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For most British families, this is the most important festival of the year, it combines the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ with the traditional festivities of winter.
On the Sunday before Christmas many churches hold a carol1 service where special hymns are sung. Sometimes carol singers can be heard on the streets as they collect money for charity2. People are reminded of Charles Dickens' story 'Christmas Carol'. Most families decorate their houses with brightly coloured paper or holly1, and they usually have a Christmas tree4 in the corner of the front room, glittering with coloured lights and decorations.
There are a lot of traditions connected with Christmas but perhaps the most important one is the giving of presents. Family members wrap up their gifts and leave them at the bottom of the Christmas tree to be found on Christmas morning. Children leave a long sock or stocking at the end of their beds on Christmas Eve, 24th December, hoping that Father Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and bring them small presents, fruit and nuts. They are usually not disappointed! At some time on Christmas Day the family will sit down to a big turkey dinner followed by Christmas pudding. They will probably pull a cracker with another member of the family. It will make a loud crack and a coloured hat, small toy and joke will fall out!
Later in the afternoon they may watch the Queen on television as she delivers her traditional Christmas message to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. If they have room for even more food they may enjoy a piece of Christmas cake or eat a hot mince pie. 26th December is also a public holiday, Boxing Day, and this is the time to visit friends and relatives or watch football.
I think Boxing Day is confusing for people who don’t know much about Christmas. It is a strange name for a holiday. I bet many people think it is a time when people have a fight and punch each other. Well, it’s quite a bit different than that. Boxing Day started hundreds of years ago as a way of helping poorer people at Christmas. Shopkeepers and craftsmen used to put a special Christmas box in their store or workshop. Customers and visitors would put money into the box. On the day after Christmas Day, which is December 26th, the shopkeeper emptied the box and shared the money with his workers. So that’s how Boxing Day started. This tradition kind of continues today. Many companies give their workers a Christmas bonus.
I’ve always liked Boxing Day. It’s kind of the same as Christmas Day. It has a nice feel about it and we get to eat Christmas dinner all over again. There are also lots of good programmes and movies on TV. For children, it’s another day to play with all their new toys; and for adults, it’s another day off work – at least in countries where Boxing Day is a national holiday. The biggest difference for me between the two days is that there are no more presents to open on Boxing Day. There is a lot of sport on Boxing Day so many people go to watch a football match or game of rugby. And if you don’t like sport, there are always the Boxing Day sales. You can go shopping and buy all of the things you wanted for Christmas but didn’t get!
Easter Sunday commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the most important Christian celebration. The date of Easter Sunday changes every year, and that changes the date of all the important holy days that come before Easter. It falls between late March and late May. Easter is so important because Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead, two days after he died on the cross. Jesus’ dead body was buried in a cave on Good Friday and two days later the stone that covered the cave’s entrance had been moved and Jesus’ body had gone. Various people saw Jesus in the following days and his followers understood God had raised him from the dead. Historians say this happened some time between 26 and 36 AD.
People celebrate Easter in many ways around the world. It is a very busy time for churches. Many Christians light a special Pascal candle on the evening before Easter. This represents the rising of Christ. There are special songs and hymns which people sing in church. Children like Easter because their parents and grandparents give them chocolate Easter eggs, a sign of new birth. Schoolchildren usually decorate eggs and display them in their school or give them as gifts. Other things associated with Easter are the Easter Bunny and spring flowers like irises. An unusual Easter tradition in Norway is to solve murder mysteries at Easter. Television channels show murder mystery shows.
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