Calendar of Special Occasions

New Year’s Day (1 January)

2 January is also a public holiday in Scotland

St. Valentine’s Day (14 February)

Pancake Day (Forty-seven days before Easter) (вторник на Масленой неделе)

St. Patrick’s Day (17 March)

This is a public holiday in Northern Ireland

Mother’s Day (The fourth Sunday in Lent (Великий Пост)

50 million pounds worth of flowers are bought for this day. Cards are also sent.

April Fools’ Day (1 April)

It is traditional day for people to play tricks or practical jokes on each other on this day. Children are the most enthusiastic about this custom, but even BBC and serious newspapers sometimes have “joke” features on this day.

Good Friday (Страстная, Великая пятница)

The strange name in English for the day commemorating (поминания) Christ’s crucifixion (распятие).

Easter Monday (The day after Easter Sunday)

May Day (The first Monday in May)

In Britain this day is associated more with ancient folklore than with the workers. In some villages the custom of dancing round the maypole (майское дерево) is acted out.

Spring Bank Holiday (the last Monday in May)

Father’s Day (The third Sunday in June)

This is probably just a commercial invention (изобретение) – and not a very successful one either. Millions of British fathers don’t even know they have a special day.

Queen’s Official Birthday (The second or third Saturday in June)

It is “official” because it is not her real one. Certain public ceremonies are performed on this day.

Summer Bank Holiday (The last Monday in August)

Halloween (31 October)

This is the day before All Saints’ Day in the Christian calendar, and is associated with the supernatural. Some people hold Halloween parties, which are fancy-dress parties (people dress up as witches, ghosts, etc.). However, this day is observed (соблюдается) much more energetically in the USA than it is in Britain.

Guy Fawkes’ Day (5 November)

Remembrance Sunday (Second Sunday in November) (поминальное воскресенье)

This day commemorates (поминания) the dead of both World Wars and of more recent (недавних)conflicts.

Christmas Eve (24 December)

Christmas Day (25 December)

Boxing Day (26 December)

Explanations (основание) for the origin of this name vary. One is that it was the day on which landowners and householders would present their tenants (съемщикам, жильцам) and servants with gifts (in boxes), another is that it was the day on which the collecting boxes in churches were opened and the contents distributed (распределены) to the poor.

New Year’s Eve (31 December)

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