19._FESTIVALS_AND_CELEBRATIONS

Boxing Day (26 December) is also a holiday in Britain, but many shops now open on this day. In the past, rich people gave boxes to their workers on Boxing Day, with Christmas present inside. Not it is another day for eating, drinking and watching television. Another British Christmas tradition is the pantomime.

A pantomime is a kind of play with a children’s story and lots of music and songs. There is usually a man who wears women’s clothes and plays an old woman. “She” is not very beautiful, but makes everyone laugh. There is also a “bad” person in the story. Every time the bad person comes out, the people who watch the pantomime say “Boo!” or “Hiss!” very loudly. Children like pantomimes because they can join in and make a lot of noise. They often go with their school or family.

The Christmas season ends on the twelfth day after 25 December, which is 6 January. Most people take down their Christmas trees and decorations by this date, and some people think it is bad luck not to do that.

Czech Christmas is about the same as English. We decorate the house with advent wreaths, candles, springs and Christmas tree with chains, balls, chocolates, stars, angels and other ornament.

However, there are differences: We should fast until the dinner comes (to see the golden pig). Our dinner is carp with potato salad and we get our presents on Christmas Eve in the evening after Christmas dinner. In every family there are many kinds of home-made sweets. After the dinner people unroll gifts which brought Baby Jesus.

The first superstition is fasting to see the golden pig on Christmas Eve. There are many old traditions that are kept by some families. Girls used to toss the shoe and the direction of the tip showed whether the girl would get married or not. The future used to be predicted from floating walnut shells with candles in a basin or cutting apples. Going to a midnight mass is another tradition. People used to pour lead to guess their future. They also used to keep a scale of the carp in their purse to be richer.

People believed that eating lentils in the New Year will make you rich.

EASTER

Easter is the most important festival in the Christian church year. It begins with Good Friday (=Velký pátek). The Romans killed Jesus Christ in Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. Two days later, on Easter Sunday, Christians believe that Jesus returned to life.

Easter Day is the Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring, which is on 21 March.

Eggs are an important part of Easter because they mean spring and new life.

One Easter tradition is “egg-rolling”. People decorate eggs with different colours, then take the eggs to the top of a hill and the eggs roll down. The first egg to get to the foot of the hill is the winner.

On Easter Sunday, people give chocolate Easter eggs as presents. Some mothers and fathers tell their children that the Easter Rabbit brings the eggs and hides them in the garden. The children must go outside and look for them “egg-hunting”.