A17
Festivals
New Year
New Year's Eve – 31st December
New Year's Day – 1st January
People celebrate the start of the new year by going to parties on New Year's Eve. When midnight comes they say "Happy New Year" to each other, kiss each other, and sing a song called AULD LANG SYNE. The New Year is seen as a time when people try to change their lives, for example by promising to stop smoking or to take more exercise. These promises are called New Year's resolutions.
Groundhog Day
2nd February
According to US tradition, this is the first day of the year that the GROUNDHOG (=a small animal with brown fur that lives in holes in the ground) comes out of its hole. If it sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter; if it does not, good weather will come early.
Presidents' Day
the third Monday in February
A holiday in the US to remember the BIRTHDAYS of George WASHINGTON and Abraham LINCOLN.
Valentine's Day
February 14th
A day when people celebrate romantic love, and send cards or give red roses or chocolates to the person they love. Traditionally a Valentine's card is not signed by the person who sends it, so the person who receives it has to guess who it is from.
Mardi Gras
A CARNIVAL held in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the days before LENT. There is drinking, dancing, entertainment, and a PARADE (=a public celebration when musical bands and people dressed in special clothes move along the street in decorated vehicles).
Shrove Tuesday, also
Pancake Day BrE
In the UK this is a day when people eat PANCAKES (=very thin, flat, round cakes made by frying (FRY) a mixture of butter, flour, and eggs). It is the last day before LENT, a period of forty days when, in the past, Christians ate only simple food. People used up all their milk, butter, and eggs on Shrove Tuesday because they were not allowed to eat them during Lent.
St Patrick's Day
17th March
The national day of Ireland, that is also celebrated by Irish people in the UK and US, when people wear green clothes, dye flowers green, and go to the PUB and drink GUINNESS.
Palm Sunday
the Sunday before Easter
The day when Christians celebrate JESUS' arrival in Jerusalem, when PALM leaves were spread on the ground for his DONKEY to walk on.
Good Friday – the Friday before Easter
This is the day when Christians remember the CRUCIFIXION of Christ. It is a public holiday in the UK, and people eat HOT-CROSS BUNS on this day.