Tài liệu Part 21- Britain doc

M ore over, th ere ar e no tradi -tional extra local holiday s in particular pla ces.. R ock Ther eisonekindofsweetassociated with holiday resorts.. As ho p s ell i ng ro ck ©Ox o~dUniv

Q uestions a nd sugges tions 2 07

Mus eum s and ar t galleri e s

Themajormuseumsin Lond onare

the BritishMuseum (the national

collect ionof ant iq ui ties) ,the

Vic-tor ia and Alben Museum,which

houses the\ orld'slargestdisplay of

the decorative arts, the Natural

History Museum and the Science

Museum There are numerousother

small,specialist museums inLondo

and throughout the rest of the

coun try ,usually with an emphasis

on history and British'heritage'

There has been a move to make

museum s come alive with appro

-priatesounds and even smells

Art galleriesin Londonwhich

house perm anent collections

include the National Gallery,the

QUESTIONS

adjoiningNationalPortraitGaller y, andthe TateBritain,whichis the nation's galleryof British anfro m I/jOO tothepresentday These

galleries alsoholdspecial temporary

exhibitions.TheHayw ardGaller y and theRoyal Acade my putona series of shows, some of which

are extrem ely popular.The Royal

Academ y isfamous for its annual Summer Exh ibitio n Outside

LondonthereistheBurrell

CollectionnearGlasgowandthe Tate GalleriesinLiverpool and

St Ives.Most majortowns and citieshavetheirown museumsand art galleri es

H ow d oes the Briti sh govermnent ju st ify it s

p olic y ofl ow s pe nding on the arts ' Does the

gov er nment in your country subsidize the arts

and e nco urage artistic endeavor in schools and

e lsew he re?

2 Wha t ev ide nce can you find in th is chapter to

s uppo rt th e view tha t th arts are ofinter est to

a s m all minorit y of Briti sh people on ly? Wha t

evid en ce c an yo u findtosupport the opposite

v iew - that in tere st in the arts i s widespread?

How i s it tha t there c an be an element of truth

in bo th o f th ese opinions?

3 Which area s of the art s se em to b e pa rt icularly appr eciat ed and v alue d in Bri tain a nd whi ch

se em to b e ign ored or und er -va l ued ? In w ha t ways does the appre ciation of the diff er ent aspects of the art s var y in yo ur co unt ry?

4 Th e British are v er y co ns cio us o f t he di stinction betw een high art o r ' culture' and li gh t ' enter-tainment', In what ar ea of th e a rts h ave the y suc cee ded in e stablish ing a w idely a ccepted an d approved compromis e w hi ch a ppeals t o a broad range of peopl e from diff erent soci al ba ck-ground s and with v aryin g l ev el s o f edu cation?

• M os t of the major museums publish guide s to their collection s,

po inting out their m ost highly -prized exhibits, wh ich are often

illu stra ted in the guides.

• A ny biography of an y of the major British theatrical figure s of thi s

ce ntur y, s uch a s Sir Laur ence Olivier (there is one published by

Fontan a, written by Donald Spoto) would reveal a lot about the

h istory o f the th eatre in Britain and abo ut B ri tish theatre in gen e ral.

23

Holidays and special

.

occasions

B ritain i s a country governed by routine It ha s few er publi c holiday s tha n an y other country in Europe and fewer than N orth America (N orthe rn Ir eland has t w o extra one s, h ow ever) Even N ew Ye ar ' s Day w as n ot a n o fficia l p u blic holid ay in Eng land a nd Wa les u ntil

q ite r ec e ntl y (but s o m any p eop le gave the m s el ves a ho li day any w ay

t hat it was t hought it mig ht as we ll become o fficiall) T he re are

a lmost n o se m i-official h oli days eit her Most official h olidays occur

ei ther jus t b efor e or just af ter a weekend , s o t hat the pract ice of

ma king a 'bridge' is almo st unknown M ore over, th ere ar e no tradi

-tional extra local holiday s in particular pla ces Alth ough th e origin o f

t he word 'h oliday' is ' h l y da y', n ot all publi c h olida ys (u sually known a s ' b ank holi day s') are connected with religi ous c elebrations.

Th e B ritish a lso seem to do co mparativel y ba dl y wit h r ega rd to

an nu a l h o liday s Th ese a re no t as l on g as th ey ar e in man y ot he r

countri es A lt ho ugh t h e a verage e mployee gets f our weeks ' p aid

h o li day a ye ar, in n o town or city i n t he c o untry wou ld a v isitor ever

get t he impre ssion t hat t h e p lace had ' s hut down' for th e s umm er bre ak ( In f a ct, about40%of the populati on do no t g awa y an y-where for their holida ys.)

Traditi ona l se aside h olid ays

Th e Bri t sh upp er cla ss st arted t he f ashio n for seasi de h olida ys in th e

l ate e ighteen t h centur y Th e middl e cla sses soo n f ollowed t hem a nd when t h e y w ere gi ven the op por tun ity ( around t he b eginning of the

twe ntie th ce ntury), so d id t he working classes. Itsoo n became

n o rmal for f amilies t o s pend a week or two ever y y ear at one of th e

s a side re sort tow n s which s prang uptoc ater for thi s n ew ma ss

ma rket T he most well -known of the se are clo se to the larger t owns

an d citie s ( e- H oliday resorts in England)

T h e s e s easi d e town s quic kly d eveloped certain c haracte r ist i cs that are n ow re garde d as typical of t he 't raditional' E ngli sh holiday resort.

T he y h ave so me h ote ls w here r icher peop le s tay, but mo s t f amili es

st ay at b oarding h ou ses T hese are s ma ll fa mily bu sin es s es, o fferi ng

e it he r ' bed a nd breakf ast' or , m ore rar ely, ' full b oard' (mea ning t hat

a ll m ea l s ar e provi ded) Some street s i n s easide resort s ar e full of

n othing bu t b oardin g hou ses T he food in the se , and in l ocal re staur

-ants, is ch eap and conv entional with an e mphasis o n fi sh and chip s.

Traditionalseaside holidays 209

S tereotypically, da y t im e ente rt ainmen t in s u nny w eather ce nt res

aro un d th e b each , w he re the ch il d ren mak e sa ndcas t les , bu y i

ce-c r e am s a nd some times g f or don ke y r id es O lde r a ults ofte n d o no t

b o th ertogo sw imm ing Th ey a re h a ppy j ust t o s it i n their d ec k

c hairs a nd occasionally go fo r a paddl e w it h t h ir s ki rts o r trou

ser-l egs hi tched u p Th e wa ter i s always c o l d a nd, d espite e fforts t o cle an

i tu p, some times ve r y dirty But fo r a dults w ho swi m, some r esorts

hav e woode n huts o n o r n ear th e beac h, k now n a s 'b eac h cab i ns',

'beach hu t s' or 'ba th ing hu ts' , in w hic h p eople ca n c han ge i nto t hei r

swi mming cos tum es Swi mming an d s un bath i n g w i th ou t an y cl o t h

-i ng i s ra re All reso rts have various ot he r kind s o f att rac tio n, inclu di ng

more-o r -less permane nt funfairs.

F or the evenings , an d wh eniti s r aining, t h ere a re a m u sem en t

arcades, bi ngo ha ll s, da nce ha ll s, d iscos, t he atres, b owling all eys a nd

so o n, many of t hese si tua ted o n t he p ier T his uni qu e Br itish a rchi tec

-tural structure is a platfo rm exten ding o u t int o t he se a Th e l a r ge

resorts ha ve d eco rations wh ich li ght up a t n igh t The 'B lackp oo l

ill um inatio ns ' , for examp le, a re f am o us.

Anot her t radi tion a l ho liday d es ti na tion , w h ich was ve ry p opul ar

in B ritain i n t he I950S an d I960s, is th e holi day c am p , wh ere

v isitor s stay in chale ts in self -c o ntaine d vill ages w ith a ll food a nd

e ntertainment orga n ize d for t he m Bu din's and Pont i n ' s, t he com pan

-ies which own most o f t hese, a r e we ll -k nown n am es i n B r it a in The

enf orce d good- humo ur , stric t m eal-tim es a nd eve nts s uc h as

'knob b ly knees' com peti tio ns an d b eau ty co n tests t hat were

charac-te r istic of t hese camps h ave n ow g i ven waytoa more relaxe d

a tm osphere.

R ock

Ther eisonekindofsweetassociated with holiday resorts This is 'rock',

ahardthickstick of sugar Each resort

hasthelettersof its nameappearin g throu ghoutthe stick,so that one

hearsof 'BrightonRock' ,'Blackpool

Rock'and soon

As ho p s ell i ng ro ck

©Ox( o~dUnivers ity Pr ess

Bl ockpool be och

FRANCE

Holiday resorts

in England

(J

Anglesey

~~ smboco ~"gh \

BlaCkPoor Brad ford Le eds

M anchester '7 ,~~ 0 Sh effIe l d

t

r po O I

Skegness" North S ea

_ -.' s".,on- Tr em· N".".,.,m ~

L eicester Great

-,

l ondo ~S curhend

~okm 8"5 (01 Cho

nn e / • Bristol - ~ \ Marga t

super-Mare

Southampton

Bo ur nemouth ~~~Igh;on

»<: - ~·~_I _ _~'AJ'_ Eastbourne

Newq uay P lymouth T "6~ Isle of Wight

'

-0 23 Holida ys and spec ial occasions

Ii> Seaside p o stc ards

H umo rous p o stcards like t he o ne

belo w can st ill be boughtatseas ide

r esorts Th e j oke a lwa ys ha s an

cleme nt of sex ual i nnuen do inn

T hetraditionalseas ide h olida y inthe

first ha lf of the twentie thc entury

re presented a relax ingof victon an rcstncuonson oven re ference to

sex These days of co urse no s uch

resmcuonsex ist, sothese postcards

arc m ainly enjoyed in a s pirit of

n o stalg ia f o r th e past.

Atradi tional s eas i de p ostcord b

Dona ld McG ill

Bo th o f th e t raditional t ypes of h oliday h ave become l e ss popu lar in

-ship has enco uraged many peo ple to t ake caravan ho liday s But the

g reatest ca use of the decline of the tra dit ional holi day i s fo reign

tourism Before the 1960s , on ly t he r ich took ho liday s abroad By

1971, the Briti sh were taki ng 7 million foreign holiday s and by

1987, 20million These days, millions of British people take their cars across the channel every year a nd nearl y half of all the night s

Most foreign holidays are package holidays, in which tran sport and accommodation are boo ked and paid for through a travel agent These h oliday s are often booked a long time in advan ce In the middle

of w inter the telev isio n companies r un programme s which gi ve

inform atio n about t he p ackages be ing offered Peopl e need cheering

trad itional to ge t t he holiday b ro chur es out and start t alking about

Spa in is by fa r the m ost p op ular pac kage-holiday d estination

Ha lf of all th e holi days tak en w ithin B ritain are now for thr ee da ys

or less Every b an k-holiday wee kend there are lo ng traffic jams a long

r esort s h ave s urvive d b y adj us ting t hem s el ves t o thi s tr end (O nly the

h olid ay Hikin g i n th e co un try a nd s leeping a t you th hos tels has l ong

b een p opular (see c hapter 5) and so, amon g an ent hu siast ic mi nority, has po t -ho ling ( the ex plor ation o f und ergro und caves) There a re

a lso a w ide r ange of , a ctiv it y' holida ys availab le, g iving fu ll ex pres

-s ion to B ritish in dividualism Y o u ca n , for exa mp le ta ke pan in a

'mur de r wee kend', a nd fin d yourse l f li vin g out the plot of detect ive

story.

An increas ing number of peop le n ow go on 'wo rking' holidays,

d uring which they might he lp to re pair an ancient s t one wa ll or take part in an arc haeological dig Th is is a n echo of anothe r trad iti onal type of ,holida y' - frui t picking I t used t o be the habit of poor people from the ea st end ofLondon, for example, to go to Kent at the end of the summertohelp with the hop harvest (hop s ar e u sed for making beer).

C h ristmas and New Yea r

C hristmas i s t h e one occasion i n mode rn Br itain when a large number

of cu stoms are e n t h us i astically observe d by mos t ordi nary people

wi thin t he famil y The slow decrease i n partici pa tion in organize d

religion (see chap ter 13),and the fact tha t C hristma s in modern

t im e s i s s mu ch a se cu lar fea st a a relig iou s one, has h ad l i ule effect

on the se t raditi o s Even people who consider themselv es to be a n ti

-r e ligiou s q u ite happily w ish each ot her a 'H appy C hri stmas' or a

'Merr y Chri stmas' Th ey do not (as in some other co un tr ies) self

-co nscio us ly wi sh ea ch oth er a 'Happy N ew Year' instead

I n deed , h e 'c ommercializat ion' of Chri stmas ha s i self becom e

part o f traditi on E ve ry N o vem be r in Oxford S tr eet (one of the ma in

s ho pp i n g s tre e ts in t h e c e n tre of London) , a famous pe r sonality c ere

-m oniously sw itches on t he 'Ch ristmas lights' (decoratio ns) thu s

, o f ficia lly ' ma rking t h e start of th e per iod of fran tic Ch ristma s s ho p

-ping A n d i t ce rtain ly is frantic B etw een that ti m e a nd the mid dle o f

Januar y, mo st s h o ps do nearly ha l f of the ir to tal b usiness fo r the year

(mo st ha ve 's ales ' in e arly J an uar y w hen prices a re r ed uced ) Mo st

p eop l e bu y pr esen t s for t he other membe r s of t h eir h ouseh old and

al so for ot h e r r elati ves, e specially chi ldren Some p eople al so bu y

p re sents f or t he ir cl o se friends And to a wid er circle of fr iends and

r e lati ves, and so m etim es also to wor king associates and neighb ours ,

th ey se n d Chri stmas car d s ( c- C hristmas cards) Some people even s end

such greet ings to people whom they ha ve not seen fo r ma ny year s,

o ften u s ing t h e ex cu se of th is tradit ion to in clude a lett e r pas sing on

th e y ear's n ews.

Chrstmas andNew Year 2I [

~ Chr istm as cards

Manypeop le send cards at Christmas

tim e depicting some aspect of the

binhof Christ.Most people,

however do not Christmas is an

opportunity for the Britishto

indu lgetheirdreamsabout a

van-ishedrural past You can see this on

many typical Christmascards They

oftenshowscenes fro m eitherthe

ninetee nthor eighteenthcent ur ies

and may be set in thecountryside,

veryfeq ently covered with snow

(In fact , snow atChristma s is rare in

most pan s ofBritain)

Chri stmas c ards

1 11 23 H oli days and special occasions

Th e Chr istmas party

In tho usands of companies

through-out Britain , the last \vorking afternoon before Ch ristmas is the timeof theannu al officeparty.at which a lot of alcohol isoften con-sumed Sexual feelings, hidden

throughoutthe year, come into the open This is a problem for company bosses By law an employer is responsible fo r sexual harassment at work an d may have to p ay as m uch

as £ I 0,000 in compensation The peak time for complaints of sexual harassment is in January - just after the annual office party Many employers now insure themselves against claims for compensatio n at

thistime

Christm as dinn er

The traditional meal consists of stuffed roast turkey with roast pota-roes and some other vegetab le (often Brusselsprouts).Other foods asso-ciated with Christmas are Christmas pudding an extremely heavy sweet dish made of dried fruits (it is trad i -tiona l to po ur brandy over it and the n set it aligh t) and Christmas

cake.an equally heavy fruit cake, with hard white ici ng on top.

P eo ple also buy Ch ristmas trees (a tr adition im po rte d from

G erm an y in t he nin eteent h cent ury ) Alm os t every h useh old ha s

tr ee de corated i n a d iffer ent way (in m any ca se s, w ith c o l oure d

light s) Mo st p eopl e al so put up o ther d ecor a t io n s aroun d t h e h use.

Ex a ct l y what these a re v ari es a great deal , bu t certain sym bols o f Chr i s tma s, s uc h as bit s of th e holly and m is tle toe plants, are very common, and the Christmas cards which the household has received are usually d ispl ayed A 'crib' , whi ch is a model d epicting th e birth

of C h ri st , a lso s o me t im es fo rms part o f th e C hristm as d e orati o n s In

D ece m b e r , a s C h r i st m as g ets close r, ca ro l s ( usually, b ut n o t a lw ays,

wi t h a re ligi ou s t h eme) a r e su ng in c hurche s a nd s h o o l s , o f ten at

speci a l conce r ts , and also , houg h l ess often than in the pas t , by gro up s o f people who go fro m house to ho use co llect in g money for cha ritable causes.

The ro le of Father Christma s (or Santa Claus) and th e customs associated w ith t h e giving of gif ts vary from fam il y t o fam ily Most

h ouseh ol d s wit h c h il d r en t ell t he m t ha t Father Chri stmas co mes

d wn t h e c him n ey o n t h e n i g ht o f Ch ri stm as Eve (eve n t h ough mos t

h us s n l onger h ave a work ing c h im ney ! ) Man y child ren l ay o u t

a Chr i s tma s stoc k ing at t he fo o t of t heir beds, wh ich they expect to see filled whe n they w ake up on Chri stm as m o rni ng Most fam ilies

put wr apped pr esents ar oun d or on t he Chr istmas tree and these a re

o pened at s o me ti me o n C hr is tm as D ay.

O th er ac t iviti es o n C hr i s tm a s D ay m ay inclu d e th e eat ing o f

C hri stmas din n er ( e- Chr istmas d inner) an d liste ning to the Q ueen 's

C hristmas mess a ge Th is te n - min ute t elevision broa dcas t is n ormall y

the o ly time in th e year when the m onarch spea ks directly to 'he r ' people on t elevisio (When , in t 99 3, a na tional newspaper pub-lished th e t ext of her speec h a few da ys beforehan d, it was a natio nal sca n d al.)

Th e gene ra l f eeling i s tha t C h ri s tma s i s t ime f or f am ili es Man y

o f th e g a t he rin gs i n hou ses o n Chri stmas Da y a nd B ox in g Da y co ns i st

o f ex ten de d f amilie s ( m o re th an j u st par ents a nd c hil d ren) For ma n

fa m ili es, C hri stm as i s t he only t ime tha t th ey are all tog eth er (so i is

o f te n a tim e o f conflict r ather th an harmo n y, in fact).

Parti es o n New Y ear 's E ve , o n th e other hand , are usually fo r

f ie nds Mo s t p eop l e atte nd a gather in g at this tim e and ' see in ' the

n ew yea r w ith a group of o the r p eople , oft e n dri n kin g a lar ge amou nt

o f a lco ho l as t he y d so In L on d on , ma n go t o t h e t radition al

cele bration in Traf algar Squar e (w he re t here i s an e no rm o us

Ch ri stmas t ree w hich is an annual gift from the p eop l e o f Norway).

In Scotla n d , wher e th e Calvini sts di sapproved of parties and cele b

-r ations con nec ted w ith r eligio us occasio ns (such as C hristmas), New Year c a ll e d H o gmana y, is gi ven parti cular imp ortance - so m uch

im por t an ce t ha t, in Sco t lan d o nl y ,2J an uar y (as we ll as New Y ear 's

Da y) is l so a p u bli c h oli d a y ( so tha t p eopl e ha ve t w o da ys t o reco ver from t h eir New Year ' s Eve pa rtie s in stead o f jus t one! ) So m e B riti s h New Y ear c u stoms, s u c h as the sin gin g o f the song Au l d L ang Syne,

Ascene from thepantomime'Ja ckand theBe an st alk'

o rig i nate d in Sco tland A n o the r, l e ssc m m on,o n e i s h e custom o f

' first f o o tin g ' in w h ich th e fir st person to vi sit a ho use in t he new

ye ar is supp osed to a rrive witht ok e n sof certa in im portant i tem s for

s urv ival ( such a s a lump o f coa l for the fi re).

As a we ll- k no w n Chr i stma s c aro l rem inds peopl e , th ere ar e twelv e

d a ys o f Chri stmas In f act, m ost p eople go back t o work and school

s oon aft er New Y ear No bod y pa ys muc h att en tiontothe fea st of th e

e piphany on 6 Janu ar y (th e twelfth da y of C hristma s) , e xcept t h at

th is is t raditio nally th e da y on w hic h C hri stmas decora tions ar e ta ken

Ea ster i s ar l ess impor tant t hanC hri stmast o m o st peopl e in B ritain.

c us to ms an d habit s ass o ci ate d ge nerall y w ith i t , o th e t han th e c

on-s u mp t ion of mountain s of chocola te Eas t er e ggs by child ren Some

peopl e pr eser ve th e traditi on of eat ing hot cros s b un s on Good Fr iday

( to> Calendar of s pecial occa s ions ) Quite a lot of peopl e go away on holiday

at th is t ime.

N one of the o the r days o f t he yea rtowhich traditional cu stoms

are a ttach ed is a holiday, and not eve rybody takes p art in the se

c usto ms I n fac t, man y peop le i n Bri tain li ve through oc casions s u ch

a s S h rove Tuesda y, A p r il Foo ls' D ay or Ha llow e'en ( to> Calendar of s pecia l

occ asions) without ev en know ing t hat th ey have h appen ed

T h er e i s one other d ay whic h, altho ugh m an y people do n o t mark

in any s pecial way, i s very di fficult to ignore Thi s i s5November,

the day w h ich celebrates a famous ev e nt in Brit ish h istory - th e

gu npo wder plot It i s alle d Guy F aw ke s' Day - or, more c ommo nl y,

Bonfir e N igh t A t th e beg inning of t h e s even t een th cent ury, a group

of Catholics planned t o blow up the Hou ses of Par liament w hi le King

Jam es I wa s in ther e B efor e t h ey coul d achieve th is, one of t h em ,

G uy F aw kes , wa s caught i n t h e c ellars un d er Parliament with t h e

g npowder H e and h is f e llow -cons pirators were a ll k illed.

Other nota ble annua l occasio ns 2 I 3

The Chr istmas and New Yearholiday seasons bring with them a popular

t heatrical tradition This is

pantomine(often shortened to

'panto') staged in hundreds of theatres and specificallydesignedto

appeal t o children It usually

i nvolves the acting out of a well

-knownfolk ta le with plenty of

o pportunity for audience

p articipatio n.

There are certain estab lished con -ventions of panto.For example, the cast in cludes a ' principal boy' (the young hero), who is always played

female character), who isalways

played by a man.

T he continuing popu larity of

peu tois assisted by the f an that these leading ro les are today frequently taken bywell-knownpersonalities from the worlds of television or sport

2 I 4 23Holida ysand specialoccasio ns

St V alentine 's Day and Gr etna

Gr e en

Despite theunroma nt icreputation

of the British ,on this day every year about £7million worthofflowers arc delivered (orde rs fro mmenout

-num ber thosefromwomenb forty

toone} anextra4 millionc hoc-elatesarc sold and greetings-card manufacturers collect£2$million Every St Valentine'sDay.thou

-sands of peopletravel to atiny village on Scotland's bor derwith

En gland Manyofthe m go to get married,andmany morecouples go

thro ugh mockweddingcere mon-ies The villageis Gretna Green Its romantic reputation began in 17 S" 4

In England in thatyear,marriagefor people unde r theage oftw ent y-one

with o utpermissionfrom p,uents

was banned InScotland , however,

thisperm issionwas notrequired

and Gretna Green was the first stop across the border The lawsthat brought fame to Gretn aGreen no

lon ger apply But its rep utatio nis

secure In this sma ll place,at least one couple getsmarried ,onaverage, every day of the year Weddi ngs fo r

St Valentine's Day have tobe booked three monthsin advance

III- Shr ov e Tu esday

Thisdayisalsoknowna Pancake

Day.Inpast cent ur ies, Lent wasa time of fasting.Both meatand eggs werefo rbidden throughoutthesix weeks.The traditionwas to eat up all

yourmeaton theMondaybefore

Lent,and all your eggs on the

Tuesday - inpancakes Now ,the fastinghas gone and only theeatin g remains

Two eventsare associated with Shrove Tuesday.Oneofthemis the

pancaketossin g conte st(ho w many pancakes canyOll throw intothe air

andcatchwithi na cert aintime")

The other is the pancakerace Co

n-testants have to run while continuouslytossing apancake

Anyonewhodrop s hisorher

pancakeisdisqualified

A GuyFawkes' night bonfire

At th e t ime, t he fa ilure o f th e g unpowder p lot was c elebrated as a

v i ctory for Brit ish Protestantism over rebe l Catholicism However , it has now lost its religi ou s and patriotic co nnot atio ns In most pans o f Britain , Catholic children celebrate it just as enthusiastically as Protest-ant chil d ren - or, for t hat matter children brought up in any other

r e li giou s fait h (As wi th Ch ristmas, mos t o f the cus tom s a ssocia t ed wit h t his d ay a re m ain l y f or t he be nefit o f c ildre n.) Some child ren make a 'g uy' ou t of o ld clothes stuffed with new spaper severa l weeks beforehand, They then place this somewhere o n th e stree t and ask passers-by for 'a penny for the guy' What they are actually asking for i s mo ney t o b uy fireworks with.

O n Gu y Fa wkes ' N igh t it se lf th er e arc ' bo nfire p arties' thro u gh o ut the co un try, a t w hic h the ' gu y' i s b urn t Some people cook foo d i n the embe rs of t he bonfire, especially chestnuts or potatoes So many fireworks are set off that, by the end of the evening , th e air in all Bri tish cities smells strong ly of sul phur Every year, accidents with firewo rks in j ur e o r even kill seve ral p eo ple In an effo rt t o ma ke thin gs s afer, s o m e l oc al a u th orit i es a rr ange p blic fi rewo rk di splays Fina lly, one ot her d ay shoul d be men tioned T his is a diffe rent day for everybod y - their birthday Once again, it is most important for children , all of whom receive presents on thi s day from their parents and o ften f ro m o ther relatives as we ll Adults mayo r may no t receive

pr esent s, d p ndin g o n t he c us to ms o f th eir f amil y and t he ir circle

o f f rien ds M an y w ill s imply b e w ishe d ' Happy birthd ay ' (no t, by

t he way ' Co ngra tul ations' unless i t is a special birthda y such as a twenty-first) Some children and adults have a party, but not all Moreover, n o body, includ ing adults, is au tomaticall y expected to exte nd h ospitality t o o the r p eo p l e on t his d ay, and i t is not expecte d

th a t p eopl e s ho uld b r ing alon g c akes o r a nyt hi ng t o s hare with the ir colleagues a t wo rk , a lthoug h some peop le do.

Calendar of special occasions

NewYear'sDay"(IJanuary)

2Januaryis alsoa publicholidayin

Scotland

St Valentine' sDay( 14Febru ary)

Shrove Tuesday(Pony-seven days

before Easter)

StPatrick'sDay(17March)

This is a public holiday in Northern

Ireland

Mother'sDay(The fourth Sunday

inLent)

£somillio nwor th offlow ers are

bou gh t fo rthisday Cardsare also

sent

April Fools'Day(I April)

Itis traditionalfor peopleto play

tricksor practical jokes on each

other on this day Children are the

most enthusiastic about this

custom,but even the BBC and

serious newspapers sometimes have

'joke' (t.e no t genuine) features on

thisday

Good Frida y*

Theslrange nam einEngli shforthe

daycommemorating Christ's

cruci-fixion

Easter Monday* (The day after

Easter Sunday)

May Day* (The first Monda)' in May)

In Brit ain thisday is associated more

with ancientfolklor ethan withthe

workers.Insome villagesthe

customofdancing round the

maypole isactedout

Spring Bank Holiday* (The last

Monday in May)

There usedtobe a holiday on 'Whit

Monday 'celebratingthe Christian

feast ofPentecost Because this is

seven weeks afterEaster,the date

varied This fixedholidayhas

replacedit

* Public holiday

Father'sDay(The third Sunday in

June)

This isprobably justa co m m ercial invent io n - and notavery successful

oneeither Millio nsofBritishfathers

do n' t evenknowthey have a specialday

Queen'sOfficial Birthday(The secondor third Saturday in June)

Iis 'official' becauseit isnother real

one Certain public ceremoniesare

pe rform ed on this day

Orangemen'sDay (12July)

Thisis ap blich liday inNort hern

Irelandonly.Inthisway, theh liday associatedwiththe Catholicpan of

thecommunity(SrPatrick's Day) is balanced by one associatedwith the

otherpart, thePro testan ts (see chapter 4)

Su m mer Bank Holiday* (The last Monda)' inAugust)

Hallowe'en(31October)

Th isistheday before AllSaints' Day

in the Christiancalendar , and is

associatedwith the supern atural

Somepeoplehold Hallowe'en

parties, whic h are fancy- d ress

parties (people dress up as witches,

ghosts etc.).Ho wever,this day is observed much moreenergetically

in the USA thanitis inBritain Guy Fawkes' Day (5 November)

Remembrance Sunday(Second

Sunday in No vember)

Thisday commemoratesthe deadof

bo thWorld Wars nd ofmore

recent con flicts.On and before this

day,money is collectedin thestree t

on behalf of charities for ex-service-men and woex-service-men The peoplewho donatemon ey aregivenpaper poppies topin to their clothes No

politician\vouldbe seenon thisday

with outa poppy!

Other notable annual occasions S"

Christmas Eve(2+ December) Christmas Day (25 December) Boxing Day* (26 December)

Explanationsforthe origin of'this

name vary.One is thatitwas the day

on which landowners and house-holders would present (heir tenants

another is that it was the dar on which the collecting boxes in churches were opened and the con-(ems distributedtothe poor

New Year's Eve(3I December)