Holidays and festivals

Holidays and festivals
I would like to speak about holidays and festivals, which we celebrate in the Czech Republic and which celebrate people in the USA and Great Britain. There are for example church holidays, state holidays or family holidays.
· Some of the holidays are celebrated everywhere, some of them only somewhere.
· Some of holidays are celebrated in the same way, but some of them in the different way.
 
New Year’s Day and Eve
- New Year’s Day is celebrated on 1st January
- it’s start to the new year
- is celebrated all around the world
- the Czech Republic celebrate formation of independent ( 1993 )
- people sending New Year’s cards and wishing Good Luck by the new year
 
Valentine’s Day
- is celebrated on 14th February
- is lover’s day
- is celebrated all over the world
- people sending Valentine cards and giving gifts
- originally this day commemorated the Roman priest who gave aid and comfort to
  the persecuted Christians before he was put to death
 
All Fools’ Day
- is celebrated on 1st April
- is celebrated all over the world
- people do jokes and tricks on other people and then they can shout ,,April Fool”
 
Easter
CR - is celebrated on Easter Monday ( first Monday after full Moon )¨
GB + USA - is celebrated on Easter Sunday
- feast of the Christian Church: Good Friday - Jesus’ crucifixion
  Easter Sunday - Resurrection of Jesus
- people decorated eggs as a symbol of new life and give them as presents
CR - boys have special whip called ,,pomlázka” and they whip women with it
  - girl give them dyed or chocolate eggs
  - in the afternoon girls throw water on boys
USA - most Americans spend Easter with the family
  - children look for eggs which the adults hid somewhere
 
Labor Day
CR - this day honours all the working people, celebrated by a day of rest
  - is celebrated on 1st May
USA - they have this day on 1st Monday in September
GB - this day is called May Day
 
Day of the Deads - Halloween
CR - on 1st November
  - people remember on the deads and go to cemetery to decorate graves
USA + GB - on 31st October
  - children dress up costumes with masks and they go to their friends
  and neighbours houses and people treat them with sweets, fruit or money

Mother’s Day
- is celebrated on 2nd Sunday in May
- in the USA and GB they celebrated Father’s Day too on 3rd Sunday in June
- in the CR we celebrated Children’s Day on 1st June
 
Christmas
- everywhere people decorated Christmas trees
CR - celebrations begin with the Day of St. Nicholas on 5th December
- celebrations end with the Day of the Three Kings on 6th January
Day of St. Nicholas - St. Nicholas, the Devil and the Angel visit the homes and ask
the children if they behave - children sing a song or recite a short poem
- good kids get sweets, bad kids are put in the Devil’s sack and taken to hell
24th December - Christmas Eve - family is together; on TV there are fairy-tails
- in the evening we have potatoes salad and fried carp for Christmas dinner
- we sing carols and there are a lot of presents under the Christmas Tree
25th December - Christmas Day + 26th December - St. Stephen’s Day
- people visited grandparents and other relatives and their friends too
 
GB - Christmas are there celebrated in the different way
24th December - this day is for office party, lot of people spend the day shopping
- before children go to bed, they hang up Christmaas stockings at the end of
  the beds and believe that Santa Claus fills up the stockings with presents
25th December - Christmas Day - in the morning kids enjoy unwrapping presents
- Christmas dinner consists of roast turkey with chestnut stuffing and roast
  potatoes and Christmas pudding
- people sing carols on the radio, TV and there are also professional choirs
26th December - Boxing Day - people give presents or money to postmen, milkmen,
  dustmen and newspaper boys to their Christmas boxes
 
USA - Christmas isn’t national and family holiday
  - Americans decorated their houses or gardens
  - families invite friends to join them at Christmas dinner and often give parties
  26th December - Boxing Day - shops are open and people have a day off
 
Days of state patrons saints
CR - 28th September: Saint Wenceslas Day = Czech Statehood Day
GB - 1st March: St. David’s Day - the patron saint of Wales
  17th March: St. Patrick’s Day - the patron saint of Ireland
  23rd April: St. George’s Day - the patron saint of England
  30th November: St. Andrew’s Day - the patron saint of Scotland
 
Days connected with wars
CR - 8th May: Liberation Day - end of World War II.
GB - 11th November: Remembrance Day - honours killed in the world wars
USA - 4th Monday in May: Memorial Day - honours Americans killed in wars
11the November: Veteran’s Day - honours the veterans of wars
 
Other important days
CR - 28th October: Independent Czechoslovak State Proclamation Day ( 1918 )
  17th November: Day of Fight for Freedom and Democracy - Velvet Revolution
GB - Saturday after 9th June: The Queen’s Official Birthday
  5th November: Guy Fawkes Day - celebrated with fires and the burning of guys
  last Monday in May and August: Spring and Summer Bank Holiday 
USA - 3rd Monday in January: Martin Luther King’s Day
  4th July: Independence Day
4th Thursday in November: Thanksgiving Day - national holiday