Seasons and Celebrations (Oxford Bookworms Library)

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OXIORD ENGL IS H tsBN 9 7 8 - 0 - 19 - 4 23383-5

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S E A S O NS AN D CE L E B RAT ION S Thousands of yearsago, people celebratedspecialtimes. New plants and animals in the spring;,the longestday of summer, good food from the treesand fields in the autumn - these were all times to celebrate. Later, Christianity came, and old and new festivals came together as Easter, Christmas, and other celebrations. Each season brings its own celebrations. Spring has cggs at Easter; in summer there are outside festivals at tl-re summer solstice, and barbecues for the Fourth of .fuly; autumn has fires and fireworks; and winter has the wonderful traditions of Christmas food and prcsents. But there are new celebrations too - Mother's Day, RemembranceDay, the special days of new countries, and the festivalsthat people bring with them when they rnove to different countries. Here is a year of celebrations- old and new, insrde and outside- in Britain, the USA, and other English-speaking countries. Learn about the traditions, rcad the stories - you can evencook the pancakesif you want!

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FactfiLes

Seasonsand Celebrations Stage2 (700headwords)

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|rrctfilcsSeriesEdrtor:ChristineLindop

OX-FORD

CON T EN T S

UNIVERSITYPRESS

Great Clarendon Street. Oxford ox2 6Dp Oxfbrd University Pressis a department oftie University of Oxfbrd It flifthers the Udve$ity's objective ofexcellence in research,scholilrship, and education by publishingworldwide iD Oxford NewYork

IN T IT O D U C T IO N

1 Festivalsold and new

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2 The yearbcgins

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3 National days

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Auckland CapeTom Dares Salaam HongKong Karachi I(ualalumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexicocity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Torcnto With offices in Argentinil Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Creece Guatenala Hungary ltaly Japan Poland Porugal Singapore South l(orea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine VietnaD

4 Lent and Easter

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oxFoRDand oxFoRDENGf,rsHare registeredtrade narks of Oxford University Pressin the UK and in certain other courtrics

5 Familiesand fools

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@ Oxford University Press2008 The noral rights ofthe author have been asserted Databaseright Oxford University Press(maker) 246a709753 No unauthorized photocopying All rights reseryed No part of this publication Draybe reproduccd, stored in a retrieval system,or trmsmitted, in any for rn ol by .rDy nrcilrrs without the priol perurissionin miting of oxford University I'rcss, irlc or as expresslypermitted by law' or under teflDs agrccclwith th(, ilpp11)l)r reprographics rights organization Enquiries concerDingreproclucliorr the scope ofthe lllT Rights Dcprl t urent. outside above should be sent to the Oxford UDiversity Press,at the rddress ilbove You must not circulatc this book in nny other bindi|g or ( ovcr and you must irnposethis same condition on rrry rrrluiro Any websites referred to iD this publication are in thc.public clonrainancl their addressesare provided by Oxford University Prcssfor infbnrat ion olly Oxfoxl University Pressdisclaims aDy respoDsibilityfor thc coDlcrrt rsBN:978o 19 4233835 A complete recording oI this Bookworrns cdilion ol and Cebtratinrojs availablc on audio Cl)- I s BN 97I o 19 42j,t84 2 Scasons

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Summercelebrations

7 Fires and fireworks

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8 Remembering

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9 Thanksgiving

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10 In a new country

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11 Christmas

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C LOSSAR Y

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Acrrvrrr ES: Before Reading

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A C T I v r r l F .:sWh i l c R e a d i n g

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ACTIVITIES: After Reading

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A B O U TT H E A UTH OIT

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Printed in Houg KoDg Word count (main tcxt): 6508 For norc iDfoilratioD on the Oxford Bookworurs Libr nLy,visit www oup ( ()n)/cll/l)(x)kworDrs ')hcpublishcrs to thark theJollwing for their ptrnissit I lr) r1l,|oiirr i' irrrrt{'$; wouldl]y'(e Alamy Imagespp 3 David Robertson,5 Mary EvansI'icture LibrilIy, 9 lMrry livrr)s l'i(turc Liblary, 10 David Hancock,15 Tin Mossford,17 Gary Roebuck,22 Mary livilns l)i(liltt Lil)riily,23 Robefi Harding Picture Library Ltd, 24 Michael Peris, 34 JanineWit,cltl l)hotolibr.r|y.ils llill Ih(hnran, 36 Barry Lewis, 40 Atuian Sheratt; Anthony Blake Photo Librnrt Pp l2 Sirn lrvinc. 14 (laster egg/HeatherBrom), 14 (Hot cross buns/SueAtkinson), 30 MaxilrilirD St(x k I (d 3l] (Christnas table/Graham Kirk): Corbis pp 11 Paul A Souders,18 BBC,29 (Anzac Dawrr scrvicc/Rt'utcrs/l)lvid Gray), 31 Bettmam; Getty Images pp 8 Reportage,20 Reportage/PctcrMacdiaNrid. 25 Mcl YLtcs. 27 The Bridgeman Art Librilry/ ltelleek, 32 Stone/JohnE Kelly; OUP p 50 lngrrDr: I'uD(hsl(xl( pll viii (Petifours),38 (cracker);Rex Featurespp 4 Andrew Drysdale, 6 Srr ah Ar rr, 29 (QuccDI il izrl)et h fiim Rookel Cover image byAlamy IDrages/ Eyeblte

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Festiva [ s o t da n dn e w Ilrt' pcoplc of Britairr have had festivalsfor thousands ,l lt'rlr-S.Loug irgo the sun, the rnoon, thc wind, rain, ,unnrrrls,ancl trees were all important in their religions, 'Whcn .rrr..l thcy had festivalsfor thcrn. Christianitycamc to liritair.r,people wanted to keep some of their old Icstivrrlsso they brought the religior-rstogether. Saint \',rlcntinc'sDay,F,aster, Hallowecn,and Christnrasarc all ,rltl Fcstivals that becameChristian festivals. Rrod,family and flowcrsarc rlu important tr'rart of most .t'lcbrations.Most people have il big family c{innerat (,lrristmas,and rr-rany peopleget togetherat Thar-rksgiving too. A lot of people give chocolate and other sweetsas Day and at Easterand Christmas, on Valentir-re's l)r-csents ,rrrclsome festivalshavespecialfood. Restaurantsare very busy on Valentine'sDay and Mother's Day, ancl flower slrol'rssell a lot of flowerson those days. l)eopletoday often live far away fnru-rtheir families, scr thcy sendcardsat specialtimes like Mother's l)ly, llrrstcr .rnrl Christmas.The cards say things like: 'Thinking of )'()uacrossthe rliles'. Postofficcsand telcphoncsarc very busytoo, and manypeopleusetheirphonesanclcomputers to scnd messages. Times change,and festivalsalso charrge.Peoplehavc rclcbratcdmany of tl'rescfcstivalsfor hundredsof years, ,rrrclwill go on finding new waysto enjoy them.

Theyear begins N e w Y ear ' s E v e i s o n 3 1 D e c e mb e r, th e l a st cl ay before th e New Y ear beg i n s . In ma n y p l :rc e s ,p e o p l e go to pi l rti es o r r es t ar lr ant s w i th fri c n d s i n tl -rc c v e n i n g . S on-reti rres th cy m eet out s ic l e : i n N e w Y o rk , tl -ro n s a n d sof peopl e go to Times Scluare; in Sydr-reythey go clown ncar thc sea; i n London, t hc y g o to T ra fa l g a r S c l u i rr:e.Just before n rrd night , people l o o k a t th e c l o c k , i rn d togethcr thcy co u nt t he las t t e n s e c o n c l sb c fo rc th c N c w Y crrr bcgi ns: 'Tet r , r - r ine,eight . . .' At m ic lnight t h c y s ta n d i n rr c i rc l c , l -ro l cl -r enc' lencl s si ng a n old s ong c alle d Au l d L ttn g S1 tn eA. S c o tti s h nren crrl l cd Robert Burns wrote the words of this sorrs rrbout ilr,ci h u n c lr c d y ear s irg o . T h e s o n g s a y s th l t

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re met nber y our o l c l fri c n c l s . T h c tr n ra try p eopl c cl ri nl < r g l a s s of c ham pag n e, l i g l i t s o rl e fi re w o rk s , o r cl ancc unti l th e s un c om es up . L - r S c ot land, N c l v Y e a r' s Ev e h a s a s pecrrl urure: Ho g m anir y : A t H o g rn rl l rry , th c rc i s a tra di ti on

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cl a r k hair , he will b ri n g g o o c l l r-rc kto th e h o use. H e rnust

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the fire. l n t c iinbur gh a rrc lo th e r S c o tti s h c i ti e s , th ere are housc p a rt ies and s t r ee t p a rti c s , Sc o tti s h m u s i c antl cl rrnci nu,

N crv Y ear' s D ay, 1 J anuar y, is a holiclay f or nlost peciple, .rrr,.lthc banks and tnat r y shops clo t 'r otopeu' M : r uy people strl l i rt houre ancl rest on t hat day. Ancl a lot of people

thircl century. The Rourrrn Eurperor rrt the time, Claudiusthc Scconcl,was not a Christian.Claudiusthoughtthat marriecl soldicrsdid not make goocJsolcliers,soclrrrrclsec colourful celebrrrtior.rs of Chircsc Nclr'\i'rrr rvrth prrrltclcs, tlrauor.ts, and firclr'orks.Ancl irr ;\rrclmmcncled for youngcr learners. Every l3o . 'l he Oxford B ooku,orms C ol l ec ti on i s rr s c ri c s f< tt'i t.l r.tl tt.' .1 l c i l l rr( rs . l t corrsi stsof v