The Linguistic Culture-2 (british media) (1157941), страница 5
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November 5 and any other day appointed for church bells to be rung is also called Ringing Day. On this day bells are rung by order of Parliament to mark the deliverance of the King and his government at the exposure of the Gunpowder Plot. It is customary to give the ringers money and drinks.
One of the largest events in the UK is the Bridgwater Carnival in Bridgwater, Somerset dating back to the 1605 gunpowder plot. The procession is held each year on the Thursday nearest to November 5. It is an illuminated procession that takes about two hours to pass with over 130 entries made by various local carnival clubs. After the carnival, an annual squibbing display is held along the Bridgwater High Street when over 100 squibs (small fireworks) are set off simultaneously.
Many people hold bonfire parties and BBQs (even though it is usually really cold) and invite their friends to gather around the fire with them. However, because of the rising number of accidents that occur every year many communities hold professionally organised public displays. Some of the venues for these public bonfires are in parks, fields, and on hills.
Some of the traditional food eaten at this time of year includes:-
Sausages (called bangers), a good hearty soup, baked potatoes, bonfire toffee and parkin - a sweet, sticky cake.
New laws were introduced to control the use of fireworks in 2004 with an £80 on-the-spot fine for anyone caught breaking them. They include:-It is an offence for any person under the age of 18 to possess adult fireworks in a public place (all fireworks except sparklers and party poppers). It is an offence to possess category 4 fireworks (professional display fireworks) unless you are a licenced pyrotechnics professional. It is an offence to supply fireworks to anyone under the age of 18.
Christmas Eve - December 24th
In England less emphasis is placed on Christmas Eve than in other countries, much more is made of Christmas Day. Carol singing, midnight church services and going out to the pub are some of the activities that many families enjoy (sometimes all three activities can be combined into one fun night out!).
Night time on Christmas Eve though is a very exciting time for young children. It is the time when Santa or Father Christmas comes. They hang up their stockings and go to sleep. Santa and his elves make all the toys for Christmas in his home in Greenland. On Christmas Eve he piles all of the toys onto his sleigh and rides across the sky with his 9 reindeer (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner (or it may be Donder), Blitzen and of course ... Rudolf!). The most famous one is Rudolf the who is always the one at the front, to lead the way with his red nose. In the morning when the children wake up they open their stocking presents. Traditionally on Christmas Eve mince pies and sherry (or milk) are left out for Santa and nowadays carrots are left for his reindeer. Most children are in bed way before midnight waiting for Santa to visit.
The origins of the now traditional Christmas Celebration, distinct from earlier pagan winter holidays, date to sixth century England. By the middle ages, it was a well established important holiday, with traditional pageantry, customs, music and feasting all its own. Customs from pre Christian days were incorporated into the Celebrations, and many still remain.
However in 1647, the English parliament passed a law that made Christmas illegal, all festivities were banned by the Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell, who considered feasting and revelry on what was supposed to be a holy day to be immoral. The ban was lifted only when Cromwell lost power in 1660.
In Britain, the Holy Days and Fasting Days Act of 1551 (which has not yet been repealed) states that every citizen must attend a Christian church service on Christmas Day, and must not use any kind of vehicle to get to the service There are a large number of Britons who break this law every year. The law may have been intended to encourage humility by forcing even the wealthy to attend the church on foot, or perhaps it was simply to avoid the traffic and parking crush that universal attendance would otherwise have brought about.
Later, during Queen Victoria's reign, Christmas became a time for gift giving, and a special season for children.
St Patrick's Day - March 17Pth.P. St Patrick (c.389-c.461) is the patron saint of Ireland (and strangely enough Nigeria). He was an ancient Briton living during the time when Britain was a colony of the Roman Empire. He was reared in a Christian home and the family lived in what we now know of as Wales. When he was sixteen he was captured by pirates from across the Irish Sea and taken to Ireland. While working as a shepherd, he had a great spiritual experience and decided that he must serve God in some special way. He returned to his native land and trained as a priest, travelling to Gaul (now France) for some of his studies. Eventually, he returned to Ireland as a missionary.
St. Patrick's work in Ireland transformed the country. Legend has it that he drove all the snakes out of Ireland and they all went into the sea and drowned. The snake was a revered pagan symbol, and perhaps this is a metaphor for the fact that he drove paganism out of Ireland. Whatever the truth of the matter, there are to this day no venemous snakes in Ireland. He is said to have converted the country's druids by calling down heavenly fire to show the power of the One True God. And he taught people about the mystery of the Trinity by using a shamrock leaf and made the shamrock the symbol of Ireland.
In Ireland, March 17th is a public holiday in celebration of his life and death. It is also a day when most people attend church. Shamrocks are sold on the preceding days and sent along with greeting cards to friends and family abroad. The day is usually regarded in Ireland as announcing the coming of spring. Dances and parties are held. The traditional dish is boiled bacon and cabbage, but you might prefer to try the Soda Bread recipe on the recipes page.
The feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is celebrated all over the world wherever Irish exiles gather. Many wear a shamrock or a little favour showing a golden harp on a bit of green ribbon.
St Georges Day - April 23PrdP
St David's Day - March 1stSt. David (c.520-588), or Dewi as he is called in Welsh, is the patron saint of Wales. He was the son of a cheftain from Cardigan, Wales. He founded twelve monasteries across the country from Croyland to Pembrokeshire and went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Once there he was consecrated a bishop. His life and work made a lasting impression on Wales.
It is believed that St. David was born in the 6th Century in Henfynw in Cardigan. His principal monastery were he was the founder and first abbot-bishop of Menevia, is now called St. David's in Dyfed, South Wales.
St David's day isn't as wild as St Patrick's day in Ireland, however it is commemorated by patriotic Welsh people by wearing a daffodil or, believe it or not, a leek. Both plants are traditionally regarded as the national emblems of Wales and the traditional dish to eat on St. David's Day is leeks. Leek and potato soup is nice.
Edinburgh Festival
There is no 'one' Edinburgh Festival. It all began in 1947, with the aim of providing 'a platform for the flowering of the human spirit'. Right from the start people were inspired to put on shows of their own, and these soon grew into the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Since then half a dozen or so festivals have grown up around it in August and early September, and collectively these are often know as 'the Edinburgh Festival'.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is often called the Edinburgh Fringe and sometimes just "the Fringe".
The Highland games are events held throughout the year in Scotland and other countries as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture and heritage, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. t is reported in numerous books and Highland games programs, that King Malcolm III of Scotland, in the 11th century, summoned contestants to a foot race to the summit of Craig Choinnich . King Malcolm created this foot race in order to find the fastest runner in the land to be his royal messenger. Some have seen in this apocryphal event the origin of today's modern Highland games.
During various times of English occupation, from before the Wars of Independence to the suppression after the Jacobite wars, the men of Scotland were forbidden to bear or train with arms, in an attempt to prevent another popular Scottish uprising. Scots continued to train for war; they simply did so with the implements of war replaced with the implements of the Highland games. Certain aspects of the games are so well known as to have become emblematic of Scotland, such as the bagpipes, the kilt, and the heavy events, especially the caber toss. While centred on competitions in piping and drumming, dancing, and Scottish heavy athletics, the games also include entertainment and exhibits related to other aspects of Scottish and Gaelic culture. In the Highlands families or clans started the Games hundreds years ago. Some of the sports are international: the high jump and the long jump, for example. But other sports happen only at the Highland Games. One is tossing the Caber. “Tossing” means thowing, and the caber is a long, heavy piece of wood. In tossing the caber you lift the caber(it can be five or six metres tall) and then you throw it as further as you could. Scottish hammer throw: This event is similar to the hammer throw as seen in modern-day track and field competitions, though with some differences. In the Scottish event, a round metal ball (weighing 16 or 22 lb for men or 12 or 16 lb for women) is attached to the end of a shaft about 4 feet in length and made out of wood, bamboo, rattan, or plastic. With the feet in a fixed position, the hammer is whirled about one's head and thrown for distance over the shoulder. Hammer throwers sometimes employ specially designed footwear with flat blades to dig into the turf to maintain their balance and resist the centrifugal forces of the implement as it is whirled about the head. This substantially increases the distance attainable in the throw.
1. Answer the following questions
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What plays written by W.Shakespeare do you know?
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When is Guy Fawkes night celebrated?
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Which more recent modern rock groups do you know?
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What events take place at Scottish Highland Games?
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Many of the more recent successful forms, subgenres, and artists of rock and pop music have originated or found their greatest success in the UK.
3.Choose the correct one from the three possibilities
1. An Englishman`s home is his … a)security b)castlec)mansion
2. Many …. make light work. a) servants b) hands c) cooks
3.Birds of a … flock together. a)family b)cage c)feather
2. Однако, большинство английских сказок существовали только в устной форме.
3. Сказки с одинаковыми сюжетами героями можно обнаружить практически во всех культурах.
4.Баллады можно считать богатым источником информации об истории, общественной жизни, чувствах и ценностях англичан.
5. Фольклор является неотъемлемой частью британской культуры. Theatre
From its formation in 1707, the United Kingdom has had a vibrant tradition of theatre, much of it inherited from England and Scotland. Theatre was introduced from Europe to England by the Romans and auditoriums were constructed across the country for this purpose. By the medieval period theatre had developed with the mummers' plays, a form of early street theatre associated with the Morris dance, concentrating on themes such as Saint George and the Dragon and Robin Hood. These were folk tales re-telling old stories, and the actors travelled from town to town performing these for their audiences in return for money and hospitality. The medieval mystery plays and morality plays, which dealt with Christian themes, were performed at religious festivals. The reign of Elizabeth I in the late 16th and early 17th century saw a flowering of the drama and all the arts. Perhaps the most famous playwright in the world, William Shakespeare, wrote around 40 plays that are still performed in theatres across the world to this day. They include tragedies, such as Hamlet (1603), Othello (1604), and King Lear (1605); comedies, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream (1594—96) and Twelfth Night (1602); and history plays, such as Henry IV, part 1—2. The Elizabethan age is sometimes nicknamed "the age of Shakespeare" for the amount of influence he held over the era. Other important Elizabethan and 17th-century playwrights include Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and John Webster.
During the Interregnum 1642—1660, English theatres were kept closed by the Puritans for religious and ideological reasons. When the London theatres opened again with the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, they flourished under the personal interest and support of Charles II. Wide and socially mixed audiences were attracted by topical writing and by the introduction of the first professional actresses (in Shakespeare's time, all female roles had been played by boys). New genres of the Restoration were heroic drama, pathetic drama, and Restoration comedy. The Restoration plays that have best retained the interest of producers and audiences today are the comedies, such as William Wycherley's The Country Wife (1676), The Rover (1677) by the first professional woman playwright, Aphra Behn, John Vanbrugh's The Relapse (1696), and William Congreve's The Way of the World (1700). Restoration comedy is famous or notorious for its sexual explicitness, a quality encouraged by Charles II (1660–1685) personally and by the rakish aristocratic ethos of his court.
In the 18th century, the highbrow and provocative Restoration comedy lost favour, to be replaced by sentimental comedy, domestic tragedy such as George Lillo's The London Merchant (1731), and by an overwhelming interest in Italian opera. Popular entertainment became more important in this period than ever before, with fair-booth burlesque and mixed forms that are the ancestors of the English music hall. These forms flourished at the expense of legitimate English drama, which went into a long period of decline. By the early 19th century it was no longer represented by stage plays at all, but by the closet drama, plays written to be privately read in a "closet" (a small domestic room).
A change came in the late 19th century with the plays on the London stage by the Irishmen George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde and the Norwegian Henrik Ibsen, all of whom influenced domestic English drama and vitalised it again.
Today the West End of London has a large number of theatres, particularly centred around Shaftesbury Avenue. A prolific composer of the 20th century Andrew Lloyd Webber has dominated the West End for a number of years and his musicals have travelled to Broadway in New York and around the world, as well as being turned into films.
The Royal Shakespeare Company operates out of Shakespeare's birthplace Stratford-upon-Avon in England, producing mainly but not exclusively Shakespeare's plays.
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