Holidays and Notable Special Days in Great Britain
National Customs and Celebrations
v Culture Shock
The range of feelings and symptoms that can occur as a result of moving from a familiar to an unfamiliar culture are often referred to as Culture Shock. This is the shock of a new environment, meeting new people and learning the ways of a different country. It also includes the upset of being separated from the important people in your life: family, friends, colleagues, teachers: people who would usually give you support.
Culture shock is not quite as sudden as most people expect. The first few days in a new country can be a time of great excitement, when everything is new and intriguing. However, this excitement can fade and you may start to feel confused and isolated. Symptoms include a loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, lack of concentration and fatigue. This is the most difficult phase for any new student and it is important to remember that what you are feeling is a normal reaction for someone who has moved to new surroundings.
Next, you may become hostile to the new culture and conscious of all that you dislike about it. Despite what you may think, this is actually quite a healthy reaction as it means you are reconnecting with what you value about yourself and your own culture. From here, you will begin to understand the two cultures and their differences. This will give you more confidence as you gain experience and are better able to cope with new things.
v National stereotypes
A stereotype is an image or idea of a particular type of person or thing that has become fixed through being widely held, but which is often not true in reality.
There are a variety of common national stereotypes. Such stereotypes are usually prejudicial and often ill-informed, and often overlap with ethnic or racial stereotypes. On one hand, we hate stereotyping because we are told that "cultured people don't use stereotypes". On the other hand, it’s hard to avoid them. The Brits make jokes about the Irish. The Poles make jokes about the police. The French make jokes about the Belgians . . . and so it goes on. Such national stereotypes, being instantly recognised, play an important role in advertising and comedy. They also play a more serious role in provoking and maintaining conflict and war between nations. I think stereotypes are actually really helpful, if used wisely. For example, if every American/French/German...could look at these stereotypes and try to NOT be all those things, the world would be a better place.
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Test your stereotypes:
Match the characteristics with different nationalities as you see them:
Americans Canadians Asians English French Germans Japanese Irish Jews Italians Mexicans Russians Africa Finns New Zealanders
A trifle out of touch with reality
always surrender in war
are all experts in martial arts
are all illegal immigrants,
are obsessed with money.
are rather weak and cowardly
aren't fond of working, mostly prefer to strike
beer-lovers
bigoted
boring
commit terrorist acts.
copy the western cultures.
drink cups of tea all day
drunk
eat frogs' legs
Exactly like Americans, but twenty times more boring.
fat
fiery-tempered
generally bossy and rude.
good at math
have bad yellow teeth
have no sense of humor
have poor morality
ready to stab you in the back
kiwi-eaters
lazy football hooligans
loud
never smile/ unfriendly
often elegant looking and drive sports cars.
only talk about the weather,
overly polite
redheads
ride bears
secretly ache to invade Europe
spend the entire tourist trip taking pictures
swear constantly
tasteless and vulgar
the whole continent is a mess.
unstylish
work for little money
workaholics
would go to the USA on a canoe across the Great Lakes.
“Heaven is where the police are English, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and everything is organized by the Swiss. Hell is where the police are German, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, the bureaucrats are Mexican and everything is organized by the Italians."
There are many alternative ways to describe the people of the United Kingdom (UK), though the official designated nationality is British.
The standard noun is Briton (demonym), but in colloquial usage this is often abbreviated informally to Brit. In practice, Britons are often referred to, according to their constituent nation, as English, Scottish, Welsh, or Northern Irish. Sassenach is a word used chiefly by the Scots to designate an Englishman. In French the term rosbif may refer to the idea that it is the only dish British cooks can prepare. In Switzerland the term Tea Bags is used at least in the German speaking regions to refer to Britons. John Bull was originally a character created by John Arbuthnot in 1712. In Poland, the British people are often called "Five O'Clocks" (Fajfokloki) as a reference to the legendary Five O'Clock Tea.
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v Holidays and Celebrations
Holidays and Notable Special Days in Great Britain
January- 1st New Year's Day
5th Twefth Night
Twelfth Night is when all Christmas Decorations should be removed so as not to bring bad luck upon the home. If decorations are not removed on Twelfth Night, they should stay up all year. Long ago people believed that tree-spirits lived in the greenery (holy, ivy etc) they decorated their houses with. It was necessary to return the greenery back outside to release the tree-spirits into the countryside once again. Failure to do this would mean that vegetation would not be able to start growing again (spring would not return).
The Yule log, lit on Christmas day, remained burning until Twelfth Night in order to bring good fortune to the house for the coming year.
February - 1st Candlemas Day. It was the day of the year when all the candles were brought into church and a blessing was said over them - so it was the Festival Day (or 'mass') of the Candles.
14th Valentine's Day
March - 1st St David's Day (Wales National Day) - Each part of the UK has its own Saint's Day
17th St. Patrick's Day (Ireland's Special Day)
March/April - Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Day, the last day before Lent)
Mothering Sunday (the equivalent of Mothers’ Day in other countries), is always the 4th Sunday of Lent.
Maundy Thursday ( Holy Thursday), is the feast on the Thursday before Easter
Easter
April - 1st April Fool's Day
23rd St George's Day (England's National Day)
May - 1st May Day. It is said to be a time of love and romance. People celebrate the coming of summer. Traditional English May Day celebrations include Morris dancing, crowning a May Queen and dancing around a Maypole.
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June - The Trooping the Colour is tradition going back to the days when the Colours, or regimental flag of the regiment, was trooped in front of soldiers to make sure everyone could recognise their flag in battle. This is the Sovereign's Official Birthday.
July - Swan Upping. The census of swans takes place annually during July on the River Thames in a ceremony known as Swan Upping. Swans are counted and marked.
August - Notting Hill Carnival
September - Harvest Festival
October - 31st Halloween (the eve of All Saints' Day. ORIGIN: contraction of All Hallow Even)
November - 5th Bonfire Night
11th Remembrance Day is the time of the year when people wear a red poppy in memory of those who sacrificed their lives for us during wars.
30th St Andrew's Day (Scotland's National Day)
December - Advent (from the Latin word 'adventus' which means "arrival"). It is a time of waiting for the arrival of Christmas,
25th Christmas
26th Boxing Day it is the following day after Christmas Day. Traditionally, this was the day to open the Christmas Box to share the contents with the poor.
The USA
Although the word "holiday" literally means "holy day," most American holidays are not religious, but commemorative in nature and origin. It is possible to trace some of the American holidays to diverse cultural traditions, but all holidays have taken on a distinctively American flavor.
In the strict sense, there are no federal (national) holidays in the United States. Each of the 50 states has jurisdiction over its holidays. In practice, however, most states observe the federal ("legal or public ") holidays, even though the President and Congress can legally designate holidays only for federal government employees.
The following ten holidays per year are proclaimed by the federal government.
| New Year's Day | January 1 |
| Martin Luther King Day | 3d Monday in January |
| Presidents' Day | 3d Monday in February |
| Memorial Day | last Monday in May |
| Independence Day | July 4 |
| Labor Day | 1st Monday in September |
| Columbus Day | 2nd Monday in October |
| Veterans' Day | 2nd Monday in November |
| Thanksgiving Day | 4th Thursday in November |
| Christmas Day | December 25 |
Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th. Easter falls on a spring Sunday that varies from year to year. Halloween is celebrated on October 31.
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Federal government offices, including the post office, are always closed on all federal holidays. Schools and businesses close on major holidays like Independence Day and Christmas Day but may not always be closed, for example, on Presidents' Day or Veterans' Day. There are other "legal" or "public" holidays which are observed at the state or local level. Whether citizens have the day off from work or not depends on local decisions.
Various ethnic and religious groups in America celebrate days with special meaning to them even though these are not national holidays. Jews, for example, observe their high holy days in September, Muslims celebrate Ramadan, African Americans celebrate Kwanzaa, Irish Americans celebrate the old country's patron saint, St. Patrick, on March 17, and Mardi Gras is the day before the Christian season of Lent begins and is a big occasion in New Orleans, Louisiana, where huge parades and wild revels take place. In areas where Americans of Chinese descent live, and especially in the Chinatown sections of New York City, people sponsor traditional Chinese New Year's celebrations with feasts, parades and fireworks.
Other holidays such as "Groundhog Day" (February 2) are whimsically observed, at least in the media.
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