British traditions and customs...around the year

Britain is full of customs and traditions that have been celebrated for hundreds of years. We have studied a few of them....

OCTOBER 31: HALLOWEEN

It is one of the oldest celebration in the world, dating back to the time of the Celts. The Celtic people had a festival honouring the dead, known as Samhain. It was the celebration of the end of the harvest season and was regarded as "the Celtic New Year" . It marked the end of the "season of the sun" and the beginning of "the season of darkness and cold".
The Celts believed that, during this transitional period, the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolved, and the dead became dangerous for the living. It was also a period when you could get rid of all the evil of the past.*

Do you know what a Jack o Lantern is? Do you know why children ask the question: "trick or treat" or wear spookycostumes on that day?
If you don't, you can read more about Halloween ........

http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/halloween.htm
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/CUSTOMS/Halloween.html



NOVEMBER 5: GUY FAWKES DAY

Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated in Britain annually on November 5th. The event is accompanied by firework displays, the lighting of bonfires and the ceremonial effigy-burning of one Guy Fawkes. The origin of this celebration stems from events which took place in 1605 and was a conspiracy known as "The Gunpowder Plot," intended to take place on November 5th of that year (the day set for the opening of Parliament). The object of The Gunpowder Plot was to blow up English Parliament along with the ruling monarch, King James I. It was hoped that such a disaster would initiate a great uprising of English Catholics, who were distressed by the increased severity of penal laws against the practice of their religion.

Read more about this very popular custom in Britain:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/guy/history.htm.

http://www.parliament.uk/faq/gunpowder_plot.cfm#gun



DECEMBER 25: CHRISTMAS DAY

Everybody knows this world-known tradition but do you really know how British people celebrate it?

Here is a quiz to test yourself: (you'll find the answers at the end of the quiz)

1 Before Christmas, a lot of British people really love....
a) decorating their garden
b)sending Christmas cards
c)reading Christmas stories

2 It's frequent to see and hear groups of people singing songs in the streets, these songs are called....
a) Christmas Ballads
b)Winter hymns
c)Christmas Carols

3 In Britain, Christmas Day is not the only public holiday(jour férié) that is celebrated, British people also have....
a) Dec. 24th
b)Dec.26th
c)Dec.29th

4 This public holiday is the day to open the "Christmas box" to share with the poor, it's known as .....
a) Gifting Day
b)Little Xmas Day
c) Boxing Day

5 British people love pulling these brightly coloured paper tubes which contain a small gift and a joke on a small piece of paper. they are called.....
a) Christmas fireworks
b) Christmas pop ups
c) Christmas crackers

6 On Christmas Eve, children hang up socks or bags near their beds for Father Christmas who will fill them up with presents,these bags or socks are called....
a) Christmas magic boxes
b) Christmas fillings
c) Christmas stockings

7 Father Christmas is also called....
a) Santa Claus
b) Holy Father
c) Good Father

8 The well-known image of Father Christmas wearing red and white clothes.....
a) first appeared in a poem illustrated by a Swedish author
b) was first introduced by the US firm Coca-Cola
c) is a mystery, no one really knows its origins

9 A traditional English Christmas dinner will include...
a) Fish and chips
b) roast turkey
c) a steak and onion pie

10 and the dessert will necessarily consist of....
a) the Christmas cake
b) the Christmas pudding
c) the English crumble

answers:

1b ; 2c ; 3b ; 4c ; 5c ; 6c ; 7a ; 8b ; 9b ; 10b

February 14: VALENTINE'S DAY         

Complete the blanks with the following words:

Lottery / recruit / each other / celebrated / cards /marriages  / death / army / custom/ wives / religious /priest (prêtre)/ mating (rencontre/accouplement)  / reign / discovered / bloody / legend

Valentine’s Day is a holiday that is (1) …………………………on February 14 every year by many people  throughout the world. On that day lovers express their love for (2)………………………… by sending Valentine’s (3)…………………… (also called Valentines), presenting flowers or offering confectionery (confiserie) . Though the festival commemorates the martyrdom of a Christian saint called St Valentine, the festival has little (4)………………………. significance today.

This romantic festival of Valentine’s day is said to have originated in pagan (païen) times in Rome when people celebrated annual fertility festival called Feast of Lupercalia in mid February. A unique (5)………………….. of the festival was the (6)…………………. of young boys and girls for a year through a (7)……………………… system.

A popular (8)…………………also associates Valentine’s Day with a saint, St Valentinus who lived in Rome under the (9)…………………………of emperor Claudius 2 . It is said that CLaudius engaged Rome in several unpopular and  (10)……………………..wars. To maintain a strong(11)…………………….., CLaudius continuously needed to (12)……………………….soldiers. But Most men didn’t want to join army because of their strong attachment with their (13)……………………. and their families. To get rid of (se débarrasser de) the problem, Claudius  banned all (14)……………………… and engagements (fiançailles) in Rome. Then a romantic (15)…………………… , Valentine, secretly arranges marriages of young boys and girls. When the Emperor (16)…………………………….. this defiance (défi), he put Valentine behind bars and executed him on February 14, about 270 AD. For his great service, Valentine was named a saint after his(17)…………………... .

Answers
1=celebrated;2=each other; 3=card;4=religious; 5=custom;6=mating; 7=lottery; 8=legend; 9=reign; 10=bloody; 11=army; 12=recruit: 13=wives; 14=marriages; 15= priest ; 16=discovered; 17=death