Holidays and festivals

Remembrance Day

On 11th November people in Britain remember those killed in the two world wars. There is a ceremony in London, in which two minutes ´silence honours all men who fought in defence of their country. People wear paper poppies made by disabled veterans. The money raised by the sale of these poppies is given to charities involved with people who suffered in the wars. The bright red wild flower became a symbol of World War I after the bloody battle in a field of poppies called Flanders Field in Belgium.

Veterans’ Day

The celebration is held on November 11 in the USA and honours the veterans of all wars.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is celebrated on 4th Thursday in November. It is a national holiday in the USA and it was first celebrated in 1621 by the Pilgrim settlers of Plymouth colony, Massachusetts, on their first harvest. They landed in the USA in their ship Mayflower in December 1620. Their first winter was hard and a lot of people died. Next year in spring they started to grow food with the help of Indians. They showed the pilgrims how to grow new kinds of plants and how to cook. In autumn 1621 they celebrated their first harvest together. They wanted to thank God and the Indians for many things – the good harvest, their new home, new life and new friends. Thanksgiving is a family holiday. People have their traditional dinner consisting of turkey, sweet potatoes, beans, corn with cranberry sauce, autumn vegetables, cider and pumpkin pie.

Christmas

In Britain the preparations start a long time before Christmas, because at the end of November Christmas pudding must be made.

Christmas Eve – 24th December is not a special day in Britain, but on the other hand it is the only day of the year reserved for “office parties”. A lot of people spend the day shopping. Before the English children go to bed on Christmas Eve, they hang up stockings at the end of their beds and believe that Father Christmas (or Santa Claus) will come through the chimney and fill up the stockings with presents. Larger presents are found under the Christmas tree. Christmas trees are decorated with lights and bright coloured ornaments. In the room holly and ivy are hung as a decoration. It is supposed to date back to the Teutonic times when evergreens were hung to allow wood spirits to shelter from cold. A spring of mistletoe is hung in a central position or over the door. If you catch a girl under it, you are allowed to kiss her.

Christmas Day – 25th December is the most festive day of Christmas. In the morning children enjoy unwrapping presents and at midday Christmas dinner is a great occasion. It consists of roast turkey with chestnut stuffing, roast potatoes, vegetables and Christmas pudding. Christmas pudding is made with a lot of dried fruit, eggs, suet and very little flour. It is made well ahead before Christmas, boiled for hours and then heated again on Christmas Day. Brandy is usually poured over it and it is set alight.There are plenty of carols on the radio and TV and various professional choirs sing carols in old people´s homes, hospital or outside churches.