Christmas in Great Britain, the USA and Russia

Content 1.About Christmas in Great Britain and the USAAbout Christmas in Great Britain and the USA 2.Real Christmas in EnglandReal Christmas in England 3.Christmas’ treeChristmas’ tree 4.About London’s celebrity ChristmasAbout London’s celebrity Christmas 5.Christmas in RussiaChristmasin Russia 6.Traditions of Christmas in RussiaTraditions of Christmas in Russia 7.Secrets of Christmas traditionsSecrets of Christmas traditions 8.PicturesPictures

Christmas is a time for Families, Fun, and Festivities! A time of family gatherings and holiday meals. A time for Santa, stars, and singing carolers. A time for ornaments, gifts, and twinkling lights. Of sleigh rides, hot cocoa, and gingerbread cookies.

For English children Christmas appears indistinctly in October yet, at this time they sit at the table and putting out their tonguage tips with effort write Christmas list for Father Christmas. Shop owners sell different thematic togs just from this moment.

The majority of building are decorated only in two weeks before Christmas. Trees in many of which the leaves are left are enmeshed in tinsel, coloured lights and different ribbons. Lawns in front of houses are usually hidden almost completely with holly and ivy garlands and with statues of Father Christmas. In Christmas Eve children go to bed right after they are read prayers and thrilling Christmas stories. But before this they are sure to leave a pie with meat topping and some milk for Father Christmas and a carrot for a certain Rudolf to receive presents. And in the morning at this unearthly hour children rush upstairs to the living rooms where everything what they were looking forward to, is under the fir-tree in their stockings.

London is true Christmas House and a cradle of most traditions without questions streets are sparkled with thousands of lights and other designed enterprises. Fresh air pricks occasionally cheeks and nose and frost changes the city into Christmas Wonderland like by Dickens. London allows feeling all nuances of festival atmosphere. All kinds of choirs sing at churches, all public houses offer special menus and some peculiar amusements, streets, squares and theatres are flooded by organizers of entertainments, clowns and with pop-groups.

In Russia the religious festival of Christmas is being replaced by the Festival of Winter but there are some traditions that are still kept up in some parts of the country. In the traditional Russian Christmas, special prayers are said and people fast, sometimes for 39 days, until January 6th Christmas Eve, when the first evening star in appears in the sky. Then begins a twelve course supper in honor of each of the twelve apostles - fish, beet soup or Borsch, cabbage stuffed with millet, cooked dried fruit and much more. Hay is spread on the floors and tables to encourage horse feed to grow in the coming year and people make clucking noises to encourage their hens to lay eggs.

On Christmas Day, hymns and carols are sung. People gather in churches which have been decorated with the usual Christmas trees or Yelka, flowers and colored lights. Christmas dinner includes a variety of different meats - goose and suckling pig are favorites. Babushka is a traditional Christmas figure who distributes presents to children. Her name means grandmother and the legend is told that she declined to go with the wise men to see Jesus because of the cold weather. However, she regretted not going and set off to try and catch up, filling her basket with presents. She never found Jesus, and that is why she visits each house, leaving toys for good children. The role of Father Christmas was played by Dedushka Moroz or Grandfather Christmas.

In Great Britain present are ordered at Father Christmas. He was written detailed letter enumerating everything is wished and this letter is thrown into the fireplace. Smoke out of the chimney is thought to supply this list right its purpose. But of course to buy gifts one should go shopping. In the family circle the ceremony of gift distribution is run according to old-standing tradition, with a lot. And the custom of sending of postcards with Christmas topics is kept without fail. In the eve Britain Mass midi as report the traffic on the principle highways to be half-petrified for the Britains have rushed for the journey. The whole family is gathered to celebrate Christmas according to the tradition. And on the 24 of December traditional main service takes place at churches late in the evening. But nowadays some Britains, especially youth deviates from traditions of family holyday and they leave for having rest to mountain-skiing health-resorts or to warm South Seas.

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Автор презентации: Кузнецова Ирина Владимировна, учитель английского языка МБОУ «СОШ с. Черный Яр»