January
New Year´s Eve it´s on the 1st day of January. In Scotland the name for New Year's Eve is Hogmanay. After midnight people visit their friends and they take a present - a piece of coal -. Why? Because traditionally the first visitor of the year must carry coal into the house. This is "first footing". It brings good luck.
In Britain a lot of people make a New Years Resolutions on the evening of December 31 st. For example, " I'll clean my shoes every day". But there's a problem. Most people forget their New Year Resolutions on January 2 nd.
February
On the 14th of February we celebrate Saint Valentine´s Day.On that day people send Valentine cards and presents to their husbands, wives, boyfriends and girlfriends.
You can also send a card to a person you don't know, but traditionally you must never write your name on it.
Some British newspapers have a page for Valentine's day messages on February 14th.
March and April
Easter is a famous and religious date in a lot of countries. Easter is a religious festival when Christians celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ. In England, people give Easter eggs as a present. They are usually chocolate eggs or hen's eggs with a painted shell.
May
May Day
Traditional English May Day celebrations include Morris dancing, crowning a May Queen and dancing around a Maypole.
Well Dressing
Well dressing is the art of decorating (dressing) wells, springs or other water sources with pictures made of growing things. This ancient custom is popular all over Derbyshire and is thought to date back to the Celts or even earlier. The wells are dressed with large framed panels decorated with elaborate mosaic-like pictures made of flower petals, seeds, grasses, leaves, tree bark, berries and moss. Wooden trays are covered with clay, mixed with water and salt. A design is drawn and its outline pricked out onto the surface of the clay.
Ascension Day
Ascension Day marks the last appearance of Jesus to the disciples after his resurrection at Easter
The name 'ascension' comes from the accounts in the Bible in Mark's Gospel and Luke's Gospel that tell of Jesus being taken up into heaven - he ascended.
Ascension Day is the 40th day after Easter Sunday and always falls on a Thursday (hence its other name Holy Thursday). It marks the end of Rogationtide.
Ascension Day is associated across Britain with various water festivals ranging from Well Dressing in Derbyshire to the Planting of the 'Penny Hedge' (or 'Horngarth') in the harbour at Whitby, Yorkshire.
Cheese Rolling
Rebel cheese rollers defied the weather today to take part in a traditional race down a steep hill to catch a 8lb Double Gloucester.
The race had been advertised on social networking sites, with a page set up on Facebook and people posting messages on Twitter. Several hundred spectators braved the fog and rain to watch around a dozen daredevils pursue the Double Gloucester 200 yards down the steep - 1:2 gradient - slope.
June
Queen's birthday
The official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II is marked each year by a military parade and march-past, known as Trooping the Colour (Carrying of the Flag). The official name is “the Queen’s Birthday Parade”. Each June, the Queen and other members of the Royal Family attend the Trooping the Colour ceremony on Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall in London. The Queen attends the ceremony to take the salute from thousands of guardsmen who parade the Colour (their regiment's flag).
Royal Ascot
Ascot Racecourse was founded by Queen Anne in 1711. Each day begins with the Royal Procession - the arrival of The Queen and the Royal party in horse-drawn landaus. The Royal Procession dates back to the 1820s and the reign of King George IV.
Wimbledon Tennis Championships
One of the four great world tennis championships and the only one which is played on grass.
July
Orange Men's Day (Northern Ireland)Protestant Irish march with drums and pipes to commemorate the Battle of Boyne, which occurred on Ireland’s east coast in 1690. In Northern Ireland, it is a bank holiday. Schools and many businesses and organizations are closed. Some shops may be closed. Public transport services may run on their regular or special holiday timetables.
In 1690, William III of England defeated the exiled Catholic king James II at the Battle of the Boyne. James, who had been in France, had invaded Ireland with French troops.
Men wear orange sashes and black suits and bowler hats. Orange Day marches also take place in Birmingham and Liverpool, and in some parts of Canada, for example.
This day is known as "Orangemen's Day", "Orange Day", "the Glorious Twelfth" or just "the Twelfth". The day falls on July 12. However, if July 12 is a Saturday or Sunday, the bank holiday falls on Monday, July 13 or 14.
August
BUCKINGHAM PALACE - Open to the public.
Annual public opening of State Rooms at HM The Queen’s official residence in London.
Schools in England and Wales are on their six week summer break.
Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh International Festival presents a rich programme of classical music, theatre, opera and dance in six major theatres and concert halls and a number of smaller venues, over a three-week period in late summer each year.
September
The Harvest Festival. Every year we have a Harvest Festival in our schools and churches. Do you know why?
This is the time of year when all the crops have been harvested.
What is a Harvest Festival?
Harvest Festival is a celebration of the food grown on the land.
Thanksgiving ceremonies and celebrations for a successful harvest are both worldwide and very ancient. In Britain, we have given thanks for successful harvests since pagan times. We celebrate this day by singing, praying and decorating our churches with baskets of fruit and food in a festival known as 'Harvest Festival', usually during the month of September.
Harvest Festival reminds Christians of all the good things God gives them. This makes them want to share with others who are not so fortunate. In schools and in Churches, people bring food from home to a Harvest Festival Service. After the service, the food that has been put on display is usually made into parcels and given to people in need.
When is Harvest Festival? Harvest festivals are traditionally held on or near the Sunday of the Harvest Moon. This is the full Moon that occurs closest to the autumn equinox (about Sept. 23). In two years out of three, the Harvest Moon comes in September, but in some years it occurs in October.
Unlike the USA and Canada, the UK does not have a national holiday for Harvest Festival.
The harvest festival of the Jewish religion is called Sukkot or 'Feast of Ingathering' or 'the 'Feast of Tabernacles'. It is celebrated at the end of the year, after Rosh Hoshanah, the third of the great Annual Festivals.
October
Halloween-31st October
Traditional Halloween crations and customs in England and the rest of Great Britain. | |
On October 31st, we celebrate Halloween,thought to be the one night of the year when ghosts, witches, and fairies are especially active. Why do we celebrate halloween? | |
The easy answer to this question is that no one really knows the origins of Halloween. What we do know for sure is that Halloween is on the eve of a major Catholic festival, All Saints (1st November) and the eve of the pagan Celtic festival known as Samhain. The three days between 31st October and 2nd November see pagan and Christian celebrations intertwined in a fascinating way and is a perfect example of superstition struggling with religious belief. Currently, it is widely thought that Halloween originated as a pagan Celtic festival of the dead related to the Irish and Scottish Samhain, but there is no evidence that it was connected with the dead in pre-Christian times. ( source: Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton pages 360-70)  |
November
All Saints' Day - 1 November
In the year 835 AD the Roman Catholic Church made 1st November a church holiday to honour all the saints. This feast day is called All Saints' Day.
All Hallows
All Saints' Day used to be known as All Hallows (Hallow being an old word meaning Saint or Holy Person). The feast day actually started the previous evening, the Eve of All Hallows or Hallowe'en.
Mischief Night-4th November
The 4th November is called Mischief Night in some parts of the country. This was the night when all sorts of naughty things were done - the main idea being to put things in the wrong place.
In north-east Derbyshire and south Yorkshire villages, children would engage in a bout of Jolly Minering. A local variant on Penny for a Guy traditions, the aim was to raise money for sweets and fireworks. Their alms song started like this:
We're three Jolly Miners, and we're not worth a pin,
So give us a piece of coal and we'll make the kettle sing.
The song itself comes from an earlier time when the aim of the activity was to gather coal, either for the 'bonfire hole', or simply to light fire to cook and 'make the kettle sing'.
Guy Fawkes Night (Bonfire Night) (5 th)
Bonfire Night is the most widespread and flourishing of all British customs. The day was declared a holiday by decree of Parliament after Parliament was saved from being blown up by Guy Fawkes in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Until 1859, all parish churches were required to hold services this day. Unlike today, celebrations were heard throughout the day, with bells ringing, cannons firing and beer flowing.
Today, as in for the last 400 years, effigies of the pope and now more often Guy Fawkes or other 'hated' figures, are burned on top of large bonfires. As the bonfires burn fireworks are let off in wonderful and spectacular displays.
Just as in 1605, a new session of Parliament in London is still opened by the reigning monarch at the beginning of November. If there has been a general election in the same year, the opening of Parliament is in May.
December
Christmas month
St. Nicholas Day 6 December:
This is the feast day of St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor (now Turkey) in the 4th century AD. He is the patron saint of children.
Lord of Misrule 17 December:
In ancient Roman times, 17 December was the beginning of the festival of Saturnalia, in honour of the god of agriculture. It was originally just a day event but eventually grew into a seven day orgy of feasting and merrymaking, elements which later appeared in the Christmas, New Year and Twelfth Night celebrations in thee UK.
December Superstitions
"Marry on December third
For all the grief you ever heard "
For all the grief you ever heard "
A Christmas pudding should be made with 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and His Disciples and that every member of the family should take turns to stir the pudding with a wooden spoon from east to west, in honour of the Wise Men.
If you take a candle to church this Christmas, don't bring it home, blow it out and leave it there with the vicar for good luck."On Christmas Eve all animals can speak."
However, it is bad luck to test this superstition."The child born on Christmas Day will have a special fortune.""Wearing new shoes on Christmas Day will bring bad luck.""Good luck will come to the home where a fire is kept burning throughout the Christmas season. "If a girl raps at the henhouse door on Christmas Eve and a rooster crows, she will marry within the year.
