Traditions and holidays

British calendar is flashy with all kinds of holidays: national, traditional, public or bank holidays. The formation of some of them dates back hundreds of year, and it is not great surprise for such country as Great Britain loving its culture and history.

Public or bank holidays require all business and other bank institutions to close for the day and to give the employees a paid day off. They are: Christmas, New Years Day, Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, etc. Traditions respected on these days are various and interesting: for example, on the President’s Day girls are to ask boys off for a date, or invite them to a party or to the cinema, or even ask him to marry her. On the St. Patrick’s Day people use to wear something green and attend parades.

National holidays are also rich in their traditions and customs. On the Memorial Day people use to invite friends and relatives to a dinner and remember the dead together.

The Midsummer Day, on the 24th of June gives a possibility to visit the Stonehenge – the biggest stone circle, dating back to the 1st century BC, built by Druids, and is considered their calendar, used to count months and seasons.

If you visit UK on the 31st of October, you can meet witches, wizards, ghosts and different types of evil spirits appearing on Halloween. It is common for people to spend thousands of dollars on dresses, masks and other types of Halloween attributes. The celebration begins long before the 31st. People decorate their houses with pumpkins – they cut out the middle of the pumpkin, cut holes for eyes and mouth and put a candle inside. Some cities make a whole competition and parade of the best pumpkins of all. Children have a special tradition to go to their neighbors and play “Trick or Treat!” . If people give them money they will go away, otherwise they will play a trick on you by drawing something dreadful on your house or your car.