Holidays
занимательные факты по английскому языку (6 класс) на тему

Easter — Christian holiday

Easter is the holiest day of the year for Christians. It celebrates their belief in the resurrection, or the rising from the dead, of Jesus Christ. Easter is always observed on a Sunday in the spring, but its date varies.
The week before Easter Sunday is known as Holy Week. Palm Sunday recalls the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem shortly before his death. Holy Thursday marks the Last Supper of Jesus with his followers. Good Friday remembers the crucifixion, when Jesus was killed by being nailed to a cross. The Monday after Easter Sunday is called Easter Monday.
Easter is a very old festival. In pre-Christian times people used to celebrate the start of spring and ‘new life’. The word ‘Easter’ comes from the name of a pre-Christian goddess called Eostre.
According to legend, Eostre was a playful goddess whose reign began in the spring when the Sun King travelled across the sky in his chariot, bringing the end of winter. Eostre came down to earth then, appearing as a beautiful girl with a basket of bright colorful eggs.

Scarlet sails of love

We are shaped and fashioned by what we love. (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)

St Valentine’s Day is the day for exchanging love messages, chocolates, roses, and promises.
Nowadays it is celebrated all over the world and millions of people receive Valentine cards on February 14th. Originally, Valentine cards were only sent by men to women.
The oldest existing Valentine card can be found in the British Museum. It was sent in 1415.
Your heart beats faster when you are in love. This is why the heart is considered to be the centre of our emotions and is always used to illustrate love.

Red Nose Day

Red Nose Day

“Why not have fun and help people at the same time?”
For one day every two years, Britain goes crazy. People all over the country (even police officers and teachers) wear red noses and do silly things. It’s Red Nose Day — the day when doing really stupid things can raise loads of money for charity.
British comic Lenny Henry came up with the idea. Other comics liked it and in 1985 a special organization — Comic Relief — was set up. Comic Relief involves the public and celebrities in fun events and charity.
The symbol of Red Nose Day is the clown nose. Each year a different red nose is sold. Since 1985 there have been all kinds of noses: boring plain ones, the ones that looked like faces, then the ones that squeaked, then the ones that changed colour when they got hot, then the ones that stuck their tongues out when squeezed…
Buying a red nose is one of the ways of giving money to Comic Relief.

Christmas and New Year superstitions

Many people are superstitious and there are a lot of superstitions connected with Christmas and New Year’s Day. Most of them appeared in long-ago times. It was before the arrival of Christianity in Europe.

Christmas superstitions
If the wind is blowing on Christmas Day, you are in for a good year.
If you want to have good health throughout the next year, eat an apple on Christmas Eve.

 If you want to be happy, eat Christmas pudding on Christmas Day.
If you wear new shoes on Christmas Day, it will bring you bad luck.
If you refuse a mince pie at Christmas dinner, you will have bad luck for the coming day.

 If you cut a mince pie, you’ll “cut your luck” too.

Bonfire night

Bonfire night

Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Day is one of the most popular festivals in Great Britain. It commemorates the discovery of the co-called Gunpowder Plot, and is widely celebrated throughout the country. On the fifth of November boys and girls get an old suit or maybe an old pair of dad’s pants and an old jacket and stuff them with straw or newspapers. Then they make a villainous-looking head. If they can get a hat, they put that on too. The dummy is called a Guy. The children then march their Guy through the streets asking people for money: “A penny for the Guy, mister?” If they collect enough money, they go and buy fireworks — rockets, and sparklers and the like.

 As soon as it gets dark, everyone, children and adults, make a huge bonfire and burn the dummy on it.

Famous quotations on love

• Where there is love there is life. Mahatma Gandhi — Там, где есть любовь, там есть жизнь. Махатма Ганди

• We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end. Benjamin Disraeli — Мы все рождены для любви. Это принцип существования, и его единственная цель. Бенджамин Дизраэли

• Without love, the world itself would not survive. Lope de Vega — Без любви, мир сам по себе не выживет. Лопе де Вега

• Life is the flower for which love is the honey. Victor Hugo — Жизнь – это цветок, для которого любовь есть нектар. Виктор Гюго

• Take away love, and our earth is a tomb. Robert Browning — Уберите любовь, и наша земля — могила. Роберт Браунинг

Happy Birthday, America!

Independence Day is the most important American holiday. United States of America were born on July 4, 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed and America started the fight for freedom from British rule. Before this date, the King of England, George III, ruled the thirteen colonies in America. In 1767, the British government placed new taxes on tea and paper that the colonists imported from abroad. The colorists got angry and refused to pay. George III sent soldiers to keep order. In 1772, a group of colonists dressed up as Indians threw 542 chests of tea belonging to the East India Company into the waters of Boston harbor – it was so called Boston tea party. King George didn’t think it was funny and closed Boston harbor until the tea was paid for.

When in Rome do as the Romans do

One wise man said that no man should travel until he has learned the language of the country he visits. True, isn’t it? However, we sometimes realise, to our great astonishment, that the knowledge of the language is not enough. Every country has its customs. Different nations can behave differently in the same situations. Let’s be polite travellers. Let’s respect the customs of the country we are in. Let’s not forget the proverb: “When in Rome do as the Romans do.»

All Fools Day

The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fool’s Day.
But why the people call it so
Nor I nor they themselves do know.
Poor Robin’s Almanac, 1760

Who Was the First Fool? Who started it? Did the first fools come from France, England, Sweden or India? The truth is lost in the mists of time. Some blame it on the French when they adopted a new calendar in 546 that moved the New Year up from April 1st to January 1st. Those who did not get the word in time and continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1st became known as April Fools.

 Others argue that the modern April Fools’ Day began in many parts of the world at the same time, in celebration of the spring equinox.

Thanksgiving day

Thanksgiving day

One day is there of the series Termed Thanksgiving day, Celebrated part at table, Part in memory. E. Dickinson Every year on the fourth Thursday in November, Americans celebrate a purely American holiday called Thanksgiving Day. This is a day for family reunions. American families meet for a special dinner, usually with turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin and pies. They give thanks to God for the past year, and remember the first harvest of the first English settlers of

 the Plymouth colony in 1621.