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The main Christian festivals
- Christmas Day, 25 December, celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.
- It is a public holiday.
- Many Christians go to church on Christmas Eve (24 December) or on Christmas Day itself.
- Christmas is celebrated in a traditional way.
- People usually spend the day at home and eat a special meal, which often includes roast turkey, Christmas pudding and mince pies.
- They give gifts, send cards and decorate their houses.
- Christmas is a special time for children.
- Very young children believe that Father Christmas (also known as Santa Claus) brings them presents during the night before Christmas Day.
- Many people decorate a tree in their home.
- Boxing Day is the day after Christmas Day and is a public holiday.
- Easter takes place in March or April.
- It marks the death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday and his rising from the dead on Easter Sunday.
- Both Good Friday and the following Monday, called Easter Monday, are public holidays.
- The 40 days before Easter are known as Lent.
- It is a time when Christians take time to reflect and prepare for Easter.
- Traditionally, people would fast during this period and today many people will give something up, like a favourite food.
- The day before Lent starts is called Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day.
- People eat pancakes, which were traditionally made to use up foods such as eggs, fat and milk before fasting.
- Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.
- There are church services where Christians are marked with an ash cross on their forehead as a symbol of death and sorrow for sin.
- Easter is also celebrated by people who are not religious.
- ‘Easter eggs’ are chocolate eggs often given as presents at Easter as a symbol of new life.
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Other religious festivals
- Diwali normally falls in October or November and lasts for five days.
- It is often called the Festival of Lights.
- It is celebrated by Hindus and Sikhs.
- It celebrates the victory of good over evil and the gaining of knowledge.
- There are different stories about how the festival came about.
- There is a famous celebration of Diwali in Leicester.
- Diwali is popularly known as the Festival of Lights.
- Hannukah is in November or December and is celebrated for eight days.
- It is to remember the Jews’ struggle for religious freedom.
- On each day of the festival a candle is lit on a stand of eight candles (called a menorah) to remember the story of the festival, where oil that should have lasted only a day did so for eight.
- Eid al-Fitr celebrates the end of Ramadan, when Muslims have fasted for a month.
- They thank Allah for giving them the strength to complete the fast.
- The date when it takes place changes every year.
- Muslims attend special services and meals.
- Eid ul Adha remembers that the prophet Ibrahim was willing to sacrifice his son when God ordered him to.
- It reminds Muslims of their own commitment to God.
- Many Muslims sacrifice an animal to eat during this festival.
- In Britain this has to be done in a slaughterhouse.
- Vaisakhi (also spelled Baisakhi) is a Sikh festival which celebrates the founding of the Sikh community known as the Khalsa.
- It is celebrated on 14 April each year with parades, dancing and singing.
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Other festivals and traditions
- New Year, 1 January, is a public holiday.
- People usually celebrate on the night of 31 December (called New Year’s Eve).
- 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 a day when people play jokes on each other until midday.
- The 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 for their mothers.
- Father’s Day is the third Sunday in June.
- Halloween, 31 October, is an ancient festival and has 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 give them treats for not them playing tricks on them.
- A lot of people carve lanterns out of pumpkins and put a candle inside.
- Bonfire Night, 5 November, is an occasion when people in Great Britain set off fireworks at home or in special displays.
- The origin of this celebration 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.
- Originally it 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 in Whitehall, London.
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Bank holidays
- As well as those mentioned previously, 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.
✅ Self-check — can you explain each of these?