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

Hogmanay and First Footing
At midnight on 31^st December throughout Great Britain people celebrate the coming of the New Year, by holding hands in a large circle and singing the song ‘Auld Lang Syne’ “For auld lang syne’ means ‘in memory of past times’ and the words were written by Scotland’s most famous poet, Robert Burns. He wrote much of his poetry in the Scots dialect of English.
New Year‘s Eve is a more important festival in Scotland than it is in England, and it even has a special name. It is not clear where the word ‘Hogmanay” comes from, but it is connected with the provision of food and drink for all visitors to your home on 31^st December.
It was believed that the first person to visit one’s house on New Year’s Day could bring good or bad luck. Therefore, people tried to arrange for the person of their own choice to be standing outside their houses ready to be let in the moment midnight had come. Usually a dark complexioned man was chosen, and never a women, for she would bring bad luck. The first footer was required to carry tree articles: a piece of coal to wish warmth, a piece of bread to wish food, and a silver coin to wish wealth. In parts of northern England this pleasing customs is still observed.


Easter
Although the Christmas religion gave the world Easter as we know it today, the celebration owes its name and many of its customs and symbols to a pagan festival called Eostre. Eoster, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of springtime and sunrise, got her name from the word east, where the sun rises. Every spring northern European peoples celebrate the festival of Eostre to honour the awakening of new life in nature. Christmas related the rising of the sun to the resurrection of Jesus and their own spiritual rebirth.
Many modern Easter symbols come from pagan times. The egg, for instance, was a fertility symbol long before the Christian era. The ancient Persians, Greeks, and Chinese exchanged eggs at their spring festivals. In Christian times the egg took on a new meaning symbolizing the tomb from which Christ rose. The ancient customs of dyeing eggs at Easter time is still very popular.
The Easter bunny also originated in pre-Christian fertility lore. The rabbit was the most fertile animal our ancestors knew, so they selected it as a symbol of new life. Today, children enjoy eating candy bunnies and listening to stories about the Raster bunny, who supposedly brings Easter eggs in a fancy basket.


Egg - Rolling
Egg-rolling is a traditional Easter pastime which still flourishes in northern England, Scotland, Ulster, the Isle of Man, and Switzerland. It takes place on Easter Sunday or Monday, and consists of rolling coloured, hard-boiled eggs down a slope until they are cracked and broken after which they are eaten by their owners. In some districts, this is a competitive game, the winner being the player whose egg remains longest undamaged, but more usually, the fun consists simply of the rolling and eating. This is evidently the older from of the customs, since egg rolling does not appear to have been originally a game to be lost or won. In the Hebrides, formerly, it provided an opportunity for divination. Each player marked his or her egg with an identifying sign, and then watched to see how it fared as it sped down the slope. If it reached the bottom unscathed, the owner could expect good luck in the future, but if it was broken, misfortune would follow before the year was out. Similarly, at Connell Ferry in Argyllshire, where it was customary for young men to roll their eggs in one place, and for young women to roll their in another, the man or girl whose egg went farthest and most smoothly would be the first person to marry in that particular group.