British Customs and traditions. Mass media, economy sport in the uk

Boxing day

• Boxing Day (26 December) is so-called because it's a time when trades people receive a 'Christmas Box' - some money in appreciation of the work they've carried out all year. Traditionally a time for visiting family and friends and indulging in more feasting, Boxing Day is a popular day for football matches and other sporting fixtures. The day is a public holiday, so shops and banks are closed

New year

New Year is often launched with a party - either at home with family and friends or a gathering in the local pubs and clubs. Merry-making begins on New Year's Eve and builds up to midnight. The stroke of midnight is the cue for much cheering, hooting, whistling, kissing and the drinking of toasts. Tradition has it that the first person over the threshold on New Year's Day will dictate the luck brought to the household in the coming year. This is known as First Footing. At midnight on 31 December, particularly in Scotland and northern England, 'first footers' (traditionally a tall, dark, good-looking man) step over the threshold bringing the New Year's Luck.

Halloween

• Halloween (31 October) and its associations with witches and ghosts derives from the Celtic Old Year's Night - the night of all witches, when spirits were said to walk the earth. Witches and supernatural beings are still remembered all over Britain, when bands of children roam the streets in ghoulish costumes, carrying Halloween lanterns - pumpkins hollowed out with a ghostly face cut into one side, which glows when a candle is placed inside. In recent years the custom of 'trick or treating' has gained in popularity.

Easter

• Easter day is named after the Saxon goddess of spring, Eostre, whose feast took place at the spring equinox. Easter is now the spring feast of the Christian church, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus. It falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April, according to the church calendar. Traditionally Easter eggs, dyed and decorated or made of chocolate, are given as presents symbolizing new life and the coming of spring.Egg rolling competitions take place in northern UK on Easter Monday; hard-boiled eggs are rolled down a slope, with the winner being - according to local preference - the one which rolls the furthest, survives the most rolls, or is successfully aimed between two pegs! The best-publicized event takes place at Avenham Park in Preston, Lancashire.