Christmas

If you try to catch a train on 24th December you may have difficulty in finding a seat. This is the day when many people are travelling home to be with their families on Christmas Day, 25th December. For most British families, this is the most important festival of the year, it combines the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ with the traditional festivities of winter.

On the Sunday before Christmas many churches hold a carol service where special hymns are sung. Sometimes carol-singers can be heard on the streets as they collect money for charity. Most families decorate their houses with brightly-coloured paper or holly, and they usually have a Christmas tree in the corner of the front room, glittering with coloured lights and decorations.

There are a lot of traditions connected with Christmas but perhaps the most important one is the giving of presents. Family members wrap up their gifts and leave them at the bottom of the Christmas tree to be found on Christmas morning. Children leave a long sock or stocking at the end of their bed on Christmas Eve, 24th December, hoping that Father Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and bring them small presents, fruit and nuts. They are usually not disappointed! At some time on Christmas Day the family will sit down to a big turkey dinner followed by Christmas pudding. They will probably pull a cracker with another member of the family. It will make a loud crack and a coloured hat, small toy and joke will fall out!

Later in the afternoon they may watch the Queen on television as she delivers her traditional Christmas message to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. If they have room for even more food they may enjoy a piece of Christmas cake or eat a hot mince pie. 26th December is also a public holiday, Boxing Day, and this is the time to visit friends and relatives or be a spectator at one of the many sporting events.

Text 3 Magic circles

The county of Wiltshire is most famous for the great stone monuments of Stonehenge and Avebury, and the huge earth pyramid of Silbury. No written records exist of the origins of these features and they have always been surrounded by mystery.

Stonehenge is the best known and probably the most remarkable of prehistoric remains in the UK. It has stood on Salisbury Plain for about 4,000 years. There have been many different theories about its original use and although modern methods of investigation have extended our knowledge, no one is certain why it was built.

One theory is that it was a place from where stars and planets could be observed. It was discovered that the positions of some of the stones related to the movements of the sun and moon, so that the stones could be used as a calendar to predict such things as eclipses.

At one time, people thought that Stonehenge was a Druid temple. The Druids were a Celtic religious group who were suppressed in Great Britain soon after the Roman Conquest. Some people believe that they were a group of priests, while others regard them as medicine-men who practised human sacrifice and cannibalism. Because Stonehenge had existed 1,000 years before the arrival of the Druids, this theory has been rejected, but it is possible that the Druids used it as a temple. The theory is kept alive today by members of a group called the «Most Ancient Order of Druids» who perform mystic rites at dawn on the summer solstice. Every year, they meet at Stonehenge to greet the first midsummer sunlight as it falls on the stones and they lay out symbolic elements of fire, water, bread, salt and a rose.

Another interesting theory is that the great stone circle was used to store terrestrial energy, which was then generated across the country, possibly through «ley lines». «Ley lines» is the name given to invisible lines which link up ancient sites throughout Britain. They were thought to be tracks by which prehistoric man travelled about the country, but now many people believe that they are mysterious channels for a special kind of power. Ley lines are international. In Ireland, they are known as «fairy roads», in China they are known as lungmei and are believed to extend all over the Earth, and in Australia, the Aborigines make ceremonial journeys for hundreds of miles along these secret tracks.

Alongside the theories of the scholars are local legends. Here is one. Stonehenge was built by the devil in a single night. He flew backwards and forwards between Ireland and Salisbury Plain carrying the stones one by one and setting them in place. As he worked, he laughed to himself. «That will make people think. They'll never know how the stones came here!» But a friar was hiding in a ditch nearby. He surprised the devil, who threw a stone which hit the friar on the heel.

Is the story true? Well, the stone which the devil threw, known as the «heel stone», can still be seen by the side of the road. However, geologists have shown that the stones came from South Wales and north Wiltshire, not Ireland!

Task. The text describes different theories and stories about the origins of Stonehenge, and about the people who used it. Look carefully at the text and make a list of all the theories. Here are some examples:

Perhaps Stonehenge was a Druid temple.

It might have been used to store terrestrial energy.

Some people believe that the Druids were a group of advanced thinkers.