St Valentines Day Some facts Valentines Day is

St. Valentine’s Day

Some facts Valentine's Day is a day to share loving feelings with friends and family. It is also known as a holiday honoring lovers. It is celebrated on the 14 th of February. This is a happy day because it is specially dedicated to celebrate love, affection and friendship. ♥ There is a wide-spread custom of sending greeting cards or gifts to express affection. Every February 14, millions of people send Valentines to those whom they love. The cards, known as Valentines, are often designed with hearts to symbolize love. ♥ In the USA, Valentine greetings have been popular since the Middle Ages, when lovers used to send Valentine verses to their sweethearts. ♥

HALLOWEEN

Halloween is an old English holiday of joke. It is the last night in October. Halloween began more than 2 000 years ago among the Celtic people of Britain and France. Now many Englishmen like to celebrate Halloween. It is a popular American holiday too. For example, in New York old and young take part in Halloween festivals.

There are many legends about Halloween. The people wear scary masks of the witches and wizards, because they say ghosts and witches come out on Halloween. The witch has a broomstick and her favourite pet is a black cat. On the 31 st of October many English and American children like to have parties. They dress up as witches, ghosts, goblins, devils, vampires or anything scary. They take pumpkins and big paper bags and go along the streets and knock at the doors of the houses. Children ask the traditional questions “Trick or treat? ” On Halloween English and American boys and girls eat, sing, dance and play funny games.

One of the Halloween’s symbols is a lantern made of pumpkin. Children like to make lanterns out of big orange or yellow pumpkins. They cut out the eyes, nose and mouth and put a lighted candle inside the lantern.

There is one day a year when all Americans stay home with their families and eat a big dinner. This is Thanksgiving Day. The pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day in the fall of 1621. The pilgrims sailed to America from Plymouth, England, in September, 1620. They came to America for religious freedom. They were among the first European settlers in America. The name of their ship was the “Mayflower”

There were people living in America before the pilgrims arrived. These people were the Native American Indians. They began settling in America about 25, 000 years ago. They hunted, fished and farmed to survive. The pilgrims’ first winter in the New World was difficult. Without food, half of the pilgrims died. The following spring the Indians taught the pilgrims how to hunt, fish, plant and survive in America. The crops did well, and in the fall of 1621 the pilgrims had a great harvest. They were thankful and decided to celebrate with a Thanksgiving feast. They prepared a dinner of turkey, corn, beans and pumpkins and they invited their Indian friends.

Americans still celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the fall, on the 4 th Thursday in November. Turkey is still the main dish and pumpkin pie is the most popular dessert.

New Year's Day Observed by Type Significance Date Almost all users of the Gregorian calendar and others International The first day of the Gregorian year January 1 Observances Making New Year's resolutions, parades, additional sporting events, fireworks Related to New Year's Eve, the previous day

Specific, high-profile or common celebrations On New Year's Day, people in certain countries gather on beaches and run into the water to celebrate the new year. Ireland, Britain, United States and Australia are the most popular countries for this. These events are sometimes known as polar bear plunges (прыжки), and are sometimes organized by groups to raise money for charity (благотворительность).

This day is traditionally a religious feast (празднование), but since 19 th century has become an occasion for celebration the night of December 31, called New Year's Eve. There are often fireworks at midnight. Depending on the country, individuals may be legally allowed to burn fireworks, even if it's usually outlawed(запрещено законом) the rest of the year.

London New Year’s fireworks.

Times Square on New Year’s Eve Each year huge crowds of people celebrate New Year’s Eve in New York City’s Times Square. At midnight, confetti is thrown from the tall buildings surrounding the square Fireworks in New York City Independence Day fireworks displays are one of the most popular celebrations of patriotism during the year in the United States. This display, on Fourth of July, 1984, celebrated Independence Day as well as the centennial anniversary of the completion of the Statue of Liberty.