CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS OF

ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES
PREPARED BY VICTORIA VOLSKA
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh R E M E M B R A N C E D AY
month the British celebrate Remembrance Day. It
marks the signing of the Armistice, on 11th November
1918, to signal the end of World War One.

Remembrance Day is celebrated on 11 November. It is a

special day to remember all those men and women who
were killed during the two World Wars and other
conflicts. At one time the day was known as Armistice
Day and was renamed Remembrance Day after the
Second World War. Remembrance Sunday in held on
the second Sunday in November, which is usually the
Sunday nearest to 11 November. Special services are
held at war memorials and churches all over Britain. A
national ceremony takes place at the cenotaph in
Whitehall, London. The first actual Poppy Day was held
in Britain on November 11. Since then, during every
November, they keep the memory alive, who sacrificed
their lives during war.
Americans celebrate Veterans Day and there in Britain
they have Remembrance Day.
Easter is the time for holidays, festivals and time for giving
EASTER
chocolate Easter eggs, the day of parties, and above all a
celebration that Jesus raised from the dead and lives forever. Eggs
play an important part in Easter celebration: they are
predominantly given to children. The eggs are either hollow or have
a filling, and are usually covered with brightly colored silver paper.
Easter is much more than ordinary holiday. It is the oldest and the
most important Christian Festival, the celebration of the death and
coming Jesus Christ to life again. For Christians, the dawn of
Easter Sunday with its message of new life is the high point of the
year.
Like most Christian festivals, Easter has its origins in pre-Christian
times. Our ancestors believed that the sun died in winter and was
born anew in spring. The arrival of spring was celebrated all over
the world long before the religious meaning became associated with
Easter. Today, Easter celebrates the rebirth of Christ.
The word Easter is thought to have derived from the goddess
Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon Goddess. Even though Easter is associated
with spring here in England, it is not so in countries in the
Southern Hemisphere. In these countries Easter falls near the end
of autumn. However, through out the world Easter is felt to be a
time of new life and new beginnings.
May Day is the holiday of the first day of the month of
M AY D AY
May, But before 1752, when the calendar was changed,
it was 11 days earlier. It is the time of year when warmer
weather begins and flowers and trees start to blossom. It
is said to be a time of love and romance. It is when
people celebrate the coming of summer with lots of
different customs that are expressions of joy and hope
after a long winter. May Day celebrations have their
origins in the Roman festival of Flora, goddess of
flowers, which marked the beginning of summer.
People decorated their houses and villages with fresh-
cut flowers gathered at dawn in the belief that the
vegetation spirits would bring good fortune. May 1st was
an important day in the Middle Ages. In the very early
morning, young girls went into the fields and washed
their faces with dew. They believed this made them very
beautiful for a year after that. Also, on May Day the
young men of each village tried to win prizes with their
bows and arrows. In some places May Day celebrations
begin at sunset on 30 April. They include lots of floral
decorations and processions through towns and villages.
It all started, when Queen Elizabeth Ist took the throne of England,
BONFIRE NIGHT
she made some laws against the Roman Catholics, Guy Fawkes was
one of a small group of Catholics who felt that the government was
treating Roman Catholics unfairly. They had hoped that the next
King, James Ist, would change the laws but he didn't. A group of
men, led by Robert Gatesby, plotted to kill King James. Guy Fawkes
was one of the group. They made a conspiracy to blow up the English
Parliament and King James Ist on November 5, 1605. It was the day
set for the king to open Parliament. Before that, a man bought a
house next door to the parliament building. The house had a cellar
which went under the parliament building. They planned to put
gunpowder under the house and blow up parliament and the king.
Guy Fawkes was given the job to keep watch over the barrels of
gunpowder and to light the fuse, but he was discovered before he
could blow up parliament. Guy Fawkes was put in prison and
tortured until he told them the names of all the people involved in the
Gunpowder Plot.
Every year on 5th November, the Day of the Gunpowder Plot or Guy
Fawkes Day is celebrated. Throughout England, towns and villages
light huge bonfires, let off magnificent fireworks, burn an effigy of
Guy Fawkes and celebrate the fact the Parliament and James I were
not blown by Guy Fawkes.
 MOTHER`S DAY

Every second Sunday in May, English mothers become queen-for-a-day. Children present
cards, flowers call their mothers. In fact, the holiday's history embodies many social
changes of recent centuries. The earliest tributes to mothers date back to the annual spring
festival the Greeks dedicated to Rhea, the mother of many deities. Christians celebrated
this festival on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honour of Mary, mother of Christ In England
this holiday was expanded to include all mothers and was called Mothering Sunday.
THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION