Public holidays

Exercise 1. Read and translate the text.

Notes:

Good Friday - Великая пятница, пятница на страстной неделе, является официальным выходным днем. В этот день по традиции едят горячие булки с крестами.

Boxing Day - день рождественских подарков, второй день рождества, 26 декабря, официальный выходной день. В этот день принято дарить подарки. Состоятельные люди делают небольшие денежные подарки прислуге, почтальону и т.д.

the Battle of the Boyne – битва на реке Бойн (1690), принесла победу королю Вильгельму III над войсками Якова II, завершила процесс покорения Ирландии Великобританией (по названию реки в Ирландии, на которой проходило сражение).

England and Wales. Most public holidays in the United Kingdom are also known as “Bank Holidays’. These holidays are: New Year’s Day (January 1^st), Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day (first Monday in May), Spring Bank Holiday (last Monday in May), August Bank Holiday (last Monday in August), Christmas Day (December 25^th), Boxing Day (December 26^th).

Scotland. The Scots do not usually celebrate Good Friday or Boxing Day. In the winter they concentrate instead on Hogmanay, their version of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, which is even more of a festive occasion than Christmas. Their bank holidays can also be more variable to the south of the border, with Spring and Autumn Holidays replacing some of the fixed date bank holidays in England. Scotland has also a number of its own festivals, celebrating the birthday of their national poet with Burns suppers on January 25^th, and their national Saint on St. Andrew’s Day, November 30^th.

Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has several additional festivals of its own, namely, St. Patrick’s Day in Catholic communities (March 17^th) and Orange Day, in Protestant communities, celebrating the Battle of the Boyne (July 12^th).

Besides public holidays, there are other festivals, anniversaries and simply days, for example, St. Valentine’s Day, Pancake Day, on which certain traditions are observed, but unless they fall on Sunday, they are ordinary working days.

EASTER

At Easter the British celebrate the idea of a new birth by giving each other chocolate Easter eggs, which are opened and eaten on Easter Sunday. On Good Friday bakers sell hot cross buns, which are toasted and eaten with butter. Easter Monday is a holiday and many people travel to the seaside for the whole day or go and watch one of the many sporting events as football or horse-racing.

Egg-rolling is a traditional Easter pastime which still flourishes in Northern England, Scotland, Ulster, and the Isle of Man. It takes place on Easter Sunday or Monday, and consists of rolling coloured, hard-boiled eggs down a slope until they are cracked and broken after what they are eaten by their owners. In some districts, this is a competitive game, the winner being a player whose egg remains longest undamaged, but usually, the fun consists simply of the rolling and eating.

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