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Paul Sparks
- Online English Lesson Plans, Lesson Material and Ideas for "Culture of
English Speaking Countries Lessons", Xiangtan Normal University...
WESTERN CULTURE AND SOCIETY: THE UNITED KINGDOM (UK) -
British Holidays and Festivals
Halloween
|
Guy Fawkes' Day
|
Valentine's Day
|
British Holidays:
Many of the holidays in the UK are religious holidays, such as Christmas or
Easter. There are also other celebrations, such as Guy Fawkes Night, which
celebrates the night when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of
Parliament in London. National Holidays in the UK are known as "Bank
Holidays."
The following are holidays throughout the United Kingdom:
Fixed
Public Holidays:
1st
January New Year's Day
2nd
January Bank Holiday (Scotland only)
17th
March St Patrick's Day (Northern Ireland only)
The First
Monday in May, May Day Bank Holiday
The Last
Monday in May Bank Holiday
12th July
Battle of the Boyne Day (Northern Ireland only)
The First
Monday in August Summer Bank Holiday (Scotland only)
Last
Monday in August Summer Bank Holiday (except Scotland)
25th
December Christmas Day
26th
December Boxing Day (St Stephen's Day for Roman Catholics)
Holidays
falling on a weekend are celebrated on the Monday following. If two
consecutive holidays fall on a Saturday and Sunday, they are observed on the
Monday and Tuesday following. Scottish clearing banks observe the British,
not the Scottish Bank Holidays.
There will
be an extra day's holiday on Monday June 3rd, 2002 to mark HM Queen
Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee (50th year of accession to the throne). The
bank holiday normally held one week earlier will be held on June 4th.
Moveable Public Holidays
Good
Friday (Either - 28th Mar, 10th Apr, 2nd Apr,
21st Apr, 13th Apr, 29th Mar, 18th Apr, 9th Apr)
Easter (Either
- 30th Mar, 12th Apr, 4th Apr, 23th Apr, 15th Apr, 31st Mar, 20th Apr,
11th Apr)
Easter
Monday (Either - 31st Mar, 13th Apr, 5th Apr,
24th Apr, 16th Apr, 1st Apr, 21st Apr, 12th Apr)
Festivals
and Celebrations:
27th
January WWII Genocide Memorial Day (from 2001)
14th
February Valentine's Day
1st March
St. David's Day (Patron Saint of Wales)
Second
Monday in March Commonwealth Day
1st
April, April Fool's Day
23rd
April St. George's Day (Patron Saint of England)
Third
Sunday in June Fathers' Day
31st
October Halloween
5th
November Guy Fawkes' Day
11th
November Remembrance Day (2 minutes silence at 11 a.m.)
30th
November St. Andrew's Day (Patron Saint of Scotland)
Shrove
Tuesday
Pancake
Day - Either 11th Feb, 24th Feb, 16th Feb, 7th Mar, 27th Feb, 12th Feb,
4th Mar 24th Feb
Mothering
Sunday - Either 9th Mar, 22nd Mar, 14th Mar, 2nd Apr, 25th Mar, 10th Mar,
30th Mar, 21st Mar
Christmas: Christmas
is celebrated throughout the whole of the UK. People decorate their houses
with Christmas trees, streamers and pictures of "Santa."
Christmas is commonly known as "Xmas" and is a period when schools
are closed for 2 - 3 weeks. People exchange presents on Christmas Day, 25th
December. A large Christmas Dinner is traditional, which includes eating a
Turkey. People also send each other Christmas cards. Due to the weather in
the UK, Christmas is normally a cold time of year, and there is commonly
snow around Christmas time. Christmas is full of tradition!
The word
Christmas comes from the words "Cristes maesse", or "Christ's
Mass." Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus for members
of the Christian religion. Most historians peg the first celebration of
Christmas to Rome in 336 A.D.
Why does everyone give each other presents on
Christmas day? The tradition of gifts seems to
have started with the gifts that the wise men (the Magi) brought to Jesus.
As recounted in the Bible's book of Matthew, "On coming to the house
they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped
him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold
and of incense and of myrrh." However, no one was really in the habit
of exchanging elaborate gifts until late in the 1800s. The Santa Claus story
(described below) combined with an amazing retailing phenomenon that has
grown since the turn of the century has made gift giving a central focus of
the Christmas tradition.
Is December
25th really the day Jesus was born? No one
really knows. What is known is that Christian leaders in 336 A.D. set the
date to December 25 in an attempt to eclipse a popular pagan holiday in Rome
(Saturnalia) celebrating the winter solstice. Originally, the celebration of
Christmas involved a simple mass, but over time Christmas has replaced a
number of other holidays in many other countries, and a large number of
traditions have been absorbed into the celebration in the process.
Why is
there a small evergreen tree in your living room?
This is a German tradition, started as early as 700 A.D. In the 1800s the
tradition of a Christmas tree was widespread in Germany, then moved to
England and then America through Pennsylvanian German immigrants. In
Victorian times, people had already started decorating trees with candies
and cakes hung with ribbon. In 1880 "Woolworths" department store
first sold manufactured Christmas tree ornaments, and they caught on very
quickly. Martin Luther, in the 16th century, is credited as being the first
person to put candles on a tree, and the first electrically lighted
Christmas tree appeared in 1882. Calvin Coolidge in 1923 ceremoniously lit
the first outdoor tree at the White House, starting that long tradition.
Mistletoe
has apparently been used as a decoration in houses for thousands of years
and is also associated with many pagan rituals. Many years ago, the church
forbade the use of mistletoe in any form. As a substitute, it suggested
holly. The sharply pointed leaves were to symbolize the thorns in Christ's
crown and the red berries drops of his blood. Holly became a nativity
tradition. The Christian ban on mistletoe was in effect throughout the
Middle Ages. Surprisingly, as late as the 20th century, there were churches
in England that forbade the wearing of mistletoe sprigs and corsages during
services." For Scandinavians, the goddess of love (Frigga) is strongly
associated with mistletoe. This link to romance may be where our tradition
of kissing under mistletoe comes from.
Christmas
fruitcakes: According to "The Joy of
Cooking" by Irma Rombauer and Marion Becker, "Many people feel
that these cakes improve greatly with age. When they are well saturated with
alcoholic liquors, which raise the spirits and keep down mold, and are
buried in powdered sugar in tightly closed tins, they have been enjoyed as
long as 25 years after baking."
Why are there oversized socks hanging on your
mantel? According to a very old tradition, the
original Saint Nicholas (Santa) left his very first gifts of gold coins in
the stockings of three poor girls who needed the money for their wedding
dowries. The girls had hung their stockings by the fire to dry. See this
page for a version of this story. Up until lately, it was traditional to
receive small items like fruit, nuts and candy in your stocking, but these
have been replaced in the last half-century by more expensive gifts in many
homes.
Why are
Christmas cards scattered all over the coffee table?
Christmas cards started in London in 1843 and in America in 1846. Today
about two billion Christmas cards are exchanged every year in the United
States.
Christmas
Carols: There is a set of songs that are played
continuously during the Christmas Season. Here's a pretty complete list:
Away In A
Manger
Carol of the Bells
Deck The Halls
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Jingle Bells
Joy To The World
Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
I'll Be Home For Christmas
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
Little Drummer Boy
O Come All Ye Faithful
O Holy Night
O, Little Town of Bethlehem
O Tannenbaum
Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Silent Night
Silver Bells
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
The First Noel
The Twelve Days of Christmas
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
What Child Is This?
White Christmas
Winter Wonderland
What,
exactly, are the 12 days of Christmas? The 12
days of Christmas are the 12 days that separate Christmas day on December 25
from Epiphany, which is celebrated January 6. Depending on the church,
January 6 may mark Christ's baptism (the Catholic tradition), or it may mark
the day that the wise men visited the baby Jesus with their gifts.
In the
past, there was a tradition of giving gifts throughout the 12 days, rather
than stacking them all up on the morning of December 25. That tradition, as
you might imagine, has never really caught on in America! We just aren't
that patient. The song, however, demonstrates that some people once
stretched out their gifts (and gave some fairly elaborate gifts...) over the
full 12 days.
Why is the
day before Christmas, Christmas Eve, celebrated?
Christmas Eve is a big deal for religious reasons, such as the midnight
mass, and also for retail reasons. 1867 was the first year that Macy's
department store in New York City remained open until midnight on Christmas
Eve.
Who is this
Santa Claus? It is amazing but true that the
common, popular view of Santa that we all have today, along with all the
crazy things around Santa like the sleigh, the reindeer and the chimney, all
came largely from two publishing events that occurred in the 1800s and one
advertising campaign in this century. Clement Moore wrote "The Night
Before Christmas" in 1822 for his family. It was picked up by a
newspaper, then reprinted in magazines and it spread like wildfire. Moore
admitted authorship in 1838. If you read the poem you will find that he
names the reindeer, invents the sleigh, comes up with the chimney and the
bag of toys, etc.
Then,
between 1863 and 1886, Harper's Weekly (a popular magazine of the time) ran
a series of engravings by Thomas Nast. From these images come the concepts
of Santa's workshop, Santa reading letters, Santa checking his list and so
on. Coca-Cola also played a role in the Santa image by running a set of
paintings by Haddon Sundblom in its ads between 1931 to 1964.
The red and
white suit came, actually, from the original Saint Nicholas. Those colors
were the colors of the traditional bishop's robes.
Who is this
one reindeer at the front named Rudolf?
The whole story of Rudolf appeared, out of nowhere, in 1939. Santas at
Montgomery Ward stores gave away 2.4 million copies of a booklet entitled
"Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer." The story was written by a person
in the advertising department named Robert May, and the booklet was
illustrated by Denver Gillen. The original name of the reindeer was not
Rudolf, according to the book Extraordinary Origins of Ordinary Things by
Charles Panati. The original name was Rollo, but executives did not like
that name, nor Reginald. The name Rudolf came from the author's young
daughter! In 1949, Gene Autry sang a musical version of the poem and it was
a run-away best-seller. The Rudolf song is second only to "White
Christmas" in popularity.
Boxing Day: The
holiday's roots can be traced to Britain, where Boxing Day is also known as
St. Stephen's Day. Reduced to the simplest essence, its origins are found in
a long-ago practice of giving cash or durable goods to those of the lower
classes. Gifts among equals were exchanged on or before Christmas Day, but
beneficences to those less fortunate were bestowed the day after.
At various
times, the following "origins" have been loudly asserted as the
correct one:
-
Centuries
ago, ordinary members of the merchant class gave boxes of food and fruit
to trades people and servants the day after Christmas in an ancient form
of Yuletide tip. These gifts were an expression of gratitude to those
who worked for them, in much the same way that one now tips the paperboy
an extra $20 at Christmastime or slips the building's superintendent a
bottle of fine whisky. Those long-ago gifts were done up in boxes, hence
the day coming to be known as "Boxing Day."
-
Christmas
celebrations in the old days entailed bringing everyone together from
all over a large estate, thus creating one of the rare instances when
everyone could be found in one place at one time. This gathering of his
extended family, so to speak, presented the lord of the manor with a
ready-made opportunity to easily hand out that year's stipend of
necessities. Thus, the day after Christmas, after all the partying was
over and it was almost time to go back to far-flung homesteads, serfs
were presented with their annual allotment of practical goods. Who got
what was determined by the status of the worker and his relative family
size, with spun cloth, leather goods, durable food supplies, tools, and
whatnot being handed out. Under this explanation, there was nothing
voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obligated to
supply these goods. The items were chucked into boxes, one box for each
family, to make carrying away the results of this annual restocking
easier; thus, the day came to be known as "Boxing Day."
-
Many
years ago, on the day after Christmas, servants in Britain carried boxes
to their masters when they arrived for the day's work. It was a
tradition that on this day all employers would put coins in the boxes,
as a special end-of-the-year gift. In a closely-related version of this
explanation, apprentices and servants would on that day get to smash
open small earthenware boxes left for them by their masters. These boxes
would house small sums of money specifically left for them.
This
dual-versioned theory melds the two previous ones together into a new form;
namely, the employer who was obligated to hand out something on Boxing Day,
but this time to recipients who were not working the land for him and thus
were not dependent on him for all they wore and ate. The "box"
thus becomes something beyond ordinary compensation (in a way goods to
landed serfs was not), yet it's also not a gift in that there's nothing
voluntary about it. Under this theory, the boxes are an early form of
Christmas bonus, something employees see as their entitlement.
Boxes in
churches for seasonal donations to the needy were opened on Christmas Day,
and the contents distributed by the clergy the following day. The contents
of this alms box originated with the ordinary folks in the parish who were
thus under no direct obligation to provide anything at all and were
certainly not tied to the recipients by a employer/employee relationship. In
this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that one
gigantic lockbox the donations were left in.
Halloween: On Halloween, 31st October, children
and adults alike love being scared! Another strange thing about the
tradition of Halloween is its unique mix of secular and religious elements.
In recent years, the holiday has stirred up a lot of controversy because it
offends some Christian groups, which, in turn, upsets many modern-day
Wiccans and Druids. Halloween is celebrated throughout the UK, as well as in
America.
What Does
"Halloween" Mean? One very obvious
question about Halloween is what on earth does the word itself mean? The
name is actually a shortened version of "All Hallows' Even," the
eve of All Hallows' Day. Hallow is an Old English word for "holy
person," and All Hallows' Day is simply another name for All Saints'
Day, the day Catholics commemorate all the saints. People began referring to
All Hallows' Even as Hallowe'en and then simply Halloween. Taking from the
Jewish tradition, Christians have traditionally observed many holy days from
sundown on one day until sundown on the following day. This is where we get
the practice of celebrating Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, etc. Modern-day
Halloween's direct predecessor is the festivity that began All Saints Day,
at sundown on October 31.
Traditional
jack-o'-lanterns, hollowed-out turnips with embers or candles inside, became
a very popular Halloween decoration in Ireland and Scotland. Folk tradition
held that they would ward off Stingy Jack and other spirits on Halloween,
and they also served as representations of the souls of the dead. Irish who
emigrated to America brought the tradition with them but replaced the
turnips with pumpkins because they were more plentiful. Pumpkins were easier
to carve than turnips, and people began to give their jack-o'-lanterns
frightening faces.
Bobbing for
Apples: All Hallows' Eve has long been a time
to look into the future, and traditional festivities included several
divination rituals. These come mostly from folk traditions from the British
Isles, and may have their roots in the ancient Samhain festivities. A lot of
marriage divinations had to do with apples, perhaps because in Celtic
tradition the fruit was associated with female deities who controlled the
ways of love.
One of the
most popular divinations was for young unmarried people to try to bite into
an apple floating in water or hanging from a string. This is something like
the bouquet toss that still plays a part in wedding receptions -- the first
person to bite into the apple would be the next one to marry.
For
children, the main event of Halloween is still to dress up and go
trick-or-treating door to door. Most households in the United States and
Canada participate, and those who don't hand out candy run the risk of petty
vandalism. Many adults even dress up themselves, to go out with their
children or to attend costume parties and contests. But a number of other
Halloween activities now fill the whole month of October.
Halloween
Controversy: Although Halloween comes in part
from Christian tradition, many Christian groups want nothing to do with the
holiday because of its pagan elements. Many Halloween figures, such as
witches and ghouls, carry an uncomfortable satanic connotation to some
Christians, and they do not want to expose their children to these images.
Some groups are also disturbed by the origins of the holiday, as it is a
common belief that the Samhain festival was a celebration of a god of the
dead called Samhain, who was a sort of devil figure. Most evidence suggests
that this is not actually the case -- the main documentation for such a god
comes from material apparently produced by the Catholic church hundreds of
years ago, as a means of converting people away from Druidism.
Christian
groups are also disturbed by rumors that modern day Wiccans and Druids
observe Halloween as an occasion to worship Satan or other evil forces. The
established organizations of these groups completely disavow all knowledge
of such practices, though they do say that Halloween is an important day of
the year in their religion. Every year there are some reports of satanic
rituals and even animal sacrifices, but there is good evidence that many of
these stories are fabrications and that actual incidents are the practices
of individuals and smaller extremist groups, operating outside any larger
organization.
Many
Wiccans, modern day witches, get upset around Halloween because they feel
that they are misrepresented by a few Christian spokesmen and the news
media. They want to separate their religion from the popular notion of
witches as evil figures in league with the Devil. They say that modern
witchcraft is based on ancient Wiccan and Druid beliefs that had nothing to
do with Satan or other figures from Judeo-Christian theology. Wiccans want
people to know that their religion is based on a connection to nature and
the universe and not dark forces and evil spells, as the popular idea of a
witch suggests. Wiccan leaders cite historical documents that show that the
popular notion of witches arose from Catholic propaganda hundreds of years
ago.
More
generally, Halloween is controversial because many people think it is an
inappropriate, possibly dangerous holiday for children. Children are in some
physical danger when they go trick-or-treating because they are walking
around neighborhoods in the dark, accepting candy from strangers. Some
people also believe that the frightening imagery surrounding Halloween is
too disturbing to children, noting that younger trick-or-treaters have a
hard time distinguishing between fantasy and reality and may be completely
overwhelmed by people in monster costumes. In recent years, more and more
parents have steered away from trick-or-treating, taking their children to
school or church Halloween parties instead.
This is a
tough issue for parents because they often have very fond memories of
trick-or-treating when they were children, but don't feel comfortable taking
their own kids out. They say that Halloween was less frightening when they
were kids because it was mostly about dressing up in fun costumes and
children weren't exposed to so much disturbing imagery in popular culture.
Modern horror movies have become a particularly sore point for concerned
parents, as they are usually extremely violent.
Others note
that many aspects of Halloween are very important to children. Dressing up
can give shy children a boost of self-confidence and trick-or-treating may
create a healthy feeling of community in a neighborhood. Most of all, adults
who love Halloween would hate to see their favorite traditions phased out,
because they remember how much they enjoyed them. At this point, Halloween
does seem to be headed for some changes, but there are many different ideas
of what these changes should be.
Why do
People Love Halloween? So now that we know
where the different elements of Halloween come from, the question remains:
Why do we revel in a celebration of death and supernatural forces?
Two related
questions are:
Why do we
enjoy being scared?
Why do we enjoy dressing up as scary figures?
All of these pleasures seem to be universal human traits, with death-related
festivals and costume parades popping up in many cultures. As human beings,
we are acutely aware of our own mortality and death in general. Human
cultures are obsessed with death because we cannot possibly understand it,
yet it looms over everything we do. It is one of the most frightening
mysteries we face in life. One way to feel more comfortable with this
unknown realm is to make light of it with a festival. This brings all the
frightening ideas out in the open, where we can work through our fears more
comfortably, enjoying ourselves with other people instead of contemplating
mortality on our own.
In addition
to working through uneasiness about death and supernatural mysteries, people
like to feel frightened for purely biological reasons. When we watch a scary
movie or take a ride on a roller coaster, our body releases adrenaline and
other hormones because it thinks we are in some danger and we need extra
energy do deal with the situation. When you're actually in danger, of
course, you don't enjoy the feeling of these hormones, you simply use them
to fight, escape or take some other action. When the danger is simulated,
though, your mind knows you're actually safe and you enjoy the energy the
hormones give you. Intentional, contained fear is fun for most people
because it gives us a hormone rush and helps us work through our general
fears in a safe environment.
By dressing
up as our fears, we embrace them even more closely, taking control of them
to some extent. This can be particularly effective with children. They
usually don't fear mortality so much as they do sinister figures like
monsters and ghosts. Once they've dressed themselves up as a monster and
played that character, they cut through some of the monster's mystery,
making it less ominous.
Trick-or-treating
is not all about dressing up as frightening figures, of course. Just as
often, children dress as a favorite cartoon character or a future
occupation. The pleasure in this is simply play-acting -- kids look forward
to Halloween because they get to inhabit a character, whether it be a
frightening figure or an idolized superhero. Adults enjoy dressing up for
similar reasons, and this is why the masquerade plays a part in so many
festivals from different cultures. Putting on a mask lets people drop their
inhibitions and step outside of themselves for an evening. People in
costumes often say and do things they would be very hesitant to say or do in
their everyday life. It's very satisfying to step into another character for
a while, even for a serious grown-up.
Halloween
obviously serves a valuable function for many children and adults. It
continues to be so popular because it fills our basic need to address the
mysteries that frighten us, and even celebrate these mysteries. It is a real
testament to the power of Halloween traditions that they have been passed
down and embraced by so many generations.
Easter: Commercial
Easter Celebrations: In addition to the religious celebrations and
observances of Easter, many countries also celebrate Easter with sweets and
baked goods. Eggs, a traditional symbol of new life, are hard-boiled and
dyed. Chocolate candies of all shapes and sizes are bought. Cakes and breads
are baked and carefully decorated. And in many homes, families celebrate
Easter with a gathering of family for an elaborate Easter dinner.
Easter Eggs
The Easter
Bunny: Chocolate eggs (and bunnies) are popular
Easter treats these days. Rabbits are a powerful symbol of fertility and new
life, and therefore, of Easter. The Easter Bunny, like Santa Claus, has
become a popular children's character. But it may be that the Easter Bunny
is something of a historical mistake. Hares were sacred to the pagan
festival of Eostre. At some point, the hare was replaced by the rabbit (some
say that this is because it is difficult to tell hares and rabbits, both
long-eared mammals, apart).
Hot Cross
Buns: According to the book Dates and Meanings
of Religious & Other Festivals," hot cross buns "... used to
be kept specially for Good Friday with the symbolism of the cross, although
it is thought that they originated in pagan times with the bun representing
the moon and its four quarters."
The custom
of eating hot cross buns goes back to pre-Christian times, when pagans
offered their god, Zeus, a cake baked in the form of a bull, with a cross
upon it to represent its horns. Throughout the centuries, hot cross buns
were made and eaten every Good Friday, and it was thought that they had
miraculous curative powers. People hung buns from their kitchen ceilings to
protect their households from evil for the year to come. Good Friday bread
and buns were said never to go moldy. This was probably because the buns
were baked so hard that there was no moisture left in the mixture for the
mold to live on. Hot cross buns and bread baked on Good Friday were used in
powdered form to treat all sorts of illnesses.
Shrove
Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Lent: If you live
outside the UK, you probably haven't heard of Shrove Tuesday. But you
probably know it by its other name, Mardi Gras. Pancakes were originally
eaten on Shrove Tuesday -- the Tuesday before Lent -- to use up eggs and fat
before the fast of Lent. Today, these pancakes are generally made of eggs,
milk and flour. The word "shrove" comes from "shrive,"
meaning "the confessions of sins" -- something done in preparation
for Lent.
Ash
Wednesday is a day of fasting that gets its name from the practice of
sprinkling ashes over those engaging in the fast of Lent. Has anyone ever
apologized to you by saying, "Let me put on my ashes and
sackcloth..."? This is where that saying originated. Those wishing to
receive the sacrament of penance were known as "penitents." They
wore sackcloth and were required to remain apart from the Christian
community until Maundy Thursday. This practice fell into disuse during the
eighth, ninth and 10th centuries, when the beginning of Lent was symbolized
by placing ashes on the heads of the entire congregation.
Today,
Christians have a cross put on their forehead in ashes. The ashes are
usually made from the previous year's blessed palm fronds from Palm Sunday,
and are usually wet with holy water before being used.
The name
Lent comes from the Middle English "lenten," meaning
"spring." Lent signifies 40 days of fasting in order to imitate
the fast of Jesus Christ after his baptism (the Epiphany). Lent begins on
Ash Wednesday, 46 days before Easter Sunday, when it ends.
Palm Sunday:
Palm Sunday is the sixth and final Sunday of Lent. In many churches, it is
the beginning of Holy Week, a week of observances leading up to Easter
Sunday. Palm Sunday occurs one week before Easter and marks Jesus' entry
into Jerusalem when his supporters waved palm fronds to celebrate his
arrival. Today, many people use the ashes from palm fronds used on the
previous year's Palm Sunday to mark a cross on the forehead of penitents on
Ash Wednesday.
Maundy
Thursday: The word "maundy" may have
come from the maund (or mand) basket used by the fishermen in the English
counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Centuries ago, there was a fair held on
this day in Norwich (Norfolk), at which vendors sold horses, cattle and
general merchandise. Some of the fisher-folk brought their maund baskets
filled with items to sell, including fish. Clothing and hats were sold, as
it was customary to buy a new item of clothing for Easter Sunday. This may
well have been the origin of the Easter bonnet and the notion of wearing new
spring attire for Easter.
Good
Friday: The Friday before Easter is called Good
Friday, and is a somber observance of Christ's crucifixion on the cross.
Christians believe that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross made it
possible for them to know peace with God. They wanted to celebrate their
peace rather than observe Friday as a day of mourning or sadness.
The name
may also be derived from God's Day, since in the first two centuries, the
word "good" would only ever have been used as a description for
God. The Saxons and Danes called this day Long Friday, and Good Friday in
Danish is Langfreday.
Easter
Sunday: Easter Sunday celebrates Jesus'
resurrection. Along with Christmas, Easter is considered one of the oldest
and most joyous days on the Christian calendar. Religious services and other
Easter celebrations vary throughout the regions of the world and even from
country to country. In the United States, many "sunrise services"
are held outside on Easter morning. These early services are symbolic of the
empty tomb that was found early that Sunday morning and of Jesus' arrival in
Jerusalem before sunrise on the Sunday of his resurrection.
"'Do
not be alarmed,' he said. 'You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was
crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid
him.'" (Mark 16:6, NIV)
It is important to understand that Easter was not celebrated or mentioned in
the Bible. Rather, the three days from Good Friday through Easter Sunday has
become a traditional observance of when Christians believe that the
crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Christ occurred.
Valentines Day:
It's not difficult to figure out the connection between the heart and
Valentine's Day. The heart, after all, was thought in ancient times to be
the source of all emotions. It later came to be associated only with the
emotion of love. (Today, we know that the heart is, basically, the pump that
keeps blood flowing through our bodies!) It's not clear when the valentine
heart shape became the symbol for the heart (we all know the heart isn't
really shaped like that). Some scholars speculate that the heart symbol as
we use it to signify romance or love came from early attempts by people to
draw an organ they'd never seen. Anyway, here are some of the other
valentine symbols and their origins:
Red roses
were said to be the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love;
also, red is a color that signifies strong feelings.
Lace has
long been used to make women's handkerchiefs. Hundreds of years ago, if a
woman dropped her handkerchief, a man might pick it up for her. Sometimes,
if she had her eye on the right man, a woman might intentionally drop her
handkerchief to encourage him. So, people began to think of romance when
they thought of lace.
Love knots
have series of winding and interlacing loops with no beginning and no end. A
symbol of everlasting love, love knots were made from ribbon or drawn on
paper.
Lovebirds, colorful birds found in Africa, are so named because they sit
closely together in pairs -- like sweethearts do! Doves are symbols of
loyalty and love, because they mate for life and share the care of their
babies.
How about
the "X" sign representing a kiss? This tradition started with the
Medieval practice of allowing those who could not write to sign documents
with an "X". This was done before witnesses, and the signer placed
a kiss upon the "X" to show sincerity. This is how the kiss came
to be synonymous with the letter "X", and how the "X"
came to be commonly used at the end of letters as kiss symbols. (Some
believed "X" was chosen as a variation on the cross symbol, while
others believe it might have been a pledge in the name of Christ, since the
"X" or Chi symbol, is the second letter of the Greek alphabet and
has been used in church history to represent Christ.)
There's
some controversy regarding Saint Valentine, for whom the famous day is
named. Archaeologists, who unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church
dedicated to St. Valentine, are not sure if there was one Valentine or more!
Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named
Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred on Feb. 14 -- at least
two of those in Italy during the 3rd century.) The most popular candidate
for St. Valentine was a 3rd century Roman priest who practiced Christianity
and performed secret marriages against direct orders from Emperor Claudius
II, who believed single soldiers were more likely to join his army. Legend
has it that Valentine sent a friend (the jailer's daughter) a note signed
"From Your Valentine" before he was executed on Feb. 14 in 270
A.D. (That phrase is still used prominently on today's cards!)
A variety
of interesting Valentine's Day traditions developed over time. For example,
hundreds of years ago in England, children dressed up as adults on
Valentine's Day and went singing holiday verses from door to door. In Wales,
wooden love spoons, carved with key, keyhole and heart designs, were given
as gifts.
The gift of
flowers on Valentine's Day -- along with Mother's Day, the busiest floral
holiday of the year -- probably dates to the early 1700s when Charles II of
Sweden brought the Persian poetical art called "the language of
flowers" to Europe. Throughout the 18th century, floral lexicons were
published, allowing secrets to be exchanged with a lily or lilac, and entire
conversations to take place in a bouquet of flowers. The more popular the
flower, the more traditions and meanings have been associated with it. The
rose, representing love, is probably the only flower with a meaning that is
universally understood. The red rose remains the most popular flower bought
by men in the United States for their sweethearts. In more recent years,
people have sent their sweethearts their favorite flowers, rather than
automatically opting for roses. Also making the list of valentine favorites
are tulips, lilies, daisies and carnations.
Among early
valentine gifts were candies, usually chocolates, in heart-shaped boxes.
Companies like Godiva Chocolatiers have made high quality chocolate in
artistic designs and elegant wrappings a traditional valentine's gift. (If
you're a chocolate connoisseur, check out Godiva's chocolate glossary and
try a few of their Valentine's Day recipes!)
Apparently,
gifts of chocolates and flowers haven't replaced carefully chosen cards on
Valentine's Day. Since 1915, Hallmark, the undisputed leader of the greeting
card industry, has manufactured cards to be mailed in envelopes. Founder
Joyce Hall started selling greeting postcards from two shoe boxes as early
as 1910. The Norfolk, Neb., teenager with the big ideas built a Kansas City
business/global empire he hardly could have imagined! Today, Hallmark makes
a tremendously diverse range of cards in 30 languages and sells them in more
than 100 countries.
Some people
still make their own valentines and most parents think these are the best
kind. And if you're not sure what to write in your valentine, look at this
Web site of love quotes.
The modern
valentine card has become increasingly sophisticated, keeping pace with
popular technological advances. For example, there are cards that let you
record a romantic message, "scratch-and-sniff" cards (chocolate
smells would be nice!) and cards that play romantic music.
And of
course, you can send e-mail valentines. Some sites even offer free personal
use of their illustrations or cards. Other technology allows you to send a
romantic fax or videotape with a personal valentine message. But choose your
valentine carefully -- some people find fax and e-mail missives too
impersonal -- and not private enough -- for this holiday of love! Sometimes
the best ideas are the simplest!
Time Zones: The United Kingdom is all in the same Time Zone, however twice
per year the time is altered to allow for more daylight. The clock goes
forward 1 hour at 1:00 on the last Sunday in March and back to normal time
at 1:00 on the last Sunday in October.
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