Further Reading

1. Collins Anne British Life / Anne Collins; [ed. Andy Hopkins, Jocelyn Potter]. – London, 2001. – 46 p.

2. Focus on Britain. – London: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1993. – 40 p.

3. Rabley S. Customs and traditions in Britain / Spephen Rabley. – London: Longman, 1996. – 48 p.

4. Sheering S. Spotlight on Britain [2-d edition] / S Sheering, J. Seath, G. White. – Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. – 140 p.

*Though Christmas Day and Good Friday are Bank holidays in the UK they will be regarded as religious ones as those are days of specific religious observances.

*^*New Year’s Eve is a more important festival in Scotland than in the rest of the UK, and it even has a special name – Hogmanay. It is not clear where the word “hogmanay” comes from, but it is connected with the provision of food and drink for all visitors to one’s home on 31^st December. Most Scots take part in a ceilidh (Gaelic for “dance”) on New Year’s Eve and there is much dancing and singing until the early hours of the morning.

*^**Auld Lang Syne means “in memory of past times” and the words were written by Robert Burns.

*Boxing Day is also known as St Stephen’s Day. St Stephen lived in Rome and was the first man to be killed for believing in the teachings of Jesus. His story is told in the Acts of the Apostles 6: 1 to 8: 2.

*The day when all Roman Catholics celebrate Christmas.

*^* Henry VIII was the first person in England to eat turkey on Christmas Day. Nowadays around 10 million turkeys are consumed in the UK each year.

*A Yule log is a large wooden log which is burned in thehearthas a part of traditionalYuleorChristmascelebrations in several European cultures.

* On this day, Christians remember the Last Supper. During the meal Jesus took bread and wine and shared them with his disciples. Christians continue to share bread and wine as part of their worship in church. The Last Supper was probably a Passover meal – the meal which Jewish people share together to celebrate the time when God delivered Moses and the people from slavery in Egypt. The night of Maundy Thursday is the night on which Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane.

*traditionalGaelicsocialdanceoriginating inIrelandandScotland, but now common throughout theCelticdiaspora.

* Legend has it that Valentine was a priest who served during third century Rome. There was an Emperor at that time by the name of Claudius II. Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those that were married. With this thought in mind he outlawed marriage for young men in hopes of building a stronger military base. Supposedly, Valentine decided this decree just wasn’t fair and chose to marry young couples secretly. When Emperor Claudius II found out about Valentine's actions he had him put to death. Since then St Valentine has been considered the Patron Saint of affianced couples, love and lovers. He is represented in pictures with birds and roses.

*Theeleventh hourof theeleventh dayof theeleventh monthmarks the signing of the Armistice, on 11^thNovember 1918, to signal the end of World War One.

*^*In 1918, Moira Michael, an American, wrote a poem,“We shall keep the faith”, in which she promised to wear a poppy“in honour of our dead”. This began the tradition of wearing a poppy in remembrance.

17