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English HalloweenCustoms

The celebration 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 New Year at that time, because they organized their year according to the agricultural calendar and marked the transition from one year to the next on October 31.

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 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 all early people. In the old days people lit bonfires to ward away evil spirits and in some places they used to j ump 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.

Trick or Treat was first known as Mischief Night. Halloween was a time for making mischief — many parts of England still recognize this date as Mischief Night — when children would knock on doors demanding a tr eat (Trick or Treat) and people would disguise themselves as witches or ghosts, in order to obtain food and money from nervous householders.

Свята Англії на будь-який смак

Ми хочемо представити англійські свята по порядку, згідно з календарним роком.

• New year’s Day — it is celebrated in January. This holiday denotes the beginning of a new year. English people celebrate it at home, they decorate a fir-tree, prepare a holiday table, invite friends. After that everybody goes out to the streets and squares, they meet friends and relatives, congratulate each other.
• St. Valentine’s Day is on the 14th February. It is the holiday of all people in love. Men give heart-shaped postcards to women with the words «Be my Valentine», and flowers and other gifts.
• St. David’s Day is on the 1st March. This holiday is celebrated in Wales, and it is very important for Wales dwellers, because St. David is their protector. They wear daffodils on their clothes on that day as a symbol of their country.
• St. Patrick’s Day is on the 17th March. It is celebrated in Ireland, because St. Patrick is the protector of Ireland. The Irish people respect very much their protector.
• Mother’s Day, the of March 26th. A very important holiday in Great Britain. Children congratulate their mothers and grannies, give flowers to them and help them about the house.
• April fool’s Day or the 1st April. It appeared in Middle Ages. On this day, the servants became masters and masters became servants. Nowadays the 1st April is the day of jokes and leg-pulls.
• Queen’s Birthday — of the 21st April. This is Queen Elizabeth II birthday. All the newspapers, radio and TV channels congratulate her.
• St. George’s Day, the 23d of April. St. George is the protector of England. English people wear a red rose on their clothes as their national symbol; they prepare their national plates and sing national songs.
• Easter is in April. It is a very important religious holiday; it means the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
• The Tatty Holidays / The Potato Holidays in October. Young people helped farmers to get potato crops. But nowadays, when this process is mechanized, these days are called October weekend. British people go to the country or visit their relatives.
• Halloween (Hallows Evening), the 31st of October. The holiday of ghosts and witches. Children wear strange clothes and make masquerades.
• St. Andrew’s Day, the 30th of November. The day of scotland’s protector.
• Christmas, the 25th of December. People decorate Christmas tree, give presents to each other, and meet friends.