British traditional holidays IGreat Britain is famous forits old traditions. Some of them existed in ancient times and survived throughcenturies. Some of them appeared when Christianity came to British isles.Speaking about religious holidays one can t but mention Easter, Pancake Day andMother s Day. The dates of these holidays aren t strict, they depend on thedateof Easter, that varies every year. Pancake day is thepopular name for the Shrove Tuesday, the day before the first day of Lent. Inthe middle ages people on that day made merry and ate pancakes. The ingredients of pancakes are allforbidden by Church during Lent, that is why they have to be used the daybefore.The most common form of celebrating this day in the old times was the all town ball game or tug-of-war, inwhich everyone was tearing here andthere, trying to get the ball or rope into their part of the city. Today theonly custom, that is observed throughout Britain is pancake eating. For the English peoplethe best-known name for the fourth in Lent Sunday is Mothering Sunday or Mother s Day. For 3centuries this day has been a day of small familygatherings when absent sonsand daughters return to their homes. Gifts are made to mothers by children ofall ages. Flowers and cakes are still traditional gifts. Violets and primrosesare most popular flowers. Sometimes the whole family goes to church and thenthere is a special dinner at which roast lamb, rice-pudding and home-made winesand served. Easter is one of themost important holidays inChristianity. In England it s a time for giving andreceiving presents, mostly Easter eggs. We can say that the egg is the mostpopular emblem of Easter, but spring-time flowers are also used to stress thenature s awakening. Nowadays there are a lot of chocolate Easter eggs, havingsome small gifts inside. But a real hard-boiled egg, decorated and painted inbright colours , still appears on breakfast tables
