ENGLAND

Holidays

Shrove Tuesday in England known as Pancake Day (Day of the pancakes). It was traditionally the day when they prepared pancakes and eaten all the eggs and butter all forbidden during Lent, beginning the next day, Ash Wednesday. Some people still prepare pancakes at home that day. In an annual race held in Olney since 1945, women are carrying a frying pan and a pancake to be launched into the air three times. The feast of the Mother, traditionally the fourth Sunday of Lent, is a day to visit and bring gifts to the mother. On April 1, marks the day of the Innocents. May Day is celebrated on the first Monday in May. Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes (November 5), was set off fireworks and bonfires where they burn effigies of Guy Fawkes to celebrate the defeat of Fawkes in his attempt to blow up the Parliament Buildings on 4 November 1605. The second Sunday of November, Remembrance Day tribute to veterans. The British Legion selling red paper poppies to raise money for veterans. During Christmas dinner (December 25), it is the traditional "surprise" next to each plate. Those who are sitting next to break the edge of the surprises of the companions, which make a loud bang! Inside is a paper hat and an object of little value. Boxing Day (December 26), named for the small boxes of clay that shopkeepers and servants had to collect tips, has become just a day of leisure, where many sporting events are held. Many offices, although the shops are closed from Christmas to New Year. New Year's Day (1 January), Good Friday (Friday before Easter) and Easter Monday (Monday after Easter) are three of the traditional bank holydays (public holidays) from England, in which banks and other businesses close. Other holidays include May Day, the festival of spring and summer (the last Monday of May and the last Monday in August, respectively), Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Almost all employees have an annual vacation of four or five weeks. Most people take two or three week vacation in July or August. A sizable minority also take winter holidays, typically for skiing or travel to somewhere warm and sunny. They are increasingly popular short trips to other parts of the country or continental Europe.