British Christmas
Рождество отмечают во всех уголках земного шара, и везде этот праздник обрастает собственными традициями. В Австралии Санта Клаус появляется на доске для серфинга, в Индии вместо елки наряжают манговые деревья или банановые пальмы, в Мексике в знак прощания с уходящим годом принято бить тарелки, в Финляндии в Рождество навещают могилы предков. А какие традиции празднования Рождества существуют в Англии?
Моя сестра уже более трех лет живет в Великобритании. И я попросила ее рассказать нам, как праздновать Рождество по-английски.
Christmas is the biggest celebration of the year in the UK, which people take very seriously. They start getting ready for the next Christmas as soon as the previous one is finished. There is an enormous amount of rules and regulations which everybody observes religiously. So, I will try to list the most obvious ones.
Advent calendar.
Every year on the 1st of December every person opens their Advent calendar. Normally, it’s a colourful box with 24 chocolates and every day up until Christmas on the 25th December you eat one chocolate. This is how the final countdown starts. However in recent years retailers have become more ingenious and one can buy beer Advent calendar, cosmetics, candles and pretty much anything that can be put in 24 boxes. My husband gave me a tea calendar with a tea bag of exotic flavoured tea for each cold December day.
Christmas cards.
British people send out a vast amount of cards. There are cards for every neighbour and family member, including the dogs and other pets. They are proudly displayed on the mantel piece.
Christmas trees and decorations.
This is self-explanatory and does not need much introduction. In our local garden centre they sell 1200 trees every season. And if you imagine that every village in the UK has a garden centre, simple maths shows that the amount of trees sold is huge. Though they do plant 2 trees for every tree they cut so the country will not run out of supplies in the nearest future. The trees are decorated with lights and baubles. They come up at the beginning of December. The tradition says you need to take it down on the 12th night after Christmas otherwise there will be a year of bad luck.
Christmas jumpers.
In the United Kingdom, Christmas jumpers became popular during the 1980s after a variety of television presenters began wearing them during the Christmas holidays. A survey conducted in 2012 showed that 41% of the British population owned a Christmas themed jumper, which increased to 50% within London and Wales.
Christmas presents.
December is a paradise for retailers when people buy a lot. All the shops come out with original ideas of TV adverts which are very much anticipated and discussed. The shop windows are bright and well decorated and the towns and cities hold Christmas markets.
Christmas market.
A Christmas market, also known as Weihnachtsmarkt, is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany, but now they are very popular in the UK. You can buy hand-made scarfs, decorations, cheeses and all those little things which you do not really need but which are very pleasant and create festive mood.
Queens speech.
Every Christmas all the main TV and radio channels broadcast the speech of the queen in which she sums up the year’s events.
Christmas crackers.
It is a decorated cardboard tube that emits a bang when pulled apart, releasing a toy, a joke and a paper hat. Christmas crackers are part of the table decoration and pulling them apart marks the beginning of Christmas dinner.
Christmas dinner.
Everybody cooks the same thing on Christmas day: roasted turkey; roasted potatoes, carrots and parsnips; potato mash; carrot and suede mash; Brussel sprouts and a lot of gravy. For dessert people eat Christmas pudding which is made of dried fruit and nuts or mince pies – little tarts containing a sticky mixture of small pieces of dried fruit. Christmas dinner is very rich and takes a long time to cook.
Boxing Day.
Boxing Day is the next day after Christmas. The name comes from the times when the rich families gave the boxes with leftovers of their Christmas meal to poor people. This is the day when winter sales start in the shops all over the country. But if you do not fancy shopping or if you are skinned after buying all those Christmas presents you can just stay at home, eat tasty leftovers and watch telly. Normally, some good films and interesting programs are released at this festive period.
Christmas in the UK is a time for families to get together but the thing I am most looking forward to this year is 10 days off (just like in Russia). Here the bank holidays last from the 24th December till the 2d January. And after that the new countdown to the next Christmas starts…
