(Gina D.B Clemen)
British and American Festivities is a step 1 reader from the Black Cat
Green Apple Readers series for teenagers. It is a unique book that explores the
origins of our festivities, their historical significance, and how we celebrate
them today. Why do we celebrate Halloween? Do you want to surprise your
sweetheart with a special Valentine card from Loveland, USA? Who invented the
Christmas card? Find out the answers to these and other questions. The book
covers Columbus Day, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New
Year, Martin Luther King Day, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, President's
Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, May Day, Independence Day, and Notting Hill
Carnival.
They remember Christopher Columbus’s. The first celebration of Columbus Day
was on 12 October 1792 in New York City. This exhibition starting in May 1892
and finishing in October attracted twenty-eight million visitors.
Halloween is celebrated in the USA, and has become popular in Europe
too. Many children and adults go to Halloween parties, wearing scary masks and
costumes. Some typical Halloween costumes are witches, ghosts, skeletons,
monsters and aliens.
It is a popular tradition in the USA to buy a big pumpkin and make a jack-o’-lantern.
Halloween is not just for children. Many teenagers and adults wear costumes and
go to parties on Halloween night.
Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and
Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November,
primarily in England. It is the celebration of the fact that Guy Fawkes was
arrested just before attempting to kill the King.
Americans of all religions celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday
of November. Children do not go to school, and most businesses close for four
days. People in Canada also celebrate Thanksgiving, but they celebrate it on
the second Monday in October.
Thanksgiving is a special day for families, and people travel great
distances to be with their families for this occasion.
Today the traditional Thanksgiving meal is similar to the first. People
eat roast turkey with cranberry sauce, potatoes, corn and pumpkin pie.
New Year
New Year is the time
at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count
is incremented. In many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner. The
New Year of the Gregorian calendar, today in worldwide use,
falls on 1 January, as was the case with the Roman
calendar. There are numerous calendars that remain in regional use
that calculate the New Year differently.
Martin Luther
King Day
Valentine’s
Day
Saint Valentine's
Day, often simply Valentine's Day, is observed on February 14 each year. Today
Valentine's Day is celebrated in many countries around the world, mostly in the
West,
although it remains a working day in all of them.
The original
"St. Valentine" was a liturgical celebration of one or earlier
Christian saint named Valentinus. Modern romantic connotations were
added several centuries later by poets
Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped
outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th
century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting
cards.
Presidents’
Day
Washington's Birthday is a United States federal holiday celebrated
on the third Monday of February in honor of George
Washington, the first President of the United States.
It is commonly but erroneously known as Presidents Day (sometimes spelled
Presidents' Day or President's Day). As Washington's Birthday or Presidents
Day, it is also the official name of a concurrent state holiday
celebrated on the same day in a number of states.
Saint Patrick’s
Day
Saint Patrick's Day is a cultural and religious
holiday celebrated on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick
(c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognized of the patron saints
of Ireland,
and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. The day is
generally characterized by the attendance of church
services, wearing of green attire, public parades and processions,
and the lifting of Lenten
restrictions on eating, and drinking alcohol.
Easter
Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide
or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost
Sunday. The festival is referred to in English by a variety of
different names including Easter Day, Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day and
Resurrection Sunday.
Independence
Day
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States
commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence
on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Independence Day
is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues,
carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball
games, family reunions, and political speeches and
ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating
the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day
is the national day
of the United States.
Notting Hill
Carnival
Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event in August, over two days (Sunday
and the following bank holiday). It has continuously taken place
since 1965. It is led by members of the Caribbean population, many of whom have
lived in the area since the 1950s. The carnival has attracted up to
1.5 million people in the past, putting it among the largest street
festivals in Europe.
