суббота, 23 декабря 2017 г.

Christmas In Great Britain



 The Christmas celebrations in United Kingdom start even before the commencement of the season. People indulge in preparations which include gathering Christmas decorative items, cleaning houses, organizing the gifts and gifting Christmas cards and gifts to relatives and friends. The origin of Christmas celebrations in Great Britain is traced back to 596 A.D when St. Augustine landed on its soil to spread the messages of Christianity. Since then, British people celebrate the holiday by making holly wreaths and decorating the Christmas tree. You can also see plenty of interesting traditions like small children writing letters to Father Christmas who is believed to bring gifts to them. It's not only about gifts and cards as Christmas also has a religious undertone to it with churches observing Christingle services. There are Christmas ample traditions and customs in Great Britain. Below mentioned are some of them. Read on to get familiarised with them.

Customs, Traditions & Celebrations
Advent

In England, Christmas was first started in AD 596 when St. Augustine landed on its land with some monks and wanted to bring the religion of Christianity. There, the Christmas season begins at Advent. During this season, people make holly wreaths made of three pink, one white and a purple candle each. Here, Christmas decorations are being sold from the middle of November. The Christmas celebrations start even before the Christmas season which continues till the twelfth night. The preparations include the sending of Christmas cards, decorating churches and houses and exchanging gifts.

Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree is the centre point in England's Christmas celebrations though it became popular in England during Queen Victoria's reign. It was her husband, Prince Albert who brought the tradition to the royal family in the middle of nineteenth century. Each family has one or two Christmas trees in their houses and decorating it is often family occasion with contribution from everyone. People gift Poinsettia plants each other as the reddish and white petals of this flower signify the purity of Christ's blood.

Writing Letters To Father Christmas

There is another tradition in Great Britain in which children write letters to Father Christmas, listing their gifting suggestions. Sometimes, instead of posting it, they are tossed onto the fireside and it is believed that floats to the North pole. If it burns, they have to rewrite the letter.

Father Christmas's Visit

On Christmas Eve, children hang up their stockings at the end of beds or near the chimneys for the Christmas father to leave the gifts. They are not opened till the Christmas morning after which they prepare a feast and are served after midday. The day also witnesses a traditional Christmas speech by the British monarch. People also decorate the Christmas trees and hang evergreen branches. Things such as Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe are used to decorate the houses. The houses are visited by the gift giver during Christmas who is known by the name 'Father Christmas' who wears a reddish or greenish robe and leaves the presents the stockings on Christmas Eve. However, the gifts are opened only at the following afternoon in family gatherings so that everyone can watch each person opening the presents.

Christingle Service

The Churches in Britain conduct a Christingle service on the fourth day of advent. This is a carol of which the origin can be traced back to Scandinavian. During this ceremony, a child in Britain would receive an orange along with a candle wrapped in reddish ribbon. The candle represents Jesus Christ and the ribbon signifies the blood of Christ and the love of the almighty who embraces the world. Churches also have carol services and nativity scenes and candlelight services when the church is lit by candles.

Christmas Dinner

For Christmas dinner, plum pudding is served with some treasures hidden inside so that the finders get hidden treasures which are believed to bring good luck. The traditional Christmas dinner is roast turkey with sauce and vegetables. The popular Christmas dessert in Britain is fruity Christmas pudding with brand sauce. The meal constitutes a toast which is followed by the popping of crackers. Minced and pies and pastry cases are filled with a mixture of chopped dried fruit. In Great Britain, the Christmas dinner is taken at mid daylight on 25 December. In Scotland, people have haggis in place of turkey.
You see, there are plenty of Christmas traditions and customs in Great Britain.

What Christmas traditions do you have in your country?

воскресенье, 10 сентября 2017 г.

Happy Birthday, Minsk!


Minsk has celebrated its 950th Birthday. The program of the celebration was enormous.

-          Minsk 950th Anniversary Balloon Cup
Balloon pilots from 7 countries came to the Belarusian capital to take part in 4 competitive flights over the city on 8-10 September.
-          Musical Fountains Show
Musical Fountains Show is an international musical project where three elements – water, music and light – merge together. Dancing water rising skywards, live music, performance by soloists of the Opera and Ballet Theatre and an incredible laser show took place in the Victory Park on Friday evening.
-          Historical Festival ‘Ancient Minsk’
The festival included an array of re-enactment shows – from the battles of the Middle Ages to the First and Second World Wars.
-          Festival of Bread
A lot of fresh bakery, tastings and baking master-classes were organized at a fair near the Palace of Sports. The contest of the best karavai bread was also on the menu!
-          Parachuting and Air Festival
A parachuting show and a reconstruction of an air combat on Yak-52 jets were organized on Saturday near Chizhovka-Arena.
-          Rock and Presidential Orchestra Show
One of the best Belarusian rock bands J:mors played live together with the Presidential Orchestra of Belarus on Saturday evening. It was the first open-air (and definitely the most large-scale) performance for the unusual duo.
-          Minsk Half Marathon 2017
The biggest and most colourful sports event of the Belarusian capital gathered about 30,000 runners. The atmosphere was really cool and electrifying.
-          Tankman’s Day
You surely know how obsessed Belarusians are with WWII – we even invented a computer game about it.No wonder Tankman’s Day drew crowds. It took place right in the center of Minsk. 45 activity zones, impressive musical line-up, a food court and a game zone with 120 computers for WoT fans attracted lots of people.
-          Big Festive Fireworks
The 20-minute light show was really great and no one was bored!

Read more here

 How did you celebrate Minsk`s birthday? Which event impressed you most?
 






понедельник, 14 августа 2017 г.

Her Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II was crowned as queen at the age of 25 and today when we think of Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (Her Full Name), the image that comes to our mind is of dignity &authority. She is the only reigning monarch to complete 63 years on the throne in British history.She is the Queen of 16 member states of the Commonwealth of Nations. We can call her as the most extraordinary women as The Queen has conferred over 387,700 honors and awards since 1952. Here are some of the interesting facts about Queen Elizabeth II

суббота, 27 мая 2017 г.

Heta Belarus, detka!



 HetaBelarus Dzietka is a blog about Belarus written by two blond-blue-eyed girls who view the country with foreign eyes. They  want to celebrate together with their readers the Belarusian uniqueness.  Through a series of articles about the sometimes strange, special and affectionate things they have encountered in Belarus they will lead you on a journey to understanding the character of Belarus, which they have learned to love so much.
Read and comment on the stereotypes you agree on.