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Birthday games became popular because people used to believe that it was like marking an end and a new beginning (the end of the past year and beginning of the new year). Two very popular games around the world include Pinning the Tail on the Donkey and Breaking a Pinata.
Pinning the Tail on the Donkey became popular because of superstitions. When a blindfolded player tries to pin the tail where it should go, they don’t know if they will get in the right spot or not and the mistakes can be very amusing. People compared this game to life in that a person starts out each new year with a “blindfold” on not knowing whether this year will be successful or not.
Breaking a Pinata is a game that came from Mexico about 300 years ago and the main player is also blindfolded but this time uses a striking stick. It was believed that you will have a good luck if you are the one to break the piñata, a decorated paper-maché form filled with candy and trinkets and suspended over the players.
Giving spankings to the birthday person is another type of game that started as a superstition hundreds of years ago. A spank is, here, a playful striking with the open hand on the birthday child’s buttocks. Spankings are given one for each year and then one to grow on, one to live on, one to eat on, one to be happy, and finally one to get married on.
In some countries, people celebrate what is called Saint’s Day or Name Day. In these countries, children usually celebrate their saints’ name birthday rather than their own. When children are born, parents in these countries name their child after a saint when he or she is baptized. The saint then becomes the lifetime guardian of this child and in return, the child will show honour to his/her saint by celebrating the day that is the saint’s sacred day.
Ex. 2. Answer the questions:
1.Whose birthdays were celebrated long ago?
2.Why did people start to have birthday parties?
3.What could protect people at their birthday?
4.What are the most popular birthday customs?
5.Where did birthday customs originate?
6.What games are often played at birthday parties?
7.What does Saint’s Day (name Day) mean?
8.How do Russian people celebrate their birthdays?
9.What birthday customs (traditions) do you follow?
10.How do you see a perfect birthday celebration?
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HALLOWEEN.
reign – правление
supernatural forces – сверхъестественные силы to placate – умиротворять
evil spirits – злые духи paraphernalia – убранство
pagan religions – языческие религии
to honour all saints (all hallows) – чествовать всех святых
to condemn – осуждать, приговаривать
Ex. 1. Read and translate the text.
rite – обряд
keep out of – выгонять stingy – скупой
vine – стебель
Halloween is a holiday that comes from several mysterious religions that blended together. Europeans brought these traditions to America.
The origins date back hundreds of years to the Druid festival of Samhain, Lord of the Dead and Prince of Darkness, who, according to Celtic belief, gathered up the souls of all those who had died during the year to present them to Druid Heaven on October 31.
The Druid New Year began on November 1, marking the beginning of winter and the reign of the Lord of Death. The Druids called upon supernatural forces to placate the evil spirits, and it is from that tradition that modern Halloween gets the paraphernalia of ghosts, goblins, witches, skeletons, cats, masks and bonfires.
The custom of telling ghosts stories on Halloween also comes from the Druids who lit huge bonfires atop high hills to frighten away evil spirits. And as they sat grouped around watching the bright flames they would tell ghosts stories.
As Christianity replaced the pagan religions, the church set aside November
1 to honour all saints (all Hallows) and called it All Hallows’ Day. The evening before October 31, became All Hallows’ Even – later shortened to Halloween. The inclusion of witches, goblins and fairies into the rituals arose from the pagan belief that on All Hallows’ Eve the spirits of the dead who were against the church rite made own revels.
Other customs grew over the years. If the spirits caused no problems for a family, that family celebrated later that night. Parents sent their children out to collect food from friends and neighbours. To help them keep away from evil spirits, parents dressed up their children as ghosts and other figures that looked like evil spirits, trying to scare away real spirits. When children were outside, they heard what people said the evil spirits were doing – kicking over garbage cans, taking gates off fences, letting farm animals loose and throwing paints on houses. So they began doing these things themselves. They would visit a house