МБОУ СОШ №4 г. Навашино, Нижегородская область

Проектная работа

по английскому языку

Тема:

«Comparison of British

and  Russian Holidays and Traditions»

Выполнила:

Ученица 10 «А» класса

Глебова Ксения

Руководитель:

Учитель английского

языка Малина Ольга Викторовна

Comparison of British and Russian Holidays and Traditions

Content

I. Introduction 

II. Most Important Holidays in the UK and Russia

a. Christmas

b. New Year

c. Easter

III. Similar British and Russian Holidays

a. Pancake Day or Maslenitsa

b. May Day or May 1

c. Mother’s  Day or March 8

IV. Traditional British and Russian Holidays

V. Questionnaire

VI. Conclusion

VII. Literature

Comparison of British and Russian Holidays and Traditions

        Every country has it’s own holidays and traditions. 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. It is always interesting for a foreigner to observe and try to understand traditions of other countries.

           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.  

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. Britain has preserved its old ceremonies and traditions to a greater extend than any other country in the world.

           I believe Russia is a unique country: it does not belong to Europe and is not considered part of Asia. Some Russian traditions date back to pagan time and there are some, which are brand new. Russia influenced traditions of other nations, but at the same time absorbed a lot of their traditions.

           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. Russia, on the other hand, is a democratic state with a huge territory and Orthodox population. Russian killed their tsar and with his death forgot many ancient traditions. English people also killed their king, but then understood their mistake and returned his son to the throne, managing to save their holidays and traditions.

           I believe it will be interesting to see and to compare how holidays are celebrated in the two countries with such different history, geographic and political situation. It will also be useful to find out about British customs and traditions, as I hope my future with be closely connected with people from Great Britain. To understand British people better, it is important not only to speak English fluently, but also to know their way of life, culture, customs and traditions.

        In the end of 2004 a new law regarding public holidays was passed. Te will now be eight holidays in the Russian Federation and twelve non-working day.  They are: New Year’s Day, Christmas Day, Day of the Nation’s Defendant, International Women’s Day, Holiday of Spring and Labor, Victory Day, Russia’s Day and Day of National Solidarity.

         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.

           The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate what holidays and traditions Russia and the UK countries have in common and what are the differences between them. Of course, there are too many holidays both in Russia and Great Britain and I will not have enough time to talk about all of them. So I have decided to speak about the most important ones that well demonstrate the country’s peculiarity.

                                                                Christmas

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, which has been celebrated from the earliest days of recorded history.  It is celebrated on December 25 in Great Britain. In Russia Orthodox Christmas is celebrated 13 days after the Catholic one, on January 7, because the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates its Christmas in accordance with the old Julian calendar.

After the 1917 Revolution Christmas was banned throughout Russia along with other religious holidays. It wasn't until 75 years later, in 1992, that the holiday was openly celebrated.

        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. Three Wise Men from the East followed a wondrous star, which led them to the baby Jesus to whom they presented gifts of gold, frankicense and myrrh.

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. Sometimes carol-singers can be heard on the streets as they collect money for charity. Most families decorate their houses with bright paper or holly, and they usually have a Christmas tree in the corner or in the center of the room, glittering with colored lights and decorations.

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. However, in Russia the presents are given on January 1.

The origin of Santa Claus is in Saint Nicholas. He was born in Asia Minor in the Greco-Roman city of Myra in the province of Lycia, at a time when the region was entirely Greek in origin. Santa Claus wears a red cloak and glasses and is accompanied by his true friend Rudolph the Raindeer. In the traditional story he lives at the North Pole. But now he lives in big shops in towns and cities all over Britain. Due to the suppression of religion during the Soviet times, St. Nicholas was replaced by Ded Moroz, or Grandfather Frost, the Russian Spirit of Winter who brought gifts on New Year's. He is accompanied by Snyegurochka, the Snowmaiden, who helps distribute the gifts.

A traditional feature of Christmas in Britain is the Christmas tree. Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, brought the German tradition (he was German) to Britain. He and the Queen had a Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in 1841. A few years after, nearly every house in Britain had one. Traditionally people decorate their trees on Christmas Eve – that’s December 24th. They take down the decorations twelve days later, on Twelfth Night (January 5th). Since 1947, the country of Norway has been annually presenting Britain with a large Christmas tree, which stands in Trafalgar Square in commemoration of Anglo-Norwegian cooperation during the Second World War.

The Christmas tree (Yolka) is yet another tradition banned during the Soviet era. To keep the custom alive, Russians decorated New Year's trees instead. Since ornaments were either very expensive or unavailable, family trees were trimmed with homemade decorations and fruit. The custom of decorating Christmas trees was introduced to Russia by Peter the Great after he visited Europe during the 1700's.

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. Also, at Christmas British people kiss their friends and family under the mistletoe.

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, Brussels sprouts and gravy. Then, after the turkey, there’s Christmas pudding. Some people make this pudding months before Christmas. A lot of families have their own Christmas pudding recipes. Some, for example, use a lot of brandy. Others put in a lot of fruit or add a silver coin for good luck. Real Christmas puddings always have a piece of holly on the top. Holly bushes and trees have red berries at Christmas time, and so people use holly to decorate their houses for Christmas. The holly on the pudding is part of the decoration.

Most Russians belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church, and it is customary to fast until after the first church service on January 6, Christmas Eve or until the first star appears.
The dinner that follows is very much a celebration, although, meat is not permitted. The most important ingredient is a special porridge called kutya. It is made of wheat or other grains which symbolize hope and immortality, and honey and poppy seeds, which ensure happiness and success. Kutya is eaten from a common dish to symbolize unity. Some families used to throw a spoonful of kutya up to the ceiling. According to tradition, if the kutya stuck, there would be a plentiful honey harvest.

For many Russians, a return to religion represents a return to their old roots and their old culture. Throughout Russia, after Christmas Eve services, people carrying candles, torches, and homemade lanterns parade around the church, just as their grandparents and great-grandparents did long ago. The Krestny Khod procession is led by the highest-ranking member of the Russian Orthodox Church. After the procession completes they sing several carols and hymns before going home for a late Christmas Eve dinner.

It was once also a common practice in Russia for groups of people to travel from house to house and sing songs known as kolyadki on the Christmas Eve. Some kolyadki were pastoral carols to the baby Jesus, while others were homages to the ancient solar goddess Kolyada, who brings the lengthening days of sunlight through the winter. In return for their songs, the singers were offered food and coins, which they gladly accepted moving on to the next home.

        In Britain the pulling of Christmas crackers often accompanies food on Christmas Day. Invented by a London baker in 1846, a cracker is a brightly colored paper tube, twisted at both ends, which contains a party hat, riddle and toy or other trinket. When it is pulled by two people, it gives out a crack as its contents are dispersed.

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. There is one more explanation that Boxing Day takes its name from a former custom of giving a Christmas Box - a gift of money or food inside a box - to the deliverymen and trades people who called regularly during the year. This tradition survives in the custom of tipping the milkman, postman, dustmen and other callers of good service at Christmas time.

New Year

New Year's Day is less popular in Britain in contrast to Russia, where New Year's Day is the first holiday of the year. People stay awake until after midnight on December 31st to watch the Old Year out and the New Year in. They greet the New Year with champagne and to hear the Kremlin clock strike twelve. Many parties are given on this night. Theatres, night clubs and streets are crowded.

Many people go to the Red Square to hear the President’s congratulations. In Great Britain it is of course the Queen who speaks to her people and it is done on Christmas Day instead of the New Year’s Day. The ten-minute TV broadcast is usually the only time in a year when the monarch addresses her people directly.

In England people celebrate the New Year, but it is not as widely or as enthusiastically observed as Christmas. Some people ignore it completely and go to bed at the same time as usual on New Year’s Eve. Many others, however, do celebrate it in one way or another, the type of celebration varying very much according to the local custom, family tradition and personal taste.

The most famous celebration is in London round the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus where crowds gather and sing and welcome the New Year. In Trafalgar Square there is also a big crowd.

New Year's Eve is a more important festival in Scotland than it is in England, and it even has a special name. It is not clear where the word 'Hogmanay' comes from, but it is connected with the provision of food and drink for all visitors to your home on December 31. It was believed that the first person to visit one's house on New Year's Day could bring good or bad luck. Therefore, people tried to arrange for the person or their own choice to be standing outside their houses ready to be let in the moment midnight had come. Usually a dark-complexioned man was chosen, and never a woman, for she would bring bad luck. The first footer was required to carry three articles: a piece of coal to wish warmth, a piece of bread to wish food, and a silver coin to wish wealth.

Russian tradition of celebrating New Year more enthusiastically that Christmas can also be easily explained taking into consideration the country’s history. The Russian people were not allowed to celebrate religious holidays during the communist times, so they put all their effort into celebrating the public ones. That is why as time passed by many Christmas traditions transformed into New Year’s traditions in Russia.

Let us briefly see the difference between celebrating Christmas and New Year in Russia and Great Britain:

Easter

Approximately five thousand years ago Judaic tribes celebrated this spring day as a feast of calving of cattle, then Easter was connected with beginning of harvest, later - with leaving of Jews from Egypt. Christians have enclosed other sense of this day and celebrate it in connection with resurrection of Christ. The First Ecumenical Council established day of commemorating of Easter in year 325: the first Sunday after the first spring full moon. Then it was decided to transfer an orthodox feast one week after Jewish. So the Catholic Easter is usually celebrated a week before the Orthodox one.

The world “Easter” owes its name and many of its customs and symbols to a pagan festival called Eostre. Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of springtime and sunrise, got her name from the word East, where the sun rises. Every spring northern European people celebrated the festival of Eostre to honour the awakening of new life in nature. Christians related the rising of the sun to the resurrection of Jesus and their own spiritual rebirth. The word “Pasqua” is of a Jewish origin, it means passing with the Christ to other life, deliverance from death.

The event of resurrection of Christ took place on the third day after the death of Jesus. That day an angel came down from heavens, threw away the stone from a door of a coffin and sat on it. When devoted women among whom there was also Maria Magdalena came to pray at a coffin, the angel announced Resurrection of the Lord. The Resurrection of the God's Son defeated death of flesh and opened the way for spiritual life. Easter for Christians is transition from death to eternally blessed life.  

All the above mentioned is true for both Russia and Great Britain, as the two nations are Christians. However, Russians are Orthodox and British are Catholics, so the day Easter is celebrated in the two countries does not usually match. Catholic Easter is usually a week earlier that the Orthodox one.

There are very many similarities in the way the two nations celebrated this holiday and I would say only one considerable difference in the way of celebrating Easter in Russia and Great Britain: many Russia tend to strictly fast before Easter. Not many Europeans I know are too strict about this.

Christians fast during forty days before Easter. They choose to eat and drink only enough to keep themselves alive and they do not eat any food containing animal fat. The seven weeks of lent previous to Easter seriously change mode of life of religious Russians. In old times any entertainments, performances and music were forbidden during Fast. During Soviet times only deep believers followed these strict rules. Nowadays more and more people follow the tradition.

On eve of Easter people cook special dishes, they bake rich Easter cakes (kulichi), make Easter cottage cheese cakes (the so called Paskha) and dye eggs. Usually eggs are dyed on Thursday, and then on Saturday are brought to the church to consecrate. All paschal week people feast with rich meal with meat, eggs and other meal that were not allowed during 40 days Fast. Celebratory tables burst with many different dishes.

Many modern Easter symbols come from pagan time. The egg, for instance, was a fertility symbol long before the Christian era. The ancient Persians, Greeks and Chinese exchanged eggs at their spring festivals. In Christian times the egg took on a new meaning symbolizing the tomb from which Christ rose. The ancient custom of dyeing eggs at Easter time is still very popular.

The Easter bunny also originated in pre-Christian times. The rabbit was the most fertile animal our ancestors knew, so they selected it as a symbol of new life. Today, children enjoy eating candy bunnies and listening to stories about the Easter bunny, who supposedly brings Easter eggs in a fancy basket. The bunny is a more popular symbol in Britain than in Russia, but as Russians have lately been borrowing many traditions and symbols from the West, we can now see Easter bunnies in the stores as well.

        Eggs, chickens, rabbits and flowers are all symbols of new life. Chocolate and fruit cake covered with marzipan show that fasting is over. In England, just as in Russia, Easter is a time for giving and receiving of presents that traditionally take the form of an Easter egg. Easter egg is a real hard-boiled egg dyed in bright colors or decorated with some elaborate pattern. Coloring and decorating eggs for Easter is a very ancient custom. Many people, however, avoid using artificial dyes and prefer to boil eggs with the outer skin of an onion, which makes the eggs shells yellow or brown. In ancient times they used many different natural dyes for this purpose. The dyes were obtained mainly from leaves, flowers and bark.

        At present Easter eggs are also made of chocolate, sugar, metals, wood, ceramics and other materials at hand. They may differ in size, ranging from enormous to tiny, no bigger than a robin's egg. Easter Sunday is solemnly celebrated in London. Each year the capital city of Britain greets the spring with a spectacular Easter Parade in Battersea Park. The great procession, or parade, begins at 3 p.m. The parade consists of many decorated floats, entered by various organizations in and outside London. Some of the finest bands in the country take part in the parade. At the rear of the parade is usually the very beautiful float richly decorated with flowers. It is called the Jersey one because the spring flowers bloom early on the Island of Jersey.

        In England, children rolled eggs down hills on Easter morning, a game has been connected to the rolling away of the rock from Jesus Christ's tomb. It consists of rolling coloured, hardboiled egg down a slope until they are cracked and broken after whish they are eaten by their owners. In some districts this is a competitive game, the winner being the player whose egg remains longest undamaged, but more usually, the fun consists simply of the rolling and eating. In Russia there is also a custom of beating the eggs.

Egg is the main paschal symbol of resurrection as and egg brings new essence. There is an old Russian Easter tradition - in this day people greet each other with three times kisses and with words "Christ arise!" At paschal greeting and salutation believers give each other red eggs. This custom comes from old times. When Maria Magdalene came to emperor Tiberius, she brought him as a gift a red egg with salutation "Christ has arisen!" Red color is color of blood on the cross that Christ shed for atonement sins of the world.

As we have seen, the ways of celebrating Easter in Russia an the UK are very similar. It is surprising that Russians were able to preserve these traditions so well, even though the holiday was banned during the communist times.

We have just talked about the three most important holidays in Russia and the UK in great details, but of course there are many other holidays, both religious and public, which are worth mentioning.

Pancake Day or Maslenitsa

In Russian Pancake week is called Maslyanitsa, this word means "butter" in English. It means that many different food, including butter, may be eaten before the time when Lent comes. On the whole, the pancake week may be segmented into three parts, i.e. meeting of Maslyanitsa on Monday, broad Maslyanitsa, or the peak of festive occasion, on Thursday, and the last day, the good-bye day, which comes on Sunday morning. Through the whole week people cook pancakes served with honey, caviar, fresh cream and butter.

The historians say that those were really "mad" days in the past. People wore funny masks and costumes, sometimes, men wore women clothing and vice a versa. Such masquerade gave start to merry festival, when nice food and a lot of wine was consumed. A big man of straw was burned as the final act of saying goodbye to the already passed winter. The feast fighting was one more great fun, which helped to warm up on cold winter days. Tsars and Grand Princes used to find a lot of fun in feast fighting. At present special performances are held on Pancake week.

In Britain the day preceding Lent is known as Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day. Shrove Tuesday recalls the day when people went to Church to confess and be shriven before Lent. But now the day is more generally connected with relics of the traditional feasting before the fast. Shrove Tuesday is famous for pancake celebration.

British people eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday in February or March. In some parts of Britain there are pancake races on Shrove Tuesday. People race with a frying pan in one hand. They have to "toss" the pancake, throw it in the air and catch it again in the frying pan.

As you can see, the idea behind the holiday is very similar in both countries. However, Russians decided to celebrate for a week instead of a day. Maslenitsa is a very important feast for the Russians,probably because many of them chose to fast after it. Maslenitsa is a much brighter, more interesting and poplular holiday in Russian that in the UK.

May Day or May 1

        In Russia the connotation behind May Day or May 1 is very well known to everyone. It comes from Soviet times and can be described as “Peace, Labour, May!”. Thousands of people participated in parades and walked along the city streets with flowers and ballons. Subbotniki or day collective cleaning days were organized in schools and offices. Nowadays May 1 is a fine opportunity foe people to organize a picnic, spend some time in the open air or go to their country house.

It is extremely interesting to find out that the idea behind May Day in Britain is absolutely different. May 1st was an important day in the Middle Ages. May Day celebrations have their origins in the Roman festival of Flora, goddess of flowers, which marked the beginning of summer. People decorated their houses and villages with fresh-cut flowers gathered at dawn in the belief that the vegetation spirits would bring good fortune. In the very early morning, young girls went to the fields and washed their faces with dew. They believed this made them very beautiful for a year affer that. Also on May Day the young men of each village tried to win prizes with their bows and arrows, and people danced round the maypole.  

It is the time of year when warmer weather begins and flowers and trees start to blossom. It is said to be a time of love and romance. It is when people celebrate the coming of summer with lost of different customs that are expressions of joy and hope after a long winter.

Mother’s  Day or March 8

The earliest tributes to mothers date back to the annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to Rhea, the mother of many deities. Christians celebrated this festival on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honour of Mary, mother of Christ. In England this holiday was expanded to include all mothers and was called Mothering Sunday. In Russia we celebrate Women's day on the 8th of March. On this day men are supposed to do everything about the house and cook all the meals.

              Every second Sunday in May, English mothers become queen-for-a-day. Children present cards, flowers call their mothers. It is customary to visit one's mother on that day. Mother ought to be given a present - tea, flowers or a cake. The way Mothering Sunday is celebrated has much in common with the International Women's Day celebration in Russia.

St. Valentine’s Day

There are various versions regarding the origin of St. Valentine's Day.  Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity.  He died on February 14, 269 A.D.  Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine".  Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. He secretly married couples who were in love without permission.

Gradually, February 14 became the date for exchanging love messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers.  Boys and girls, sweethearts and lovers, husbands and wives, friends and neighbours, and even the office staff exchange greetings of affection. Valentine's day is a whirl of hearts, candy and good wishes in the form of bright, lacy, colorful cards, with loving emblems and amorous doggerel, saying: "Be my Valentine".

Halloween

Halloween is an old word for "Hallows Evening", the night before "All Hallows" or "All Saints' Day". The celebrations of All Saints Day or just Halloween takes place on October 31st. The tradition of Halloween began in the fifth century B.C. This day the Irish Celts celebrated their year according to the agricultural calendar and marked the transition from one year to the next on October 31. In the year 835 A.D. the Roman Catholic Church made November 1st a church holiday to honour all the saints. This day is called All Saint’s Day.

       The most known custom is the tradition of dressing. The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, many people were afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, people placed bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter their home.

       Fire has always played an important part in Halloween. Fire was very important to the Celts as it was to the early people. In the old days people lit bonfires to ward away evil spirits and in some laces they used to jump over the fire to bring good luck. Today, we light candles in pumpkin and then put them outside our homes to ward of evil spirits. 

Guy Fawkes’ Night

It is surprising Russians have not yet started celebrating Bonfire Night. But that is probably only because the holiday is very closely connected with the history of Great Britain,  

           Guy Faw kes Day is celebrated on November 5 in Britain. All over the country people build wood fires or “bonfires”, in their gardens. On top of each bonfire is a guy. That's a figure of Guy Fawkes. People make guys with straw, old clothes and newspapers.

On November 5th 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to kill King James I. He and a group of friends put a bomb under the Houses of Parliament in London. But the King's men found the bomb and they found Guy Fawkes, too. They took him to the Tower of London and there the King's men cut off his head.

               Every year on 5th November, the Day of the Gunpowder Plot or Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated. Throughout England, towns and villages light huge bonfires, let off magnificent fireworks, burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes and celebrate the fact the Parliament and James I were not blown by Guy Fawkes.

Ivan Kupalo or St. John the Baptist’s Day

In the Orthodox countries, as well as all over Europe, people celebrate the Holiday of St. John the Baptist. In Russia this holiday is called Ivan Kupalo. Everything in the holiday relates to water. In the past boys and girls used to swim in rivers till late at night, they burned fires and, taking each-others hands, jumped over the fires. If after the jump they still held their hands together, it considered to be a good sign saying that the wedding is close.

The popular belief was that the night before the Ivan Kupalo's Day (St.John Baptist's Day) trees would move from place to place and talk among themselves; animals and even herbs would also talk to each other, because that night they would obtain magic power. To gain this power, people would gather herbs to be used for medicinal and sorcery purposes. Also, the plants were believed to be able to point to hidden treasures (in particular, the mythological fern flower); they were expected to protect from all sorts of troubles and to be good for making love potion. To make sure that the herbs had the magic and medicinal effect, it was important to gather them in the right place at the right time following all rituals including singing special songs.

Not only water is an important part of the Kupalo holidays, but also fire. The night before the Kupalo's Day they would build fires, dance around them and jump above them. Those who could jump especially high were supposed to become happier.

The holiday was also associated with the sun; therefore, there existed a tradition of throwing from the hills the wheels covered with straw and put on fire (this used to be the ancient symbol of the sun.)

                                                                       Questionnaire

To get a better idea of the topic, I have developed a questionnaire, which I asked my friends and relatives to fill out. I have questioned ten people of my age and ten people at the age of 40-65. Below are the questions that where asked with the answers received:

1. What are the most important Russian holidays celebrated in your family?

Christmas and Easter – 45%

New Year, May 9, March 8 – 55%

2. What traditions do you follow while celebrating these holidays?

Put up a Christmas tree – 95%

Dye eggs – 80%

Go to church – 30%

3. What British holidays can you name?

St. Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Christmas

4. Do you celebrate any British holidays at home?

Yes – 35%

No – 65%

5. What traditional Russian holidays do you know or celebrate?

None – 15%

Maslenitsa – 60%

Spas, Krasnaya Gorka, Troitsa – 25%

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

Yes – 40%

No – 60%

7. Why do you think many old Russian holidays were forgotten?

I do not know – 50%

Communist ideology banned many religious and traditional pagan holidays – 50%

8. Do you celebrate both official and religious holidays?

Yes – 75%

No, only official – 25%,

The results of the questionnaire helped me understand what the most popular holidays among people of different age groups are, what old traditions are still alive and what new ones have appeared, what Russian people know about British holidays. The information I received helped me in writing this paper.

Conclusion

The purpose of this paper was to compare British and Russian holidays and traditions. We have seen how similar holidays are celebrated in the two counties. Based on the research, there are a number of conclusions that can be made.

First of all, there are more bank holidays in Russia than in the UK. Most of the holidays in Great Britain are religious-oriented compared to a great number of official holidays in Russia.

Secondly, British people are very conservative and it can be seen in the way they follow their traditions, many of which have not been changed for centuries. Russians, on the other hand, often think than new is better than the old. We tend to easily forget traditions of old generations and bring in new ones.

However, recently there has been a modern tendency to return to our roots. After the Soviet era when many traditional pagan and religious holidays were forgotten, nowadays many people start to remember these ancient holidays.

At the same time with the collapse of the Soviet Union and with the opening of the boarders Russians started to borrow a lot from the Western culture. For the past ten years we have adopted such European holidays as St. Valentine’s Day, Halloween and even Catholic Christmas. To my mind, it is not very appropriate to celebrate foreign holidays. It would be much better to remember and pay attention to traditional Russian holidays, which are closely connected to the times of paganism.

It is essential for a nation to stick to its roots and to remember its past. If we want new generations to know the Russian history and culture it is important to start educating children in families when they are young. For example, many folklore traditions and holidays are described in fairy tales, so while reading a parent has to explain its child about such thing. Teachers at schools should concentrate on this issue during History and Cultural Studies lessons. More cultural programs and Russian films should be shown on TV instead of American movies. It is important to mention Russian holidays in the news program and not talk about Halloween and St. Valentine’s Day all the time.

To conclude, I would like to say that each nation should try its best to preserve its authenticity. Hopefully one day Russians will not be known only for the love to celebrate, no matter what holidays, but also for a set of unique holidays and traditions. And it will not be us who will borrow from the West, but vice versa, the foreigners will celebrate their holidays the way the Russians do.

Literature

1. Britain in Brief. Oshepkova V.V. Shustilova I.I. Moscow, 1993
2. Britain. James O’Driscoll. Oxford, 1997

3.   English National Traditions. Kosheyeva N.E. Moscow, 1972

4.   Read and Talk About Britain and British People. Satinova V.M. Moscow, 1997

5.   Calendar National Holidays. Khodzhayev F.A. Moscow, 2002

6.   Murphy R. «English Grammar» Oxford University Press.

      7.   Sharman E. “Across Cultures” Longman.

      8.   The Dictionary of Contemporary English Longman.

      9.   The Dictionary of English Language and Culture Longman.