Category Archive: праздники и традиции

Father’s Day is on the third Sunday of June. It is a day to honor Dad. It isn’t just for real dads but for any man who acts as a father figure — stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends.
The first Father’s Day was on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington. Sonora Smart Dodd had requested the holiday to honor fathers and it was made official by the mayor of Spokane and the governor of the state of Washington. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day when kids and adults would remember to say thanks to the dads who helped them all year long. She had a special reason to express appreciation to her father, William Smart. Her mother died when she gave birth to her sixth child. So, Mr. Smart had to raise six children by himself. They lived on a farm in eastern Washington. When Mrs. Dodd grew up, she realized what a heroic job her father had done.
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge recommended that the third Sunday in June be set aside as “Father’s Day” in all states.
In 1972, President Nixon signed a law making Father’s Day an official national holiday.
Father’s Day has crossed national boundaries to become popular in other countries such as Canada and Britain.
Roses are worn to honor Fathers: red for living fathers and white for those who have died. Many families celebrate the day by preparing the father’s favorite meal. Children make special gifts for their fathers.
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St. Patrick, Patron saint of Ireland, was a real man who was born around A.D. 389 and probably died in 461. St. Patrick wasn’t Irish by birth. He was born and raised in England until he was a teenager. In those days England was part of the Roman Empire. The Romans had converted people to Christianity and taught many of them how to read and write. But the Romans had not conquered Ireland and when Patrick was sixteen, he was captured by raiders from Ireland who took him there and sold him into slavery.
Ireland was inhabited by small tribes of people who couldn’t read or write and who practiced an ancient form of religion under leaders called Druids. Patrick escaped from Ireland, but he vowed to return. He studied in European monasteries and after several years was sent back to Ireland as a bishop. There he spent the rest of his life teaching the people of Ireland to read and write while converting them to Christianity.
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Easter is the holiest day of the year for Christians. It celebrates their belief in the resurrection, or the rising from the dead, of Jesus Christ. Easter is always observed on a Sunday in the spring, but its date varies.
The week before Easter Sunday is known as Holy Week. Palm Sunday recalls the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem shortly before his death. Holy Thursday marks the Last Supper of Jesus with his followers. Good Friday remembers the crucifixion, when Jesus was killed by being nailed to a cross. The Monday after Easter Sunday is called Easter Monday.
Easter is a very old festival. In pre-Christian times people used to celebrate the start of spring and ‘new life’. The word ‘Easter’ comes from the name of a pre-Christian goddess called Eostre.
According to legend, Eostre was a playful goddess whose reign began in the spring when the Sun King travelled across the sky in his chariot, bringing the end of winter. Eostre came down to earth then, appearing as a beautiful girl with a basket of bright colorful eggs.
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We are shaped and fashioned by what we love. (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)

St Valentine’s Day is the day for exchanging love messages, chocolates, roses, and promises.
Nowadays it is celebrated all over the world and millions of people receive Valentine cards on February 14th. Originally, Valentine cards were only sent by men to women.
The oldest existing Valentine card can be found in the British Museum. It was sent in 1415.
Your heart beats faster when you are in love. This is why the heart is considered to be the centre of our emotions and is always used to illustrate love.
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“Why not have fun and help people at the same time?”
For one day every two years, Britain goes crazy. People all over the country (even police officers and teachers) wear red noses and do silly things. It’s Red Nose Day — the day when doing really stupid things can raise loads of money for charity.
British comic Lenny Henry came up with the idea. Other comics liked it and in 1985 a special organization — Comic Relief — was set up. Comic Relief involves the public and celebrities in fun events and charity.
The symbol of Red Nose Day is the clown nose. Each year a different red nose is sold. Since 1985 there have been all kinds of noses: boring plain ones, the ones that looked like faces, then the ones that squeaked, then the ones that changed colour when they got hot, then the ones that stuck their tongues out when squeezed…
Buying a red nose is one of the ways of giving money to Comic Relief.
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Many people are superstitious and there are a lot of superstitions connected with Christmas and New Year’s Day. Most of them appeared in long-ago times. It was before the arrival of Christianity in Europe.

Christmas superstitions
If the wind is blowing on Christmas Day, you are in for a good year.
If you want to have good health throughout the next year, eat an apple on Christmas Eve.
If you want to be happy, eat Christmas pudding on Christmas Day.
If you wear new shoes on Christmas Day, it will bring you bad luck.
If you refuse a mince pie at Christmas dinner, you will have bad luck for the coming day.
If you cut a mince pie, you’ll “cut your luck” too.
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Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Day is one of the most popular festivals in Great Britain. It commemorates the discovery of the co-called Gunpowder Plot, and is widely celebrated throughout the country. On the fifth of November boys and girls get an old suit or maybe an old pair of dad’s pants and an old jacket and stuff them with straw or newspapers. Then they make a villainous-looking head. If they can get a hat, they put that on too. The dummy is called a Guy.
The children then march their Guy through the streets asking people for money: “A penny for the Guy, mister?” If they collect enough money, they go and buy fireworks — rockets, and sparklers and the like.
As soon as it gets dark, everyone, children and adults, make a huge bonfire and burn the dummy on it.
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