CONTENTS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Introduction

    The  theme of this course work is Customs and Holidays in Great Britain

    The aim of the course work is to describe in details customs and holidays of Britain. Some of them are very beautiful colourful. Others are curious, sometimes funny. All of this will present in following pages of this course work.

       Actuality of this theme is igronce foreigners the  traditions and  holidays of Great Britain.

    The object of this course work are customs and holidays in Great Britian. Every country and every nation has own holidays and customs. It's very important to know holidays and customs of other countries. It helps to know more about the history and line of different nations.

      Subject :

Customs and holidays in Great Britain

    The tasks :

To gather  the material

Analyze  the gathered materials

To give information about Customs and holidays in Great Britain.

    Methods:

Analysis, observation .

    Structure:

The course work consists of introduction, body, conclusion. 

Chapter I Holidays in Great Britain

1.1 The History of the Great Britain

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) is located on the British Isles. The British Isles consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and about five thousand small islands. Their total area is over 244 000 square kilometers.  The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are, respectively, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. Great Britain itself  consists of England, Scotland and Wales and does not include Northern Ireland. The capital of UK is London.

    London is political, economic, culture and commercial center of the country. It’s one of the largest cities in the world and in Europe. The population of London is estimated to be over 8 million inhabitants.

    The British isles are separated from the European continent by the North Sea and the English channel. The western coast of Great Britain is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.

    The landscape of the British Isles varies from plains to mountains. The north of Scotland is mountainous and is called Highlands, while the south, which has beautiful valleys and plains, is called Lowlands. The north and west of England are mountainous, but all the rest - east, center and southeast - is a vast plain.

    There are a lot of rivers in GB, but they are not very long. The Severn is the longest river, while the Thames is the deepest and - economically - the most important one.

    The total population of the UK is over 57 million and about 80% of it is urban. The UK is highly developed country in both industrial and economical aspects. It’s known as one of world’s largest producers and exporters of machinery, electronics, textile, aircraft and navigation equipment.

    Politically, the UK is a constitutional monarchy. In law, the Head of State is the Queen, but in practice, the Queen reigns but does not possess real power. The country is ruled by the elected government with the Primer Minister at the head, while the necessary legislative background is provided by the British Parliament which consists of two chambers : the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

    Obviously, the history of the Great Britain is not framed within the period from 1558 to nowadays which is surveyed in this paper. Still, due to the limited volume, the author has to leave alone everything that happened by the sixteenth century, starting from the Roman invasion and ending with the pre-Elizabethan period, and describing only those events which seem to be essential for understanding of the general course of development of the country.

    Many researchers believe that there has been no greater period in English history than the reign of Elizabeth, who was proclaimed queen in 1558.

    At this time the most critical question in England was that of religion. In 1558 a large proportion of English people were still indifferent in religious matters, and the power of the crown was very great. It was quite possible, therefore, for the ruler to control the form which the religious organisation of the people should take. Elizabeth chose her own ministers, and with then exerted so much pressure over Parliament that almost any laws that she wanted could be carried through.

    She and her ministers settled upon a middle course going back in all matters of church government to the system of Henry VIII. To carry out this arrangement two important laws, known as the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity, were passed by Parliament. According to these laws, the regulation of the English Church in matters of doctrine and good order was put into the hands of the Queen, and she was authorized to appoint a minister or ministers to exercise these powers in her name.

    Thus the Church of England was established in a form midway between the Church of Rome and the Protestant churches on the continent of Europe. It had rejected the leadership of the Pope, and was not Protestant like other reformed churches. From this time onward the organisation of the English church was strictly national.

    The political situation in England was not simple by the time Elizabeth took the throne. England was in close alliance with Spain and at war with France. Elizabeth managed to make peace with France, which was vitally necessary for England: her navy was in bad condition, troops few and poorly equipped, and treasury empty.

    One of the most significant internal problems of England during that period was pauperism, since the changes, rebellions and disorders of the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I had left much distress and confusion among people. Many men were out of work, prices were high and wages low, trade irregular. In one field, however, there was a great success. The restoration of the coinage took place; the old debased currency had been recoined to the new standards. This was one of the most beneficial actions of the long reign of Elizabeth. Also, in 1563 a long act for the regulation of labor was passed. It was known as the Statute of Apprentices and settled, among others, an approximate twelve-hour day of labour.

    The rivalry among Elizabeth and her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots became another chief political affair of sixteenth century, which finally led to Mary’s long imprisonment and execution. In 1588 the war with Spain broke out. The most significant battle (and of historical meaning) of that conflict was the navy one. On July 30, 1588, the Invincible Armada of the Spanish was almost completely destroyed by much smaller fleet of the British under Lord Howard of Effingham command (although it’s been assumed that the great deal of success in the battle was brought by the terrible storm that swept away the large part of the Spanish fleet).

    The last ten years of Elizabeth’s reign were a period of more settled conditions and greater interest in the arts of peace, in the progress of commerce, and in the production and enjoyment of works of literature. The reign of Elizabeth revealed several quite gifted and talanted English people who did a lot to widen the influence of England. Probably the most famous of them was Sir Francis Drake. The first one, n\being a corsair and a sea captain in Elizabeth’s service, leaded a number of sea expeditions, mainly in Atlantic and Pacific oceans, bringing a lot of new knowledge of the world, and discovered a sound, later named after him.

    In cultural aspect, the real crown of the age was the Elizabethan literature, with such bright writers as William Shakespeare, Philipp Sidney and Edmund Spencer.

1.2 Cultural Life in Great Britain

    Artistic and cultural life in Britain is rather rich, like in most of the European countries. It has passed several main stages in its development.

    The Saxon King Alfred encouraged the arts and culture. The chief debt owed to him by English literature is for his translations of and commentaries on Latin works. Art, culture and literature flourished during the Elizabethan age, during the reign of Elizabeth I; it was the period of English domination of the oceans and colonies, and, due to the strong political and economic position of the country, there were few obstacles in the way of the cultural development. This time is also famous for the fact that William Shakespeare lived and worked then.

    The empire, which was very powerful under Queen Victoria, saw another cultural and artistic hey-day as a result of industrialisation and the expansion of international trade during the so-called industrial age.

    However, German air raids caused much damage during the First World War and then during the Second World War. The madness of the wars briefly inhibited the development of British culture.

    Immigrants who have arrived from all parts of the Commonwealth since 1945 have not only created a mixture of nations, but have also brought their cultures and habits with them. Monuments and traces of past greatness are everywhere. There are buildings of all styles and periods. A great number of museums and galleries display precious and interesting finds from all parts of the world and from all stage in the development of nature, man and art. London is one of the leading world centres for music, drama, opera and dance. Festivals held in towns and cities throughout the country attract much interest. Many British playwrights, composers, sculptors, painters, writers, actors, singers and dancers are known all over the world.

    The people living in the British Isles are very fond of music, and it is quite natural that concerts of the leading symphony orchestras, numerous folk groups and pop music are very popular.

    The Promenade concerts are probably the most famous. They were first held in 1840 in the Queen's Hall, and later were directed by Sir Henry Wood. They still continue today in the Royal Albert Hall. They take place every night for about three months in the summer, and the programmes include new and contemporary works, as well as classics. Among them are symphonies and other pieces of music composed by Benjamin Britten, the famous English musician.

    Usually, there is a short winter season lasting for about a fortnight. The audience may either listen to the music from a seat or from the ‘promenade’, where they can stand or stroll about, or, if there is room, sit down on the floor.

    Concerts are rarely given out-of-doors today except for concerts by brass bands and military bands that play in the parks and at seaside resorts during the summer.

    Folk music is still very much alive. There are many folk groups. Their harmony singing and good humour win them friends everywhere.

    Rock and pop music is extremely popular, especially among younger people. In the 60s and 70s groups such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd became very popular and successful.

    The Beatles, with their style of singing new and exciting, their wonderful sense of humour became the most successful pop group the world has ever known. Many of the famous songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney are still popular. Some of the more recent rock groups are Eurhythmics, Dire Straits, and Black Sabbath.

    British groups often set new trends in music. New staff and styles continue to appear. One of the most popular contemporary musicians and composers is Andrew Lloyd Webber. The musicals and rock operas by A. L. Webber have been a great success both in Britain and overseas.

    The famous English composer of the 19th century was Arthur Sullivan. Together with William Gilbert, the writer of the texts, he created fourteen operettas of which eleven are regularly performed today. In these operettas the English so successfully laugh at themselves and at what they now call the Establishment that W. S. Gilbert and A. Sullivan will always be remembered.

    Britain is probably one of the most rich European countries when cultural inheritance is considered. Along with Italy and Germany, it’s a home for many famous art galleries and museums.

    If you stand in Trafalgar Square in London with your back to Nelson's Column, you will see a wide horizontal front in a classical style. It is the National Gallery. It has been in this building since 1838 which was built as the National Gallery to house the collection of Old Masters Paintings (38 paintings) offered to the nation by an English Private collector, Sir George Beamount.

    Today the picture galleries of the National Gallery of Art exhibit works of all the European schools of painting, which existed between the 13th and 19th centuries. The most famous works among them are ‘Venus and Cupid’ by Diego Velazquez, ‘Adoration of the Shepherds’ by Nicolas Poussin, ‘A Woman Bathing’ by Harmensz van Rijn Rembrandt, ‘Lord Heathfield’ by Joshua Reynolds, ‘Mrs Siddons’ by Thomas Gainsborough and many others.

    In 1897 the Tate Gallery was opened to house the more modern British paintings. Most of the National Gallery collections of British paintings were transferred to the Tate, and only a small collection of a few masterpieces is now exhibited at Trafalgar Square. Thus, the Tate Gallery exhibits a number of interesting collections of British and foreign modern painting and also modern sculpture.

    The collection of Turner’s paintings at the Tate includes about 300 oils and 19,000 watercolours and drawings. He was the most traditional artist of his time as well as the most original: traditional in his devotion to the Old Masters and original in his creation of new styles. It is sometimes said that he prepared the way for the Impressionists.

    The modern collection includes the paintings of Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall and Salvador Dali, Francis Bacon and Graham Sutherland, Peter Blake and Richard Hamilton, the chief pioneers of pop art in Great Britain. Henry Moore is a famous British sculptor whose works are exhibited at the Tate too. One of the sculptor's masterpieces - the ‘Reclining Figure’ - is at fees Headquarters of UNESCO in Paris.

    Britain is now one of the world's major theatres centres. Many British actors and actresses are known all over the world: Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Glenda Jackson, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and others.

    Drama is so popular with the British people of all ages that there are several thousand amateur dramatic societies. Now Britain has about 300 professional theatres. Some of them are privately owned. The tickets are not hard to get, but they are very expensive. Regular seasons of opera and ballet are given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London. The National Theatre stages modern and classical plays, the Royal Shakespeare Company produces plays mainly by Shakespeare and his contemporaries when it performs in Stratford-on-Avon, and modern plays in its two auditoria in the City's Barbican Centre. Shakespeare's Globe Playhouse, about which you have probably read, was reconstructed on its original site. Many other cities and large towns have at least one theatre.

    There are many theatres and theatre companies for young people: the National Youth Theatre and the Young Vic Company in London, the Scottish Youth Theatre in Edinburgh. The National Youth Theatre, which stages classical plays mainly by Shakespeare and modern plays about youth, was on tour in Russian in 1989. The theatre-goers warmly received the production of Thomas Stearns Eliot’s play ‘Murder in the Cathedral’. Many famous English actors started their careers in the National Youth Theatre. Among them Timothy Dalton, the actor who did the part of Rochester in ‘ Jane Eyre’ shown on TV in our country

Chapter II Customs and holidays in Great Britain

2.1 Customs and holidays in Great Britain

      The Englishmen have love for old things. They prefer houses with a fireplace and a garden to a flat, modern house with central heating. The houses are traditionally not very high. They are usually two-storied. British  buses are double- decked and red, mail- boxes are yellow, the cars keep to the left side of road-all these are traditions.

      Most  English  love garden in front of  the house is a little  square covered with cement painted green  in imitation of grass and a box of flowers.  They  love flowers very much.

      The English people love  animals very much, too. Sometime their  pets  have a far better  life in Britain than anywhere else. In Britain they usually buy things for their pets in pet-shops. In recent years they bagan to show love for mmore “exotic”  animals, such as crocodiles, elephants and so on.

Queuing is normal  in Britain, when they  are waiting for bus, waitng to be served in shop. People will come very angry, and even rude, if you”jump” the queue.

      Traditionally telephone boxes, letter boxes and  double-deker buses are red. Old customs and holidays many seem strange to visitors but the English still keep them up, hich  mix with everyday life in the streets.

    There are 8 public holidays  or bank holidays in a year in Great Britain, that are days on which people need not to go in to work. They are Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May day, Spring Bank Holiday and Late Summer Bank Holiday. The term “bank holiday” dates back to the 19^th century when in 1871 and 1875 most of these days where constituted bank holidays, when banks were to be closed.

    All the public holidays, except Christmas (25 December) and Boxing Day (26 December) do not fall on the same date each year. Most of these holidays are of religious origin, though for the greater part of the population they have lost their religious significance and are simply days on which people relax, eat, drink and make marry.

          The 6 ravens have been kept in the Tower of London now for enturies. They used to come in form Esex for food cracks when the Tower was used as a palace. Over  the years people  thought that if the  raverns ever left the Tower, the  Monarchy would fall. So Charles II descreed that 6 ravens should always be kept in the Tower  and should be  paid a wage  from the treasury. Sometimes they live as long as 25 years, but  thrit wings are clipped, so they can’t fly away, and when araven dies another  raven brought from Essex.

          Some ceremonies are traditional, such as a Changing of the Guard at Bulkingham Palace, Trooping the Colour, the State Opening of Parlament. The front of  Buckingham Palace. It is held annually on the  monarch’s official birthday  which was  the second  Saturday in June. Her Majesty Queen  Elizabeth II  was Colonel-in- Chief of the Life Guards. She was escorted by Horse  Guards riding to the Parade. The ceremeny is accompanied by the music of bands.  The processionis is headed by the Queen.

          In England the Queen opens the parlament once a year, she goes to the Houses of Parlament in the golden coach, she wears the crown jewels. She opens the  Parlament with a speech in the House of Lords. The cavalrymen wear red uniforms, shining helmets, long black boots and long white gloves. These men are Life Guards.

    In the House of Lords, Chancellor sits on the sack of wool. This tradition comes from  the old times when sheep wool made England rich and powerful.

    In the  House of  Commons there are  two  rows benches: one row is for the government and the other one is for the opposition. The benches are  divided by a strip of carpet, which is also a tradition from old days, when that division prevented the two parties form fighting during  the debates.

      Christmas Day – is a probably the most exciting day of the year for most children. English children enjoy receiving presents which are tradiioally put into the stocking, and have the pleasure of giving presents. Most houses are decorated with coloured paper or holly, and there is usually Christmas tree in the corn of the front room. Christmas is usually time to be with family, to feast and to merry.

    The traditional Christmas Dinner includes roastes turkey or goose accompanied by potatoes, peas and carrots, pudding – usually a coin or two will have been hidden inside it, and a part of the fun is to see who finds it.

    An essential part of Christmas is carol singing. No church or school is without its carol service.

     December 26 is called the Boxing Day. It takes its names from the old custom of giving workers an annual present in christmas box. Today it is the day to visit friends, go for a drive or a long walk or just sit around recovering from too much food. In the country there are usually Boxing Day Meets (hunts-fox-hunting). In the big cities and towns, tradition on that day demands a visit to the pantomime. One of the more familiar pantomimes recalls the adventures of Dick Wittington (and his cat) who lived 600 years ago. He became London’s chief citizen, holding office as Mayor 3 times. Other popular pantomime characters are: Robinson Crusoe, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Red-Riding-Hood and Puss in the Boots.

    New Year in England is not so enthusiastically observed as Christmas. The most common type of celebration is a family party. At midnight everyone hear the chimes of Big Ben and a toast is drunk to the New Year. The most famous celebration are in London in trafalgar Square where there is a big Christmas tree (an annual present from Norway), a big crowd is ususlly gathered and someone usually falls into the fountain.

    Another popular public holiday is Easter which comes in spring at different time each year (March or April). The world “Easter” owes its name and many of its customs to a pagn festival called “eostre” which is the name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring-time.  In England it’s time for the giving and receiving of presents: Easter chocolate eggs – (an egg signifies the Nature’s reawakening) – and hot buns. Traditionally, chicken eggs are hard-boiled and dyed various colours and hidden around for children to find. Kids are also given eggs to roll down hillsides and the one whose egg remains whole and intact  is declared the winner. Carnivals and merry-making parades are held in many places on the day before Lent. Passion Plays dramatising the Easter story are enacted widely in England. Many families have their Easter feast blessed by the priest by either taking their food to the church or by having the priest come home. Pretzels, a kind of bread, with their interlocked shapes, remind us of arms crossed in prayer and the now famous Hot-cross buns were first made in England for Godd Friday. There is a popular belief that wearing 3 new things on Easter will bring good luck.

    There is also May Day, people choose the Queen of May, erect maypoles around which people dance. The Summer Bank Holiday usually comes on the end of August. It’s an occasion for big sport meetings – mainly all kinds of athletics. Thre are also horse race meeting all over the country; there are large fairs with swings, roundabouts, coconut shies, bingo ang other games.

    Besides public holidays there are other festivals, anniversaries and simply days, on which certain traditions are observed: Pancake Day, April Fool’s Day, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night, St. Valentine’s Day and others. There are working days, but people observe them in one way or another.

    Pancake Day (usually in March or April) is the popular name for Shrove Tuesday, the day preceding the first day of Lent. The day is usually characterized by merrymaking and feasting and eating of pancakes.

    In some villages and towns in England, there is a pancake race every year: one has to make, the pancake first and them run, tossing the pancake as one goes.

    The first day of April is known in England as All Fool’s Day – on this day practical jokes are played and any person, young or old, important or otherwise may be made an April Fool between the hours of midnight and noon. Widespread observance of April Fool’s Day began in the 18th century, in England. In Scotland, the making of April fools is called “hunting the gowk” as in the verse: “On the first day of April, hunt the gowk another mile”. April fools is an “April dowk”, a word for cuckoo, which is considered there, as it is in most lands a term of contemp, and an emblem of simpletons. Hunting the gowk was a fruitless errand, as was hunting for hen’s  teeth, for a square circle. The art of “taking people in” on the calends of April is limited only by man’s ingeniousness. Many specialise in contriving tricks to amuse others, and thus amuse themselves. At one time, the London zoo used to refuse telephone calls made on the morningof April 1, because of the number of people hwo had been fooled nto ringing up and askingfor Mr. Lion!

    Guy Fawkes Night on November 5 is one of the most popular festivals in Great Britain. It commemorates the discovery of Gunpowder Plot on November 5, 1605. it was planned by the Roman Ctholics to destroy the English Houses of Parliament and to blow up king James I together with the Lords and Commons who assembled to open the Parliament and seize power. But the organizer of the Plot Guy Fawkes was arrested and soon hanged. Now people make bonfires and burn on them figures of ragged dummy (“a guy”) made of old clothes and straw. During the day children put the guy in the cart and ask the passersby to spare a “penny for a guy”. The traditional food is toffee.

    Remembrance Day of November 11 is very important in Great Britain as on this day crowds of people gather at the Cenotaph (a war memoril in Whitehall), commemorating the dead of the two World Wars and stand for the 2 minutes of silence and the base is covered with wreaths laid by the Queen.

    On October 31st, the eve of all Saints’ day is celebrated. It is marked by costume balls or fancy-dress parties and is popular among children who play trick-or-treating game, and observe another custom-making jack o’lanterns out of pumpkins (the pumpkin is scraped out, eyes, nose and mouth are cut and the lighting candle is put inside). This is made to scare friends.

    On the 14th of Febuary people celebrate St. Valentines Day. It remains, as ever, a day to express love. «Be My Valentine» - englishmen with these word ask to become friends or companion. People of all ages send valentines, serious and comic, to their own true loves, and also to family members and friends. Valentines often are decorated with symbols of love - red hearts and roses, ribbons and laces. Since the identity of the sender of a valetine is traitionally a mystery, valentines are frequently unsinged and often are playfully addresed in disguised handwriting.

    Largely missing from today’s messages are excessive sentimentality of yore and the cruelty of the early so-caled comic vlentines. Apart from the serious rhyming declaration of love that still abound, the contemporary empasis is on the light touch.

2.2 Celebrations holidays in Greait Britian

    “Some historical and colorful customs belong essentially to a particular town or community because they sprang, originally, from some part of the local history, or from some deep-seated local tradition. No doubt, such customs, along with various religious customs and traditions, attached to certain calendar dated, constitute the soul of British social culture and are of great interest for a researcher.

    At Lichfield, a festival commonly called the Greenhill Bower and Court of Array takes place annually in late May or June. This is really two customs, of which the first – the Bower – is said to run back to the time of King Oswy of Northumbria, who founded Lichfield in A.D. 656. In the Middle Ages, the city guilds used to meet at Greenhill, carrying flower garlands and emblems of their trades. Now the Bower ceremonies have become a sort of carnival, wherein lorries carrying tableaux, trade floats, decorated carts, and bands pass cheerfully through streets profusely adorned with flowers and greenery.

    The second part of the custom is the meeting of the Court of Array and the inspection of the ancient suits of armour which the city was once obliged by law to provide. By Act passed in 1176, every freeman between the ages of 15 and 60 had to keep a sufficiency of arms and armour, and maintain them in good condition and ready for use. He had also to be able to handle them efficiently himself. Every county had to have its Court of Array whose duty was to see that these regulations were duly carried out by the freemen, and to hold periodical inspections of the weapons and suits of armour provided by them”.

    3) New studies (approximately 20 minutes)

    This part of the lesson is dedicated to the present topic: the Winter holidays. It basic part represents a text which must be read and immediately translated by paragraphs, one paragraph by every student, one by one. The text is approximately following:

    “The Christmas Day in the United Kingdom is celebrated on 25 December, as well as in the most of European countries. Pope Julius I (A.D. 337-352), after much inquiry, came to the conclusion that a very old tradition giving 25 December as the right date of the Birth of the Lord was very probably true. This date already had a sacred significance for thousands of people throughout the Roman Empire because it was the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun, and also the chief festival of the Phrygian god, Attis, and of Mithras, the soldier’s god, whose cult was carried to Britain and many other countries by the Roman army. In the barbarian North, also, the long celebration of Yule was held at this period. The Christian Church, therefore, following its ancient practice of giving Christian meaning to pagan rituals, eventually adopted 2 December for the Christmas Day.

    Many of the British modern Christmas customs and traditions are directly derived from pagan ceremonies belonging to ancient midwinter feasts. One of the oldest is probably the decoration of houses with greenery. Evergreens, which are symbols of undying life, were commonly used to adorn the dwellings of forefathers, and their sacred buildings, at the time of the winter solstice, and they have been so used ever since.

    The curious custom of kissing under the mistletoe seems to be altogether English in origin, and to appear in other European countries only when Englishmen have taken it there. It has almost vanished nowdays, but can still be met in the northern regions of England. The  kissing bough, the lovely garland that used to hang from the ceiling of the living room in so many houses before the coming of the Christmas tree, had a bunch of mistletoe attached to its base. It was a crown, or a globe, of greenery, adorned with lighted candles, red apples, rosettes and ribbons, with the mistletoe hanging below. Sometimes small presents were suspended from it. The Christmas tree surepceeded it in many homes in the middle of the nineteenth century, but it never faded away altogether.

    The Christmas tree came originally from Germany and went to America with German settlers before it reached the British Isles in the first half of nineteenth century. The first Christmas tree in Britain is believed to be set up at a children party in 1821. By 1840 the custom became quite well-known in Manchester, but what really established the Christmas tree and made it one of the British cherished Christmas customs was the setting-up by Prince Albert of a Christmas tree at Windsor castle in 1841. With little more than twenty years, the Christmas trees were to be seen in countless British homes, and thousands were annually on sale at Covent Garden Market. A century later the tradition has overflowed from the houses into the streets and squares. Churches of every denomination have their lighted and decorated trees, and since 1947 Oslo had made an annual gift to the people of London, in the form of an immense tree which stands in Trafalgar Square, close to Nelson’s Monument.

    The giving of presents and the exchange of Christmas cards are almost equally essential parts of the Christmas festival in Britain today. The first one has its roots in the pre-Christian times, and the latter is little more than a century old. Presents were given to kinsfolk and to the poor at the feast of the Saturnalia in pagan Rome, and so they were at the three-day Kalends of January, when the New Year was celebrated. The Christmas cards began life in the late eighteenth century as the “Christmas piece”, a decorated sheet of paper on which schoolchildren wrote polite greetings for the season in their best handwriting, to be presented to their parents at the end of the winter term. Sometimes, also, adults wrote complimentary verses for their friends. It is now usually supposed that the artist J.C.Horsley designed the first genuine pictorial Christmas card at the instigation of Sir Henry Cole in 1843.

    Father Christmas is the traditional gift-bringer in the United Kingdom. Originally he was Odin, one of the pagan gods that were brought to the British Isles from the ancient Scandinavia. When Christianity swept away the old gods, Odin’s role was overtaken by St. Nicholas, who was the Bishop of Myra during the fourth century, and who now appears in some European countries (such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland and others) wearing episcopal robes and a mitre, being accompanied by a servant carrying a sack of gifts.

    Still one should note that the pure British Father Christmas seems to have been more a personification of the joys of Christmas than just a gift-bringer. He was first mentioned in a fifteen-century carol, then abolished by Parliament in 1644 (along with everything else connected with the Feast of Christmas), came back after Restoration, and is nowdays one of the British living traditions. In the nineteenth century he acquired some of the attributes of the Teutonic Santa Claus, and now is being thought of as the essential gift-bringer, coming by night from the Far North in a reindeer-drawn sleigh, and entering the houses he visits by way of the chimney.

    Christmas food has always been largely a matter of tradition, but its nature has changed a great deal with passage of time. The turkey which is now the most usual dish on Christmas Day didn’t appear in Britain until about 1542. Its predecessors were goose, or pork, or beef, or a huge pie made up of a variety of birds. In the grater houses venison, swans, bustards, or peacocks in their feathers were eaten. The ancestor of another traditional British food, the Christmas pudding, was plum porridge (until 1670).

    Another feature of the Christmas time in Britain is represented by carols, which are the popular and happy songs of the Christian religion which came into being after the religious revival of the thirteenth century, and flourished more strongly in the three centuries that followed. Carols were swept away by Puritanism during the Commonwealth, and they didn’t come back into general favor for about 200 years afterwards, but never vanished altogether. Now, nearly all British churches have their carol service. In many towns, the people gather round the communal Christmas tree, or in the town hall, to sing carols under the leadership of the local clergy, or of the mayor.

    The 26 December is the St. Stephen’s Day, the first Christmas martyr, far better known in England as Boxing Day. A name is derived either from the alms boxes in churches, which were opened, and their contents distributed to the poor on that day, or from the earthenware boxes that apprentices used to carry round with them when they were collecting money gifts from their master’s customers. Until very recently it was usual for the postman, the dustman and a few other servants of the public to call at all the houses they have served during the year, and to receive small gifts from the householders on Boxing Day.”

    Then follows a set (3-4) of brief reports by students on the holidays that follow the Christmas season (that time which is called the Opening Year in GB). Reports are supposed to be prepared at home. The approximate variants of 3 reports are:

    -   “The New Year comes in very merrily in most parts of Britain, with the pealing of bells and the blowing of ships’ sirens and train whistles, and singing of the traditional “Auld Lang Syne”, although the majority know only some of the words. Great crowds assemble outside St. Paul’s Cathedral in London to see the Old Year out and welcome in the New. Private parties are held everywhere, and good wishes are exchanged. Some celebrate the occasion more quietly and see a Watch Night service in some Anglican or Nonconformist church.

    In the north of United Kingdom, especially in Scotland, the custom of First-footing has been flourishing for centuries. The First Foot is the first visitor to any house in the morning hours of 1 January. He is considered to be a luck-bringer. He is welcomed with food and drink (especially the last one), and brings with him symbolic gifts, which are most usually a piece of bread, a lump of coal, salt, and a little money, all of which together ensure that his hosts will have food and warmth and prosperity all throughout the year.

    In Northumberland the New Year is welcomed by a fire ceremony, followed by First-footing. A great bonfire is built in the main square of a town or village, and left unlit. As the midnight approaches, The so-called Guisers in various gay costumes form a procession, each man carrying a blazing tar barrel on his head. Thus crowned with flames and preceded by the band, they march to the bonfire, circulate it and throw their burning barrels on it, setting it on fire. The spectators cheer and sing, and the Guisers go off First-footing all round the perish.”

    -   “Another New Year custom is Burning the Bush, not very widely spread now but of great fame in the days gone, especially in the rural England. In former years, almost every home and farm had its own Bush, or howthorn globe which, together with a bunch of mistletoe, hung in the farm kitchen all through the year. At about five o’clock in the morning on 1 January it was taken down, carried out to the first-sown wheatfield, and there burnt on a large straw fire. Then all the men concerned in the affair made a ring round the fire and cried “Auld-Ci-der”. Afterwards there was cheering, and the drinking of the farmer’s health, and feasting upon cider and plum cake. Meanwhile, a new Bush was being made at home and hung up in the place of the old. All this was supposed to bring good luck to the crops.

    The Twelfth Night and Twelfth Day  - 5 and 6 January – are popularly so called because the mark the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Over the last two centuries, the twelve-day period had steadily shrunk, and now only three days – Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the New Year’s Day – remain as official holidays. Bonfires are lit on Twelfth Night in many parts of the British Midlands, often 12 in number, with one made larger than the rest, to represent Lord and his Apostles. Sometimes there are 13 bonfires, one standing for Judas Iscariot, which is stamped out soon after it is lit.”

    -  “The Monday after Twelfth Day is Plough Monday, a day of rural festivity, especially in the northern counties and the Midlands. Theoretically, work starts again then on the farm, after the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and the spring ploughing begins, but in fact, very little work is done.

    On 2 February, the double feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and the Purification of Our Lady is celebrated in Britain. It is popularly known as Candlemas Day because candles are blessed in the churches then, distributed to the congregations, and carried in procession. This custom has existed on the British Isles since the fifth century, as well as in the continental Europe under the Roman Catholic Church influence.

    The day after Candlemas is the Feast of St. Blaise, who is the patron saint of wool-combers, and of all who suffer from diseases of the throat. The beautiful ceremony of Blessing the Throat takes place on this day in many English churches.

    Another famous and well-known February celebration is St. Valentines Day, on 14 February. The word “Valentine” has a double meaning. It means the person concerned, the chosen sweetheart, but it is also applied to the Valentine gift or to the Valentine card, which replaced the traditional gift in the nineteenth century as it (the gift) went out of fashion. “ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Conclusion 
 

            Every nation and every country has its own holidays and customs. Holidays make a nation special. Some of them are old-fashioned and many people remember them, others are part of people’s life. Some British customs and holidays are known all over the world: bowler hats, tea and talking about the wether.

    Englishmen have many traditional holidays, such as Christmas, St. Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter and others.

    Britain is full of customs and holidays. A lot of them have very long histories. Some are funny and some are strange. But they are all interesting. There is the long menu of traditional British food. There are many royal occasions. There are songs, saying and superstitions. They are all part of the British way of life.