Holidays and traditions in Great Britain

Task 1: Read and translate the text.

There are some public holidays in GB. They are Christmas and  Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter and Easter Monday, and Bank Holidays.

Christmas is celebrated on the 25^th of December and symbolizes the birthday of Jesus Christ. On the Sunday before Christmas many churches hold a carol service where special hymns are sung. Most families decorate their houses with a bunch of mistletoe or holly, and they usually have a Christmas tree in the front room. It is decorated with coloured lights, candles and beautiful toys.

 The most important and pleasant tradition of Christmas is the giving of presents. Children wait for Santa Claus who comes to every house and brings presents. Going to bed children leave their stockings and shoes to receive presents the next morning.

 There are a lot of parties organized by people to celebrate this wonderful holiday. Young people like to spend it together in good companies. But for the most people Christmas is a family holiday. In the evening the family will sit down to a big turkey dinner followed by Christmas

pudding. There is a lot of fun and jokes on that day.

            Boxing Day is celebrated on the 26^th of December. Boxing day is a day when one visits

friends, goes for long walks or just sits resting from too much food.

The first of January, New Year’s Day, is a big holiday in Scotland. Scottish people celebrate New Year’s Eve in every family. Friends usually come on that day. They have a good dinner. Then all the family and the friends begin to play games and dance. Before twelve o’clock at night many people in the towns go out into the streets to dance and to sing songs. In England New Year’s Day is not a big holiday, it is not so popular. Very many people go to bed before

twelve o’clock on New Year’s Eve. But some families celebrate this evening at home. At midnight they also go out into the streets and squares. In London people go to the Trafalgar

Square. In this square they see a great tree brightly decorated with little lamps.

The dates of celebrating such religious holidays as Good Friday, Easter and Easter Monday are movable, but they are always in spring. Good Friday is the Friday before Easter. On Good Friday bakers sell hot cross buns. Easter is a very popular holiday in Great Britain. At Easter the British celebrate the idea of the new birth by giving each other chocolate Easter eggs, which are opened and eaten on Easter Sunday. Easter Monday is a holiday and many people travel to the seaside for the day or go and watch one of the many sporting events as football or horse racing. Egg-rolling is a traditional Easter pastime which is still popular in Northern England, Scotland, Wales. And, of course, people attend church services on these days.

There are four Bank Holidays in Great Britain.  Bank holidays are celebrated four

times a year: on the first Monday and the last Monday of May and on the first Monday and the last Monday of August. This day is a day-off for everybody because all banks and all offices are

closed. Englishmen spend this holiday in the country. There are also great fairs with a lot

of goods for sale, with fun, jokes and choosing the Pearl Queen and King. The Pearl Queen and King are people at the fair who have the most unusual costume with a lot of pearl buttons on it.

There are many other holidays in Great Britain.

Task 2: Fill in the table.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS IN GREAT BRITAIN
Holiday	Date of celebration	The main traditions of celebration.
Christmas	the 25th of December	-          decorating a Christmas tree, -          …
…	…	…
…	…	…

Task 3: Translate into English.

1)      Різдво

2)      Різдвяна ялинка

3)      З Різдвом!

4)      День подарунків

5)      Новий рік

6)      З Новим роком!

7)      Страсна п‘ятниця

8)      Пасха

9)      Пасхальні булочки і шоколадні яйця

10)  Пасхальний понеділок

11)  Банківський вихідний