Презентация к уроку английского языка "Праздники в Британии"

Holidays of the UK

Every country and every nation has its own holidays. In the United Kingdom there are two types of them — bank and public holidays. Bank holidays are the days, when all people in the UK have a day off and celebrate a national event. Those days are:  New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Early May, Spring Bank holiday, Summer Bank holiday, Christmas and Boxing Day.

Public holidays are special occasions like «Guy Fawkes Night», «Mother’s Day», «Remembrance Day», «Valentine’s Day» and so on. People usually celebrate them but do not have a day off on these events, unless they fall on weekends.

Each holiday is good, but there are some of them that are really special and more popular than others.

New Year’s Day (December 31 – January 1)  

is a bank holiday. Like many nations around the world, British people celebrate it by hosting parties with their friends and families to await the countdown to the New Year. In Scotland they call it Hogmanay and celebrate it by having a party with friends and setting fireworks off. In many cities there are free celebrations that anyone can join.

Valentine’s Day (February 14)  

is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it is not a public holiday in most of them. This day has a Catholic origin and has been associated with romantic love since it was mentioned in one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s poems. Nowadays, it’s the day of anyone who is in love. On the Valentine’s Day people usually give to the person they love some sweets, a traditional heart-shaped card (“valentine”) and say, “Be my Valentine”.

  Easter is the day of Jesus Christ`s resurrection, that is why it one of the most important holidays of the year. There is no certain date of this holiday; it is celebrated on one of Sundays in spring. On that day religious people go to church and listen to the ceremony. Usually they bring Easter eggs, Easter cakes, salt, cheese, ham and butter. Some people bake Easter cakes themselves and others prefer to buy them at bakeries. Easter Sunday is a day when people enjoy the blessed food, sing, visit their relatives and friends to exchange Easter eggs.

5th and 26th of May are Bank holidays in Great Britain. Two Mondays of this month are the day off work and school for British. They spend it outdoors enjoying the spring weather (if they are lucky, of course).

On 25th of August British celebrate Notting Hill Carnival. It is held in London and considered as Europe’s biggest street festival.

Halloween (October 31)

  also known as All Hallow’s Eve, or All Saint’s Eve, is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31. It is the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead. On this day children will dress up in costumes and go ‘trick or treating’ around the neighborhood. “Trick or Treating” involves knocking on someone’s door and saying ‘Trick or Treat’. That person gives them a treat (usually sweets).  Children enjoy the holiday because they go home with a bag of sweets!

Guy Fawkes Night (November 5)  is a firework festival associated with the tradition of celebrating Guy Fawkes’s failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. It is an annual event dedicated to bonfires, fireworks and celebrations.

On 25th of December British people celebrate Christmas, even if they are not really religious. Christmas became family holiday with Christmas tree decorating, traditional Christmas dinner and presents .