British and American way of life, festivals and traditions

ies in the evening.
December 31 - Some nations celebrate New Year’s Eve but for the English the most important holiday is Christmas. On New Year’s Eve the English people stay up till midnight to see the old ear out and drink a toast to the New Year. In London some people gather in Trafalgar Square and celebrate the coming of the New Year with singing and dancing. Hogmanay is the Scottish name for New Year’s Eve which is more celebrate than Christmas. It begins with the arrival of the guests who have been invited to join the family to see in the New Year. They sit down to dinner which begins with haggis, Scotland’s national dish (minced heart, lungs and liver of a sheep, boiled in a sheep’s stomach with oatmeal). Before midnight many townsfolk gather in the square, they sing and dance in the Scottish style. At midnight there is a great cheer, people cross arms, link hands for a traditional song, „Auld Lang Syne“.

USA
Important Days:
On February the 14th is St. Valentine’s Day. It is a lover’s day. On this day young people give gifts or send greeting cards called Valentines to people they like or admire. The day is named for an early Christian martyr.
Next holiday is Easter, that is celebrated in all Christian world. It is to the memory of death of Jesus Christ and it is an ancient symbol of spring and new life. In this time people usually eat a lamb and hot-cross-bun. There are many habits, as pouring water to boys, giving painted eggs and others. It is celebrated on Easter Sunday (Holy Saturday or Easter Eve). Good Friday commemorates Jesus crucifixion. Easter Sunday is also know as Palm Sunday. Whit Easter I associated holiday, going to church (ceremonies), whipping with cane (willow), young animals (hens, chickens, lamb), flowers (daffodil), eggs with painted, decorated or coloured shell, presents as chocolate eggs, toys and sweets. Easter Bunny is a rabbit who is believed to the deliver children Easter biscuits with eggs on Easter Monday.
Perhaps the two „most American“ of the holidays are the July 4th - Independence Day - and Thanksgiving. Independence Day is like a big, national birthday party. It is a party that takes peace in the neighbourhood, on beaches or in parks throughout the country. Some towns and cities have parades with bands and flags. The nation’s birthday is also nation’s greatest annual summer party.
Thanksgiving Day has been celebrated in America since 1621. In this year it was celebrated by English settlers of the Plymouth colony. The settlers were called the Pilgrims and in 1620 they sailed to America on a ship called the Mayflower. They wanted religious freedom. At home they couldn’t separate from the established church. After their two-month voyage they landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, in icy November.
The first winter was difficult, and many of the pilgrims died. But the survivors (about half of the original number) were able to found a colony. They brought some seeds for planting and tools for making new homes from England. They had to struggle with rocky soil. A friendly Indian showed them how to plant the corn and they also learnt to hunt animals.
The following year the harvest was good, and there was a celebration for three days. To thank the Indians for their help, the Pilgrims invited their chief to the feast.
Gradually the custom of giving thanks to the Lord (to God) for his goodness, for harvest, and good things for which people are thankful has become a part of American tradition. Since Lincoln’s time it has been custom for the president to proclaim the fourth Thursday of November Thanksgiving Day.
American of all religions celebrate this holiday with big dinners and family reunions. Some of the family have to travel by air, car, students use their four-day holiday to go home. It is a time to remember all good things in life and be thankful for them, a time to be with people we love.
Here is the Thanksgiving menu: Turkey with bread stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie.
There is no soup and the menu could be made bigger with dinner rolls, a fresh green salad, corn and green beans.
The beautiful turkey is the glorious centrepiece of the Thanksgiving table. The turkey should be golden brown on the outside and the inside should be moist and tender.
The gravy is basically thickened juice from turkey that we get during baking.
The mashed potatoes can be creamy or smooth, fluffy or light, or whatever you prefer.
For best results, the cranberry sauce should be made about three days in advance. Boil water, sugar, cloves, allspice and cinnamon sticks for about three minutes, add cranberries and cook until they begin to pop. For the next three days cranberry sauce is refrigerated and all spices need to be removed before serving.
The pumpkin pie needs a good crust made from dough and a good filling prepared from a mixture of pumpkin, sugar and spice. It’s good ides to bake the pie the day before, so the oven is free to roast the turkey.
It all may sound simple, but to prepare a meal for the whole family normally takes a few days of planning, grocery shopping and preparations and a whole day of cooking.
Dinner time is between 3 to 5 PM. By that time is a great smell in whole house and everyone who skipped their lunch is hungry.
In the afternoon there are football matches that people can watch on TV. Every year Thanksgiving parades are organized in NY. In the parade there are large floats, balloons and bands from all over the States.
Free thanksgiving dinner is offered in shelters for homeless and in some places also for very poor families. There are also food drives in most of the neighbourhoods. People who can afford it man donate some canned food or money. „Nobody should be hungry on Thanksgiving Day“ is written in supermarkets above donation boxes, where anybody can drop some canned food for the poor.
Halloween (Hallowe’en) comes every October 31st, the evening before All-Saints Day. This pagan festival celebrates the return of the souls of the dead who come back to visit places where they used to live. Halloween means „holly evening“ and it is a holiday especially for children. Children pick large orange pumpkins then they cut faces in the pumpkins and they put lights inside. These lights are called „jack-o’lanterns“ which means „Jack of the lantern“. The children also put on strange masks and costumes. Some of them paint their faces to look like monsters. They carry boxes or bags from house to house and the adults put a treat-money or candy in their bags. Children say „Trick or treat“ which means „Give us a treat or we will play a trick on you“. The most common trick is drawing pictures on the window with soap or they squirting water in your face.
Now about American and Christmas holiday. For some Americans Christmas is a religious holiday honouring the birth of Jesus Christ, for other it is a time of Santa Claus and the giving and receiving of gifts. And some Americans do not celebrate Christmas at all for personal, cultural or religious reasons.
Christmas season includes also New Year’s Day on January 1st, ends on January 6th, the Day of the Epiphany when three wise men presented their gifts to the baby Jesus.
The Christmas shopping season begins very soon, in the USA it is on Friday after Thanksgiving. On this day shoppers begin the long process of buying gifts for family members and dear friends.
The traditional Christmas dinner, that is served on Christmas day, can include roast turkey with a chestnut dressing cranberries, mashed potatoes, gravy and assorted vegetables. For dessert one can eat plum pudding or pumpkin pie. A traditional Christmas drink is eggnog - a blend of cream, egg, milk and nutmeg. With a shot of brandy, rum or whiskey.
Song and music of the Christmas season fill the air. Probably the most popular religious Christmas song is „Silent Night“.
Many people at Christmas time send postcards wishing holiday greetings to family and friends. Some of the cards have pictures of Santa Claus bearing gifts, or winters seines, and of the Holy Family. Christmas wishes are universal and can be used by friends of all nations.
Christmas trees are an important part of the season in America. Freshly-cut Christmas trees are usually pines or firs. A family travels to the woods and they searches for their tree. The tree is cut and brought home for decorations. Colourful lights, bright ornaments and candy canes decorate trees. American also decorate the outside of their houses.
Christmas traditions depend on nationalities living in the area. A more common Christmas tradition in the USA is the hanging of the mistletoe. A spring of mistletoe is hung in doorway or on a light fixture. If a young girl or woman stands beneath the mistletoe she can be biased.
Now something about next holiday celebrated in the USA. I have to say that each state established its own legal holidays. So people celebrate the federal legal holidays and also their own holidays. There are many traditional holidays, observed by a large number of Americans, which are also neither legal nor official.
The American flag and Anthem:
The American flag consists of two parts - one smaller blue oblong with 50 white stars symbolizing 50 American states and one larger oblong consisting of 6 white and 7 red stripes symbolizing the original 13 states which used to be the British colonies. The flag is sometimes called „Old Glory“ or „Stars and Stripes“. The first US flag was created in 1776.
The American national anthem is called „The Star-Spangied Banner“.


BRITISH CUSTOMS AND HABITS
British are said to be the rudest nation on the earth and they are just to polite to show it. British are said to be strange but they don= t realize they are. They have special customs, special humour, special food and so on….
They don’t speak to you if you haven’t been introduced they don’t feel aside (stranou) if they won’t to talk to you because they hardly talk to each other.
One thing they really hate is being addressed in a foreign language. This terrifies (vystrasit) them. They cannot understand how anyone reaches the maturity (dospelost) without being able to speak English. As I said at the beginning, the British sense of humour is for us poor and special. It’s hard to understand. They often make jokes about them but if anyone else makes joke about Britain, British, habit, …. he/she’ll be the cold shoulder.
Another special thing is that British queue almost for everything. They sometimes queue to get in to a queue.
Every country has its own traditions and habits. There are many feasts in Britain.
In February, on the 14th of February, comes very popular festival called St.Valentine’s day. The origin of this festival goes back to the history. Once there was a bishop named Valentine who helped lovers. This day many people send a card to the one they love or someone whom they have fallen in love with. People usually do not sign them and a lot of time is spent trying to guess who has sent them. Lovers usually go for a dinner or they give each other some gifts. This festival is very popular in our country too, you can find many hearts and love symbols, almost on every shop window. So if you want to confess love to somebody, St. Valentine’s Day is the best day to do it.
Another festival I would like to mention is St. Patrick’s Day. It’ s celebrated on 17th of March and this day is a national holiday in Ireland. This festival is celebrated by many Irish people all over the world especially in America. People take part in parades (prehlidka) they wear green clothes with shamrocks, they eat green food, drink green bear and even dye some rivers green. It’s celebrated in memory of St. Patrick who came to Ireland to convert (zmenit) people to Christianity.
At Easter time, the British celebrate the idea of new birth by giving each other Chocolate Easter eggs which are greened and eaten on Easter Sunday. On Good Friday bakers sell hot cross buns (bochanek), which are toasted and eaten with butter. Easter Monday is a holiday and many people travel to the seaside for the day or go and watch one of the many sporting events, such as football or horse-racing.
Halloween means the eve of All Saints’ Day and take place on 31st October. Although, it’s a much more important festival in USA than in GB, it’s cel