Holidays and festivals
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Holidays and festivals
There are international holidays, that are celebrated all over the world. And there are also special holidays, that are celebrated only in some countries.
In Great Britain and the USA people enjoy celebrating different festivals throughout the year. Family, food, flowers, sweets, parades, cards and parties are an important part of most celebrations.
People in Britain were pagans thousands years ago. When Christianity came to Britain, people wanted to keep their traditions, so many of old festivals became Christian ones such as St. Valentine´s day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas.
People of the United States are a mixture of many different nationalities. These different people brought to their new country their customs and traditions. The Germans brought a Christmas tree, the Irish brought St. Patrick´s Day, the Scots brought Halloween. There are new festivals which only Americans celebrate – Veteran´s Day, the Independence Day and Thanksgiving.
New Year´s Eve and New Year´s Day
New Year´s Eve is on 31December. People go parties. They want to spend the last day of the year and the first day of the New Year together. At midnight they sing an old song Auld Lang Syne and wish each other Happy New Year. They dance and cheer and there are fireworks. People usually make resolutions because they want to be better.
Valentine´s Day
The 14th February is Valentine´s Day in Great Britain and the USA. On this day people exchange greeting cards, presents, sweets, chocolates and flowers. There is a story about a priest named Valentine who helped people and was put in prison. He fell in love with the jailor´s daughter Julia who was blind. He restored her sight. He wrote love letters to her just signed: Your Valentine. He was executed on 14th February 270.
St. Patrick´s Day
St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. A lot of Americans came from Ireland. Every year on March l7th cities with a large population of Irish Americans have parades. You can see millions of shamrocks on St. Patrick´s Day and everything is green. Green is one of the national colours of Ireland. People wear something green on this day; shops prepare green food such as green bread, green pasta, green ice cream and green milkshakes. In many pubs they serve even green beer and most restaurants offer an Irish menu. People wish each other “A happy St. Patrick´s Day” and the Irish wear buttons with “Kiss me I´m Irish”. People have parties where they sing Irish songs and eat Irish food. In Britain St. David´s Day (the patron saint of Wales, 1st March), St. George´s Day (the patron saint of England, 23rd April) and St. Andrew´s Day (the patron Saint of Scotland, 30th November) are also celebrated.
April Fools´Day
April 1 – It is named after a custom of playing practical jokes or tricks on people. If you manage a good joke then you can call the person “April fool!”
Easter
Easter is a spring festival. It is connected with pre-Christian (Teutonic and Celtic) tradition; originally it was a festival celebrating the spring equinox. The Christians commemorate Jesus´ crucifixion (Good Friday) and his resurrection (Easter Sunday). The symbols of Easter are: eggs, rabbits (Easter Bunny), daffodils, baby animals – chicks, ducklings, and kids.