Student’s project CHRISTMAS IN GREAT BRITAIN

Gymnasium

Student’s project

CHRISTMAS

IN

GREAT BRITAIN

Made by:

Matvey Malikov,

the pupil of the 5th form

              Tutor:

Z.N. Kaverina

Morshansk, 2019

Contents

I. Introduction………………………………………………………
- the importance of the project
- aims and problems of research
- hypothesize of research
- methods of research

II. Main part
1. The most important holidays in the UK …………………………..
1.1. Christmas - the most popular holiday in Britain

1.2. Christmas traditions and customs

III. Questionnaire………………………………………………

IV. Conclusion …………………………………………………

V. List of reference books………………………………………

I. Introduction
My  project is called “Christmas in Great Britain”. I decided to choose this theme because it’s always interesting to explore tradition of other countries. Every nation and every country has its own customs and traditions. Britain is different from our own country. This is natural. In Britain traditions play a more important part in the life of the people than in other countries. 
Some of them appeared ages ago and are unique for one particular country, others can be found all over the world. The way people celebrate this or that holiday can tell much about their culture and way of life. 
Tradition and custom are usually passed on from generation to generation. To know customs and traditions means to understand the people, their art and culture better. They can tell us much about the country’s history and the people’s psychology. We learn English at my school. We like it very much and we try to connect it with our future profession. To know and speak English well we must learn British culture and we decided to research it but before it we put some questions for ourselves.
- What British traditions and customs do we know?
- What is the attitude of the British to their culture and traditions?
 The aim and the purpose of our research are:
- to learn and find out more about traditions Christmas in Britain.  Studying them will help me to understand better the English way of life.
 Hypothesizes are:
- If I know English language I will understand the British without  difficulties.
- It is not enough to know only English I have to study culture too. 
To get a better idea of the topic, we have developed a questionnaire, which we asked our friends to fill out. We have questioned ten people of my age.
The information we received helped me in writing this work.
 The methods of investigations are:
- Studying of books  and information from the Internet
- Analysis of the results
British people are considered to be the most conservative in Europe. They have many traditions, manners and customs of which they can be proud and they carefully keep them up. Britain has preserved its old ceremonies and traditions to a greater extend than any other country in the world. 

 II. Main part

1. The most important holidays in the UK.

When we speak about British traditions we always remember that there are four parts in Britain – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Traditions are different in these parts of the country. You already know some of the English traditions and holidays. We hope you remember St. Valentine’s Day, St.Patrick’s Day, Halloween which have also become traditional American holidays. Here are some more facts about old English traditions. One of the old English legends says that London can be the capital of the country, rich and great until twelve black ravens live in the Tower of London. Each has got its name and the keepers carefully look after them. If one of the birds dies, another younger raven takes its place. Londoners believe this legend and always bring some food to give to the birds when they come to the Tower. The keepers cut the bird’s wings a bit as they are afraid that they may fly away.

Another old English tradition is Guy Fawkes Day. Children go out into the streets on the 5th of November with figures like scarecrows. They stand in the streets and squares asking for the usual “Penny for the Guy”. Then with the money they have collected they buy fireworks and burn the guy (the figure like a scarecrow) on their bonfire. People watch fireworks and some people go to parties in the evening.

As we all well know holidays in almost every country can be divided into public and religious ones. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy, most of the population is Catholic and above all it is a small island.
There are only six public holidays in the UK: Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter, Spring Bank Holiday and Late Summer Bank Holiday, Boxing Day. Public holidays in Britain are called bank holidays because the banks were shut during those days and no trading could be done. Although the banks and offices are still closed during these days, most of shops are open.
1.1.Christmas - the most popular holiday in Britain.

Christmas is celebrated all over the world and no other holiday has developed such a great number of customs and symbols. So let us begin with discussing the most important holiday for many people – Christmas Day. It is celebrated on December 25 in Great Britain.
The Christmas story comes from the Bible. An angel appeared to shepherds and told them that a Savior had been born to Mary and Joseph in a stable in Bethlehem.
For most British families, this is the most important festival of the year, which combines the Christian celebration or the birth of Christ with the traditional festivities of winter. On the Sunday before Christmas many churches hold a carol service where special hymns are sung. Most families decorate their houses with holly and Christmas tree.
There are a lot of traditions connected with Christmas, but perhaps the most important one is giving presents. Family members wrap up their gifts and leave them under the Christmas tree to be found on Christmas morning. Children leave a sock or a stocking at the end of their beds on Christmas Eve hoping that Santa Claus will come down the chimney during the night and bring them presents.
The origin of Santa Claus is in Saint Nicholas. Santa Claus wears a red cloak and glasses and is accompanied by his true friend Rudolph the Reindeer. In the traditional story he lives at the North Pole. But now he lives in big shops in towns and cities all over Britain.
1.2. Christmas traditions and customs

A traditional feature of Christmas in Britain is the Christmas tree.
Another old tradition in Britain is Christmas mistletoe. People put a piece of this green plant with its white berries over a door. Mistletoe brings good luck, people say.

Nearly all Christmas food is traditional, but a lot of the traditions are not very old. For example, there were no turkeys in Britain before 1800. And even in the nineteenth century, goose was the traditional meat at Christmas. A 21st century British Christmas dinner is roast turkey with carrots, potatoes, peas and Christmas pudding. Real Christmas puddings always have a piece of holly on the top. The holly on the pudding is part of the decoration.
December 26th is also a public holiday - Boxing Day in the UK. Traditionally boys from the shops in each town asked for money at Christmas. They went from house to house on December 26th and took boxes made of wood with them. At each house people gave them money. This was a Christmas present. So the name of December 26th doesn’t come from the sport of boxing – it comes from the boys’ wooden boxes.

III. Questionnaire
To get a better idea of the topic, we have developed a questionnaire, which we asked my friends to fill out. We have questioned ten people of my age. Below are the questions that where asked with the answers received:
1.What British holidays can you name?
- St. Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Christmas
2. What traditions do British people follow while celebrating these holidays?
Put up a Christmas tree – 95%
Go to church – 30%
Don’t know – 50%

 3. Do you think it is good to celebrate holidays of other nations? 

 Yes – 40%
 Don’t know – 60%

 The information we received helped me in writing this work.
IV. Conclusion

In conclusion, it is worth noticing that in spite of the popularity of different Christmas customs and traditions, only few people think of the origin of the holiday and traditions. The holiday itself has lost its religious significance for some people. But it doesn’t matter if Christmas is a religious or public holiday for the population, it is still the most widely celebrated festival. Thanks to its numerous traditions that came from ancient times, it is undoubtedly the most colourful holiday of the year and for many people it is a time for eating, drinking. They celebrate it in the same way as ancient Christians many years ago. Christmas customs and traditions are immortal . Learning origin of Christmas makes us think about the link between different generations and importance of the past for us, people, who live in the 21st centure.

I think this work can be used during English classes.

V. List of reference books.

 1.Википедия  —  [Электронный  ресурс]  —  —  URL:  http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/  

 2.Матвеенко  Э.  Английские  традиции  Рождества:  из  прошлого  в  настоящее.  —  М,  2010  —  32  с.

 3.Мороз  В.В.  «Большая  детская  энциклопедия  празднования  Нового  года  и  Рождества».  —  М.,  2010  —  382  с.

 4.Рождество  в  Англии  —  2010.  [Электронный  ресурс]  —  URL:  http://www.greenwich-hotel.ru/blog/english-christmas/

 5. Яндекс.  Картинки.  [Электронный  ресурс]  http://images.yandex.ru/yandsearch