January, 14 – and not all cheap stuff, either.

Holidays and traditions in English – speaking countries.

“Our cards cost from 6d to 15s 6d”, he says, but “ardent youngsters”

want to pay more.” They can pay more. I saw a red satin heart-shaped

cushion enthroning a “pearl” necklace and earrings for 25s. Another, in

velvet bordered with gold lace, topped with a gilt leaf brooch, was 21s

(and if anyone buys them … well, it must be love!).

There are all kinds:

The sick joke – reclining lady on the front, and inside she will “kick

you in the ear”.

The satirical – “You are charming, witty, intelligent, etc.”, and “if

you believe all this you must be …” – inside the card you find an animated

cuckoo clock.

And the take-off of the sentimental – “Here’s the key to my heart …

use it before I change the lock”.

And the attempts to send a serious message without being too sickly,

ending with variations of “mine” and “thine” and “Valentine”.

So in the 20th century, when there are no longer any bars to

communication between the sexes, the love missives of an older, slower

time, edged carefully over the counters by the publishers and shopkeepers,

still surge through the letter boxes.

PANCAKE DAY

Pancake Day is the popular name for Shrove Tuesday, the day preceding

the first day of Lent. In medieval times the day was characterized by

merrymaking and feasting, a relic of which is the eating of pancakes.

Whatever religious significance Shrove Tuesday may have possessed in the

olden days, it certainly has none now. A Morning Star correspondent who

went to a cross-section of the people he knew to ask what they knew about

Shrove Tuesday received these answers:

“It’s the day when I say to my wife: ‘Why don’t we make pancakes?’ and

she says, ‘No, not this Tuesday! Anyway, we can make them any time.’”

“It is a religious festival the significance of which escapes me. What

I do remember is that it is Pancake Day and we as children used to brag

about how many pancakes we had eaten.”

“It’s pancake day and also the day of the student rags. Pancakes –

luscious, beautiful pancakes. I never know the date – bears some

relationship to some holy day.”

The origin of the festival is rather obscure, as is the origin of the

custom of pancake eating.

Elfrica Viport, in her book on Christian Festivals, suggests that

since the ingredients of the pancakes were all forbidden by the Church

during Lent then they just had to be used up the day before.

Nancy Price in a book called Pagan’s Progress suggests that the

pancake was a “thin flat cake eaten to stay the pangs of hunger before

going to be shriven” (to confession).

Holidays and traditions in English – speaking countries.

In his Seasonal Feasts and Festivals E. O. James links up Shrove

Tuesday with the Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) festivals or warmer countries.

These jollifications were an integral element of seasonal ritual for the

purpose of promoting fertility and conquering the malign forces of evil,

especially at the approach of spring.”

The most consistent form of celebration in the old days was the all-

over-town ball game or tug-of-war in which everyone let rip before the

traditional feast, tearing here and tearing there, struggling to get the

ball or rope into their part of the town. It seems that several dozen towns

kept up these ball games until only a few years ago.

E. O. James in his book records instances where the Shrove Tuesday

celebrations became pitched battles between citizens led by the local

church authorities.

Today the only custom that is consistently observed throughout Britain

is pancake eating, though here and there other customs still seem to

survive. Among the latter, Pancake Races, the Pancake Greaze custom and

Ashbourne’s Shrovetide Football are the best known. Shrovetide is also the

time of Student Rags.

ST DAVID’S DAY

On the 1st of March each year one can see people walking around London

with leeks pinned to their coats. А leek is the national emblem of Wales.

The many Welsh people who live in London — or in other cities outside Wales

— like to show their solidarity on their national day.

The day is actually called Saint David’s Day, after а sixth century

abbot who became patron saint of Wales. David is the nearest English

equivalent to the saint’s name, Dawi.

The saint was known traditionally as “the Waterman”, which perhaps

means that he and his monks were teetotallers. А teetotaller is someone who

drinks nо kind of alcohol, but it does not mean that he drinks only tea, as

many people seem to think.

In spite of the leeks mentioned earlier, Saint David’s emblem is not

that, but а dove. No one, not even the Welsh, can explain why they took

leek to symbolize their country, but perhaps it was just as well. After

all, they can't pin а dove to their coat!

MOTHERING SUNDAY (MOTHERS’ DAY)

Mothers’ Day is traditionally observed on the fourth Sunday in Lent

(the Church season of penitence beginning on Ash Wednesday, the day of

which varies from year to year). This is usually in March. The day used to

be known as Mothering Sunday and dates from the time when many girls worked

away from home as domestic servants in big households, where their hours of

work were often very long Mothering Sunday was established as a holyday for

these girls and gave them an

Holidays and traditions in English – speaking countries.

opportunity of going home to see their parents, especially their mother.

They used to take presents with them, often given to them by the lady of

the house.

When the labour situation changed and everyone was entitled to regular

time off, this custom remained, although the day is now often called

“Mothers’ Day”. People visit their mothers if possible and give them

flowers and small presents. If they cannot go they send a “Mothers’ Day

card”, or they may send one in any case. The family try to see that the

mother has as little work to do as possible, sometimes

the husband or children take her breakfast in bed and they often help with

the meals and the washing up. It is considered to be mother’s day off.

St. Patrick’s Day

It is not a national holiday. It’s an Irish religious holiday. St.

Patrick is the patron of Ireland. Irish and Irish Americans celebrate the

day. On the day they decorate their houses and streets with green shamrocks

and wear something green. In large cities long parades march through the

streets. Those who aren’t Irish themselves also wear green neckties and

hair ribbons and take part in the celebration.

ESTER

During the Easter Holidays the attention of the progressive people in

Great Britain and indeed throughout the world is riveted first and foremost

on the Easter Peace Marches, which took place for the first time in 1958

and have since become traditional. The people who participate in these

marches come from different sections of society. Alongside workers and

students march university professors, doctors, scientists, and engineers.

More often than not the columns are joined by progressive people from

abroad.

The character of the marches has changed over the years. The high-

point was reached in the early sixties; this was followed by a lapse in

enthusiasm when attendance fell off during the middle and late sixties.

More recent years have seen a rise in the number of people attending the

annual Easter March, as global problems have begun to affect the conscience

of a broader section of the English population.

London’s Easter Parade

London greets the spring, and its early visitors, with a truly

spectacular Easter Parade in Battersea Park on Easter Sunday each year. It

is sponsored by the London Tourist Board and is usually planned around a

central theme related to the history and attractions of London. The great

procession, or parade, begins at 3 p. m., but it is

Holidays and traditions in English – speaking countries.

advisable to find a vantage-point well before that hour. The parade

consists of a great many interesting and decorated floats, entered by

various organizations in and outside the metropolis. Some of the finest

bands in the country take part in the parade. At the rear of the parade is

usually the very beautiful Jersey float, created from thousands of lovely

spring blooms and bearing the Easter Princess and her attendants. It is an

afternoon to remember.

APRIL FOOLS’ DAY

April Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day, named from the custom of playing

practical jokes or sending friends on fools’ errands, on April 1st. Its

timing seems related to the vernal equinox, when nature fools mankind with

sudden changes from showers to sunshine. It is a season when all people,

even the most dignified, are given an excuse to play the fool. In April

comes the cuckoo, emblem of simpletons; hence in Scotland the victim is

called “cuckoo” or “gowk”, as in the verse: On the first day of April, Hunt

the gowk another mile. Hunting the gowk was a fruitless errand; so was

hunting for hen’s teeth, for a square circle or for stirrup oil, the last-

named proving to be several strokes from a leather strap.

May Day in Great Britain

As May 1st is not a public holiday in Great Britain, May Day

celebrations are traditionally held on the Sunday following it, unless, of

course, the 1st of May falls on a Sunday. On May Sunday workers march

through the streets and hold meetings to voice their own demands and the

demands of other progressive forces of the country. The issues involved may

include demands for higher wages and better working conditions, protests

against rising unemployment, demands for a change in the Government’s

policy, etc.

May Spring Festival

The 1st of May has also to some extent retained its old significance

— that of а pagan spring festival. In ancient times it used to be

celebrated with garlands and flowers, dancing and games on the village

green. А Maypole was erected — a tall pole wreathed with flowers, to which

in later times ribbons were attached and held by the dancers. The girls put

on their best summer frocks, plaited flowers in their hair and round their

waists and eagerly awaited the crowning of the May Queen. The most

beautiful girl was crowned with а garland of flowers. After this great

event Веге was dancing, often Morris dancing, with the dancers dressed in

fancy costume, usually

Holidays and traditions in English – speaking countries.

representing characters in the Robin Hood legend. May-Day games and sports

were followed by refreshments in the open.

This festival was disliked by the Puritans and suppressed during the

Commonwealth, 1649 — 60. After the Restoration it was revived but has

gradually almost died out. However, the Queen of May is still chosen in

most counties, and in mаnу villages school Maypoles are erected around

which the children dance. The famous ceremony of the meeting of the 1st of

May still survives at Oxford, in Magdalen College. At 6 o’clock in the

morning the college choir gathers in the upper gallery of the college tower

to greet the coming of the new day with song.

TROOPING ТНE COLOUR

During the month of June, а day is set aside as the Queen’ s official

birthday. This is usually the second Saturday in June. On this day there

takes place on Horse Guards’ Parade in Whitehall the magnificent spectacle

of Trooping the Colour, which begins at about 11.15 а. m. (unless rain

intervenes, when the ceremony is usually postponed until conditions are

suitable).

This is pageantry of rаrе splendour, with the Queen riding side-saddle

on а highly trained horse.

The colours of one of the five regiments of Foot Guards are trooped

before the Sovereign. As she rides on to Horse Guards’ parade the massed

array of the Brigade of Guards, dressed in ceremonial uniforms, await her

inspection.

For twenty minutes the whole parade stands rigidly to attention while

being inspected by the Queen. Then comes the Trooping ceremony itself, to

be followed by the famous March Past of the Guards to the music of massed

bands, at which the Queen takes the Salute. The precision drill of the

regiments is notable.

The ceremony ends with the Queen returning to Buckingham Palace at the

head of her Guards.

The Escort to the Colour, chosen normally in strict rotation, then

mounts guard at the Palace.

Midsummer's Day

Midsummer's Day, June 24th, is the longest day of the year. On that

day you can see a very old custom at Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, England.

Stonehenge is one of Europe's biggest stone circles. A lot of the stones

are ten or twelve metres high. It's also very old. The earliest part of

Stonehenge is nearly 5,000 years old.

But what was Stonehenge? A holy place? A market? Or was it a kind of

calendar? We think the Druids used it for a calendar. The Druids were the

priests in Britain 2,000 years ago. They used the sun and the stones at

Stonehenge to know the

Holidays and traditions in English – speaking countries.

start of months and seasons. There are Druids in Britain today, too. And

every June 24th a lot of them go to Stonehenge. On that morning the sun

shines on one famous stone - the Heel stone. For the Druids this is a very

important moment in the year. But for a lot of British people it's just a

strange old custom.

LATE SUMMER BANK HOLIDAY

On Bank Holiday the townsfolk usually flock into the country and to

the coast. If the weather is fine many families take а picnic-lunch or tea

with them and enjoy their meal in the open. Seaside towns near London, such

as Southend, are invaded by thousands of trippers who come in cars and

coaches, trains, motor cycles and bicycles. Great amusement parks like

Southend Kursaal do а roaring trade with their scenic railways, shooting

galleries, water-shoots, Crazy Houses, Hunted Houses and so on. Trippers

will wear comic paper hats with slogans such as “Kiss Ме Quick”, and they

will eat and drink the weirdest mixture of stuff you can imagine, sea food

like cockles, mussels, whelks, shrimps and fried fish and chips, candy

floss, beer, tea, soft, drinks, everything you can imagine.

Bank Holiday is also an occasion for big sports meetings at places

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