Lecture 6 customs and traditions of great britain. Artistic and cultural life in Britain. Dialects in Great Britain

May Day Celebrations
The beautiful springtime festival of May Day is observed in every nation, each according to its own customs and traditions. In most countries on May 1^st a new life begins for both nature and man.
May Day is more important in Northern Europe than in warmer countries farther south. People grow tried of snow and ice short winter days to which May Day signifies an end. The people of Belgium welcome spring with parades and fairs. Holland celebrates with tulip festivals and in Switzerland people offer up special May Day prayers. In France people buy flowers at sidewalk stands. They wear them and give them to their friends for luck.
As summer comes, Britain likes to celebrate the end of winter. Much of this celebration is connected with dancing, which is performed to encourage life and growth and drive away harmful spirits. Children may be seen dancing round the Maypole on village greens, weaving their bright-coloured scarves into a beautiful pattern. Morris men dance all day long on May 1^st waving their handkerchiefs to drive away the evil spirits and welcome in the new ones.


St. Valentine’s Day
February 14^th is the day on which young lovers in England send each other anonymous Valentines –bright, lacy, coloured cards, with loving emblems and amorous doggerel.
The shops are full of these cards.
The message the Valentine conveys is simple. Love’s message has always been so.


The fifth of November – Guy Fawkes Day
There is a special day in England, which is called Guy Fawkes Day.
On the fifth of November every year English boys and girl carry funny figures about the streets. These figures are made of straw and dressed in an old coat and a hat, with a mask for a face.
The children expect people to give them some money, which is spent on fireworks. In the evening a bonfire is made, and the figures are burnt on it. Each of these figures is called guy fawkes.
On November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes and some other people planned to blow up the English Parliament. The plot was discovered and Guy Fawkes was hanged. At the moment of his arrest he wore a mask on his face.
So ever since, as November 5^th approaches, children let off fireworks and burn stew figures on a big bonfire.