Holidays, traditions and customs in England. English meals.

Holidays, traditions and customs in England. English meals.

NEW WORDS

Divide the words into 3 categories:

ghost, roast turkey, trick, pumpkin pie, knock, New Year,

dress up, celebrate, decorate, St. Patrick’s Day, sweet potatoes,

Christmas, give, St. Valentine’s Day, pudding, sign, Hallowe’en,

sweets, chocolate.

Holidays

CELEBRATIONS

Special food

Special activities

The 14th of February is St. Valentine’s Day

People buy or make Valentine cards and send them to people they love. They don’t sign them – you must guess who sent the card to you.

There are

different cards

to all tastes

Easter is time to give and to get presents. rabbit comes and leaves eggs for children. It is a symbol of Easter festival and it is called Easter Bunny.

On Easter Sunday children get chocolate Easter eggs or rabbits. You can buy them at any sweet shop in the weeks before Easter.

On the 31st of October in Great Britain there is a nice holiday for children – Hallowe’en

People put pump-kins on the window-sills. They draw eyes, noses and mouths on the pumpkins and put candles into them. So the pumpkins look like a face.

Children dress up in funny clothes and have a party where they play games, dance and laugh a lot.

They go from house to house and say “Trick or treat”. People give them sweets, fruit, cakes, biscuits or money.

The 25 th of December is Christmas Day. Christmas Day is a family holiday. It is the time when all the family gets together.

Little children believe that when they are asleep Santa Claus comes with a big bag of toys.

Children often hang up large stockings over the fireplace or near their beds for presents.

For Christmas dinner people eat traditional food: turkey, potatoes and green vegetables. Then they have the Christmas pudding. At 5 o’clock it’s time for tea and Christmas cake.

Christmas Tree

People usually buy a Christmas tree and decorate it with toys, coloured balls and little coloured lights.

Greeting cards.

People send greeting cards to all their relatives and friends.

Christmas card

Not all Christmas traditions are old. The first Christmas card was made in 1842 by an English painter John Calcott Horsley who sent that card to one hundred of his friends.

Presents

On Christmas Eve when children go to bed they put their Xmas stockings over the fire-place.

Father Christmas

At night Father Christmas comes. He has got a big bag of presents for children. He puts the presents into the children’s stockings.

Rudolf

Usually Santa travels in his sleigh. The Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph pulls Santa in his sleigh.

Christmas Food

For Christmas people eat traditional food: turkey, potatoes and green vegetables. Then they have the Christmas pudding. At 5 o’clock it’s time for tea and for Christmas cake.

Boxing Day

The day after Christmas is called Boxing Day. This is so because Santa puts presents in boxes. Day is on December 27. In past times it was the traditional day to give presents to servants.

Trafalgar Square

Every year there is a very big Xmas tree in the centre of Trafalgar Square. This is a present from the people of Norway to the people of Great Britain.

The 25 th of December is

a) Christmas Day

b) New Year

c) Boxing Day

On Christmas Eve

people put their

presents under the …

a) bed

b) table

c) New Year Tree

Father Christmas puts his presents …

a) under the New Year’s tree

b) in bags

c) in children’s stockings

Every year there is a big New Year’s tree in … square

a) Trafalgar

b) Times

c) Red

The New Years Tree

is a present from

people of … to the people of Great Britain.

a) Norway

b) Russia

c) America

For Christmas dinner

the English eat …

a) pizza

b) hamburgers

c) turkey

The day after Christmas is …

a) New Year

b) Boxing Day

c) Mother’s Day

3.A nice holiday for children Halloween is on…

4. They go from house to house and say…

TRUE OR FALSE

1. Thanksgiving Day is in December.

2. They usually eat meat and porridge on

Thanksgiving Day.

3. They decorate the houses with a New Year Tree on this day.

4. Christmas is on the 23-rd of December.

5.The traditional English dinner on Christmas is roast turkey and pudding.

Answer the questions

• 1. When is the Easter holiday celebrated?
• 2. How is New Year Holiday celebrated in Great Britain?
• 3. When do English people celebrate St. Valentine’s Day? What kind of holiday is it?
• 4. When and how is Mother’s Day traditionally celebrated in Great Britain?

Answer the questions

5. What is the most popular emblem of Easter?

6. When is Christmas Day observed in Great Britain? How do English people celebrate it?

7. What is your favourite holiday? Why? (give a full answer)

8. What holiday(s) you don’t like? Why? (give a full answer)

DO YOU KNOW?

What holidays do people in our country celebrate on..

• August, 30
• October, 25
• December, 16

• March, 22

• December, 31

What holidays do English

people celebrate on…

• January, 1
• February, 14
• October, 31
• November, 11
• December, 25

Wimbledon

• The last week of July and the first week of June.
• At Wimbledon in South-West London.
• One of the four great world tennis championships and the only one which is played on grass.

a holiday

When is it celebrated?

What is your favourite festival?

What do people usually do?

Where do you usually go?

Whom do you invite or visit?