UK holidays and traditions

There are eight public holidays a year in Great Britain when the British have days off work. These are
Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day and bank holidays (in spring
and late summer) (during these holidays (as well as on some other holidays) banks had to be closed.
Nevertheless, there are holidays in Britain when people don’t have days off work, but they are still
popular among population, so I will tell you about such holidays too.

Most of these holidays are of religious origin, though for the greater part of the population have long
lost their religious significance. However, traditions in UK have not outlived yet and British support
them, so there are many ancient customs preserved in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England.

Christmas is a great national holiday. During this holiday, all shops and factories are closed, and families
gather in full force and celebrate this event, which is very nice and important for maintaining ties with
their relatives. It can also be mentioned that for Scots Christmas is less holiday important holiday than
the New Year, so they do not celebrate this holiday so violently.

Boxing Day is the second day of Christmas, when people visit their friends and go for long walks. Some
people give postmen, servants and the poor money and small gifts on this day.

On New Year, people invite their friends to their apartments and celebrate the New Year together. The
Many traditions are associated with this holiday, and it is very hard to enumerate all of them.

On Easter, the English give each other chocolate eggs, which they open and eat on Easter Sunday. This
holiday is the most religious of all now, because many people go to church on this day or even celebrate
Easter there.

Valentine's Day, celebrated on February 14, is a traditional day for those who are in love. Young people
give flowers and greeting cards to their lovers and spend the day together. This day is celebrated all over
the world.

Halloween takes place on October 31. There are many parties, people dress up in creepy costumes and
scare each other. Children and their parents often make Jack's lamps - they cut out a terrible face from a
pumpkin, in which they place a candle. Children usually go from one house to another with empty
baskets, knock on doors and say: «Trick or threat?». People have to give them something sweet,
otherwise they will play a joke on them.

Among the historical holidays, I can mention Guy Fawkes Night. In 1605, a group of men with their
leader Guy Fawkes decided to blow up the Houses of Parliament, but one of the conspirators was
frightened and wrote a letter of warning to one of the Lords. Guy Fawkes and his assistants were caught
and hanged. Since then, the British have been burning a doll made of straw at the stake in honor of this
day. In addition, many fireworks are launched on this day, so many people associate this day with
salutes.

England, like any other country, has its own holidays and traditions, and I would be very interested to
visit this country and celebrate some holidays with the locals.
USA holidays and traditions

Like any other country, United States have many holidays and interesting traditions. Most holidays in
the USA are celebrated on Monday, except Thanksgiving, New Year, Independence Day and Christmas.

Federal legal holidays are celebrated differently in different states, as the state government completely
determines how the weekend will be held: it sets the dates of these holidays and whether this day will
be a weekend day.

In the United States, the New Year is celebrated on January 1, but Americans begin celebrating it on
December 31. Many parties are held throughout the USA on this day. The main channels broadcast live
from Times Square, which is crowded with people, who wants to celebrate the New Year in the heart of
their city. Midnight and the arrival of the New Year in downtown New York is determined in an
interesting way: a lighted ball starts falling from the top of a pole onto one of the buildings a minute
before midnight. When it reaches the bottom, people hug, kiss and wish each other a Happy New Year!

Martin Luther King was a black minister who tried to win full civil rights for black Americans, so he
massively campaigned for it. As a result, Martin had many supporters (both white and black people), and
even the death of his leader did not stop the civil rights movement. As the result, King's supporters got
their way, and in honor of this, on January 20, 1986, the first celebration of Martin Luther King Day was
held. Schools are closed on this day now, and various documentaries are shown on TV, which are telling
about the history of the movement for equal rights of Americans.

Independence Day is one of the most important holidays in the United States, which is celebrated on
July 4. On this day in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia. Americans do
not work on this day, so most of them relax on nature and have picnics.

Halloween is a holiday celebrated mainly by children and teenagers. American Halloween has no
different from the English one: children also dress up in creepy costumes, make Jack's lamps and beg for
sweets from passers-by.

Thanksgiving is a religious holiday that is celebrated on the last Thursday in November. It is dedicated to
God, to whom thanks are offered for all the mercies that he brings to people. Today, family members
meet and spend this day together. The traditional Thanksgiving meal is roast turkey and cranberry jelly.

Christmas is celebrated on December 25. Originally, Christmas was a religious holiday when people
celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ, but now it has lost its original meaning. During the holidays, people
sing Christmas songs or carols. There are also many traditions associated with Christmas. The most
important one is to send Christmas cards to your friends and family. On Christmas Eve, Americans put
up a Christmas tree and decorate it with toys and sweets. At night, Santa Claus puts gifts under this tree,
and the next day (December 25), the children rush to their fur-tree for gifts. They believe that Santa
Claus really exists and lives at the North Pole with his wife. It is believed that Santa enters the house
through the chimney and leaves gifts in the socks that the children specially leave for them.
Russian Holidays and Traditions

Russians enjoy their holidays and celebrate them with a lot of food, presents and in big companies of
relatives and friends.

There are three types of holidays in Russia: family holidays, state or public holidays and religious
holidays.

Family holidays include birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and other family celebrations. Different
families have different traditions of celebrations.

State or public holidays in Russia include Constitution Day, New Year's Day, etc. People usually spend
this type of holidays with their families and friends, or they go to theatres or exhibitions, for example.

Russian religious holidays include Christmas, Easter and some others. There is also a pagan holiday -
Shrovetide or Pancake Day.

New Year's Day is the major family holiday for many Russians. It is a national holiday in Russia, on which
most businesses and public offices are closed. New Year's dinner usually starts late on December 31 and
includes Russian salad, dressed herring, sparkling wine and other national food. Five minutes before the
clock strikes midnight people watch the president's speech on TV and raise a toast to the chiming of the
Kremlin clock. After that, Russians congratulate each other and exchange presents. Some people go
outside to play snowballs, make a snowman or light firecrackers. Celebrations for children include a
decorated fir tree and Grandfather Frost, the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus who is believed to bring
presents.

Victory Day is a very important historic holiday celebrated on May 9. This holiday marks Germany's
surrender to the Soviet Union in 1945, ending one of the bloodiest wars in Russia's history. A lot of
people attend a local military parade and watch the fireworks display at night on this day. The biggest
parade is in Moscow's Red Square, showcasing Russia's military forces.

Orthodox Christmas is both a national and religious holiday in Russia. Russians celebrate it by having a
family dinner and visiting relatives and friends to their home. Christmas is not so important for Russians
as New Year, for example, so only a part of Russians celebrates this holiday.

Maslenitsa, also known as Pancake Week or Shrovetide, is a Russian pagan holiday celebrated during the
last week before Great Lent. This is a festival, celebrating the approach of the spring, warmth and
renovation of the nature. During the week Russians eat pancakes, have celebrations and every day of
the Pancake Week has its own name and tradition.

Nowadays foreign celebrations are becoming more and more popular in Russia. The most popular one is
St. Valentine's Day. St. Valentine's Day is mostly popular with teenagers and young people. They usually
buy small presents for their girlfriend or boyfriends such as chocolate or sweets and make greetings
cards in the shape of a heart.

My favourite family holiday is New Year. A month before the celebration my mother and I decorate a
New Year tree with colourful glass balls and toys, so we have New Year’s mood all over the winter. My
family celebrates New Year like other families, but we usually go out after the clock strikes midnight.
Later, we watch TV and go to bed.

I think that holidays are important because they connect people and give them an opportunity to have
fun and enjoy themselves.