1. Holidays and festivals

2. bank holiday festival holiday(s)
the regular periods of time when you’re not at work or school (summer holiday(s)
bank holiday
(public holiday)
festival
holiday(s)
a day on which banks are officially closed and which is usually a public holiday, a single day without work (e.g.: Easter Monday,…)
a day or period of religious or other celebration (e.g.: Easter is a Christian festival)

3. St. Valentine’s Day – 14th February
people exchange cards, flowers
often signed From your Valentine
cards can be funny, loving, serious
first card sent in 1415
one of the symbols of the day is Cupid, the Roman god of love, who is represented
by the image of a young chubby
boy with a bow and an arrow

4. many legends about this day
old Roman priest – Valentine was beheaded on Feb 14th
the Roman emperor Claudius didn’t want young people to get married, he wanted the men to be single and free to serve in his army (269), priest Valentine helped these young people and married them in secret, he was put in prison, he fell in love with jailor’s daughter, sent her cards and signed them From your Valentine

5. Pancake / Shrovetide Tuesday
day before Lent starts (40 days before Easter)
pancakes - made of ingredients which shouldn’t be eaten during
Lent
nowadays people don’t fast, but some of them give up sweets, smoking, drinking alcohol…
some towns hold pancakes races

6. St. Patrick’s Day – 17th March
a national day of Ireland
people wear something green and
a shamrock
also celebrated in Boston, Chicago,
New York (parades)

7. St. Patrick – a monk who first brought Christianity
to Ireland (died on this day)
was born in Britain at the end of 4th century, then taken to Ireland
by a group of Irish raiders
he became devoted Christian (he used the shamrock to explain
the Holy Trinity)
he’s said to cast out the snakes from the island
about 60 cathedrals are named after him
leprechaun

8. April Fool’s Day – 1st April
it’s named after the custom of playing practical jokes and tricks
on people
the victim of these tricks is called “April Fool!”
a typical trick is to change the clock an hour later
newspapers, television and radio stations often join
in with imaginary news stories

9. Easter – 1st Sunday after the spring full moon
spring feast of Christian Church
begins 40 days before Easter Sunday = Lent (on Ash Wednesday)
eggs, rabbits, baby chickens, lambs – symbols of new life and
fertility
the Easter Bunny – imaginary rabbit which
is believed to bring and hide Easter
eggs and other chocolate sweets on
Easter Sunday
children wake up and run round the house
searching the eggs (plastic eggs full
of chocolate eggs and small presents)

10. Easter Egg Roll - decorated hard-boiled eggs are lined up rolled (down the hill), the person whose egg rolls longest without cracking becomes the Easter champion

11. Palm Wednesday Popeleční středa (1st day of Lent)
Match the days:
Palm Wednesday Popeleční středa (1st day of Lent)
Maunday Thursday Ošklivá středa (churches hold a service to
remember Last Supper)
Easter Sunday the last meal of Jesus – all decorations are
removed from the altars in churches
Easter Monday commemorates Jesus’ crucifixion – bakers
sell hot cross buns (fruit buns decorated
with a simple cross) which are toasted
and eaten with butter
Ash Wednesday commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus
Good Friday a holiday and many people travel to the
seaside for the day or go and watch one of
the many sporting events

12. in the past people used to have new clothes at Easter
in GB - schools are closed for two weeks
Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays
in the USA - it’s not a national holiday
Czech tradition - willow cane

13. Other holidays May Day – May 1st
arrival of spring
dancing around the maypole, waving brightly coloured ribbons
Father’s Day – honours all fathers
3rd Sunday in June
Mother’s Day – honours all mothers
GB – 4th Sunday in Lent
USA – 2nd Sunday in May

14. Independence Day – 4th July
official US holiday – celebrates the nation’s independence
each city has its own ceremony and parades, band concerts and firework displays in the evening

15. commemorates the singing of the Declaration of Independence
mostly written by Thomas Jefferson and received the approval
of the ‘Continental Congress’ on July 4th
13 colonies became independent of Great Britain, thus the USA
was established
first celebrated in 1777

16. Halloween – 31st October
also called the Eve of all Saint’s Day, All Hallows
more typical for the USA than Britain
Celtic origin, last day of the year and the beginning of winter
traditionally people believed that ghosts could be seen
a night of traditional fun and games, people give parties, the guests wear fancy costumes and masks of ghosts, witches, skeletons,…
rooms are decorated with paper moons, witches, ghosts…

17. jack-o’-lantern is lit to ward off witches and evil spirits
“trick or treat” - kids go from door to door
people treat the children with sweets, fruits and money, if they don’t treat them, they play a trick, e.g.: making noise around their house, drawing pictures on their car with a soap, spilling flour on their front doorstep

18. Guy Fawkes Night – 5th November
also called the Bonfire Night
celebrated in the UK
children make a puppet – the “Guy” – with old clothes, newspaper and a mask, they go round the street with it, sing and ask people for money to buy fireworks saying: ”a penny for the Guy”
an old rhyme:
Remember, remember
the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot
Shall never be forgot

19. today - fireworks and bonfires (to
Guy Fawkes, a Yorkshire Catholic, planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I (the Protestant king in 1605)
he and other conspirators put gunpowder in the cellars of the building = the Gunpowder Plot, but the plot was discovered
Guy Fawkes was arrested on November 4th, tortured and executed by hanging
originally it was celebrated as a victory of Protestants over Catholics
today - fireworks and bonfires (to
recall the explosions that should have
taken place in Parliament
Gunpowder plot quiz / game:

20. Christmas
advent – four weeks before Christmas (lighting of Advent candles on a wreath each Sunday)
preparation for Christmas (decorating houses, buying presents)
True/false quiz about X-mas

21. 24th December – Christmas Eve
25th December – Christmas Day
26th December – Boxing Day

22. Auld Lang Syne (Old long since)
a Scottish song about friendship and remembering good times in
the past
traditionally people in Britain hold hands and sing it at midnight
on New Year’s Eve
New Year countdown around the world: