BRITISH TRADITIONS

There are many traditions in Britain and they usually happen around the time of important holiday. The most important holidays and festivals in Britain are:

Christmas Eve: December 24th

Christmas Day: December 25 th

Boxing Day: December 26th

New Year´s Eve: December 31st

St Valentine´s Day: February 14th

April Fool´s Day: April 1st

Maundy Thursday: the Thursday before Easter Sunday

Good Friday: the Friday before Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday

Bank Holiday Monday: the Monday after Easter

Harvest Festival: a Sunday in autumn

Halloween: October 31 st

All these have different traditions. At Christmas, families get together for lunch or dinner and usually eat turkey. They have Christmas trees and send Christmas cards. They give each other Christmas presents around the tree. On Christmas Day at 3 o´clock, the Queen broadcasts her traditional Christmas message, although not so many people listen to it these days. Boxing Day is also a national holiday, traditionally a time for exercise and sporting activity, although most people use it as a time to recover from Christmas Day! Many of our Christmas traditions come from Victorian times. Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert imported the idea of Christmas cards and  hristmas trees from Germany.