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British and Ukrainian Holidays

Every nation and every country has its own customs and traditions. But there are also international holidays which are celebrated in all countries world-wide. They are: Christmas, New Year, Easter and St. Valentine’s day.

Christmas comes but once a year. Christmas is a traditional family reunion day. On this day, many people attend a church service, they celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, open their presents and eat a Christmas dinner. In Britain it is celebrated on December 25^th while in Ukraine Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January. For British people Christmas is the most important public holiday of the year. It combines the custom of giving gifts with the tradition of spending this day with the family. Every year a huge Christmas tree, the gift of the Norwegian people, decorates Trafalgar square.

New Year is a public holiday but it is not marked with any particular custom in Britain, yet it has a joyful celebration in Ukraine. People stay awake until after midnight on December 31st to watch the Old Year go and the New Year come. Many parties are given on this night. Theatres, night clubs and streets are full of people young and old.

Easter is one of the most important Christian holiday. It is traditionally associated with Easter eggs and with the coming of spring, and most churches are specially decorated with flowers for the service held on Easter Day. There is a popular belief that wearing three new things on Easter will bring good luck.

St. Valentine’s day is not the official holiday in most countries. February 14 is the day of lovers. Boys and girls, sweethearts and lovers, husbands and wives, friends and neighbours, and even the office staff exchange greetings of affection. Valentine’s day is a whirl of hearts, candies and good wishes in the form of bright, lacy, colorful cards, with loving emblems and amorous doggerel, saying: «Be my Valentine».

There are also some special holidays which are usually celebrated in a particular country. Let’s start with the traditional British holiday Pancake day. But people don’t eat only pancakes this day, they run with them. In many towns in England pancake races are held every year. These races are run by housewives.

In Ukraine we celebrate Women’s day on the 8th of March. On this day men are supposed to do everything about the house and cook all the meals.

In Britain traditions play more important part in the life of the people than in some other countries. English are proud of their traditions and treasure them. The English are a nation of stay-at-homes “There is no place like home” they say. The Englishman is never tired to say «My house is my castle». As for Ukraine it is the country of beauty and to my mind, the main traits of the real Ukrainian character are hospitality, «open heart», «golden hands», we are a very talented nation with our own traditions and customs.

Every country has its own traditions, customs, beliefs and national holidays. I think it is very important to follow special traditions and celebrate different holidays because they unite people.