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Paul Sparks, Online Business English Lesson Plans, Lesson Material and Ideas for
Grade 1 English Conversation Lessons at Xiangtan Normal University...
Lesson 7 -
HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
Lesson
Objectives
The objectives of
this lesson are to make students aware of the holidays and festivals in
the UK and to generate discussion about the various celebrations in the UK
and in China.
Lesson
Activities
Open discussion
about holidays and festivals in China and the UK.
![](witch.jpg)
Halloween
|
![](guyfawkes.jpg)
Guy Fawkes' Day
|
![](valentine.jpg)
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.
![](gifts.gif)
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."
![](stocking.gif)
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.
Maundy
Thursday may also have come from the Latin word "mandatum,"
meaning "commandment," as in the Biblical words of Jesus,
"'A
new command I give you. Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must
love one another.'" (John 13:34, NIV).
Many Maundy Thursday services begin with these words.
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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