Other Festivals and Traditions

New Year’s Day, 1 January, is a public holiday. People usually celebrate on the night of 31 December (called New Year’s Eve), and many sing Auld Lang Syne, a song by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. In Scotland, 31 December is called Hogmanay and 2 January is also a public holiday. For some Scottish people, Hogmanay is a bigger holiday than Christmas.

Valentine’s Day, 14 February, is when lovers exchange cards and gifts. Sometimes people send anonymous cards to someone they secretly admire.

April Fool’s Day, 1 April, is when people play jokes on each other until midday. Television and newspapers often have stories that are April Fool jokes.

Mothering Sunday (or Mother’s Day) is the Sunday three weeks before Easter. Children send cards or buy gifts, such as flowers or chocolates, for their mothers. Father’s Day is the third Sunday in June. Children send cards or buy gifts for their fathers.

Halloween, 31 October, is an ancient festival with roots in the pagan festival to mark the beginning of winter. Young people will often dress up in frightening costumes to play ‘trick or treat’. People carve lanterns out of pumpkins and put a candle inside.

Bonfire Night, 5 November, is when people in Great Britain set off fireworks at home or in special displays. The origin was an event in 1605, when a group of Catholics led by Guy Fawkes failed in their plan to kill the Protestant king with a bomb in the Houses of Parliament.

Remembrance Day, 11 November, commemorates those who died fighting for the UK and its allies. It originally commemorated the dead of the First World War, which ended on 11 November 1918. People wear poppies (the red flower found on the battlefields of the First World War). At 11.00 am there is a two-minute silence and wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph, a war memorial in Whitehall, London.

There are other public holidays each year called bank holidays, when banks and many other businesses are closed for the day. These are of no religious significance. They are at the beginning of May, in late May or early June, and in August. In Northern Ireland, the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in July is also a public holiday.

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