London they gather in Trafalgar Square and celebrate the coming New Year with singing and dancing.

CHRISTMAS IN SCOTLAND • New Year´s Eve (Hogmanay) is more important than Christmas in Scotland. They invite guests for dinner. They eat haggis, Scotland´s national dish (minced heart, lungs and liver of a sheep, boiled in a sheep´s stomach with oatmeal).

• Before midnight they go out, they sing famous song Auld Lang Syne and dance Scottish dances.

QUESTIONS Bank holiday is a day off and all the banks, post What a bank holiday? offices and is other institutions are closed. Easter traditions are for example egg hunting, egg Tell some Easter traditions. rolling or wearing bonnets. People decorate houses with pumpkins, wear scary What costums, do people at Halloween? or dodo trick-or-treating.

Guy Fawkes‘ Night is a British celebration of Catholic rebel Guy Fawkes, who wanted to destroy the. Fawkes‘ Parliament but he What do you remember about Guy Night? was burnt. St. Patrick‘s Day. Which is an Irish holiday, celebrated throughout the world? 25 th December is Christmas Day and 26 th of December is Boxing What is called 25 th and. Day. 26 th December? Haggis. What is called the Scottish traditional Christmas dinner?

Použitá literatura a zdroje • PEPRNÍK, Jaroslav. Británie a USA: ilustrované reálie. 1. vyd. Olomouc: Nakladatelství Olomouc, 2004, 407 s. : barevné fotografie. ISBN 80 -718 -2182 -9. • www. bridge-online. cz • http: //www. bridgeonline. cz/maturita/maturitni-temata/Holidays and Celebrations/The UK National Holidays