The English Year

There are four seasons in the year, spring, summer, autumn and winter. The winter months in Great Britain are November, December, January and February. The winter months are cold. In Great Britain in winter it snows and rains.
Let's read about the winter months. There is something in each month.

November.

There are 30 days in November. In Great Britain November is the first winter month.
In November in America there is a great holiday - Thanksgiving Day. Families come together for the day. They decorate the houses with autumn's fruits and flowers and eat traditional American food: roast turkey and pumpkin pie.

December.

There are 31 days in December. On the 25th of December there is the greatest holiday of all in England - Christmas or X-mas. People give each other presents and send Christmas cards. Presents for children are in their stockings.
The traditional English dinner on Christmas Day is roast turkey and Christmas pudding.
The Queen's speech is on television at 3.00 p. m.
During Christmas in Trafalgar Square there is a Christ тыл tree.
Not all English people celebrate New Year. Those who do celebrate it on the 31st of December. Some people have a New Year party. The party usually begins at eight o’clock in the evening. At twelve o'clock they have a toast to the New Year. The party goes on till early morning.

January.

There are 31 days in January. It's fun to see the New Year in. There is a lot of dancing, eating and drinking.
There is an interesting New Year tradition: in Scotland you can go "first footing". That is - you visit friends, so you are the "first foot" of the New Year in their houses. In Scotland the first visitor who comes into a house on New Year's morning is "the First Foot".
The Scots believe that the First Foot brings luck to the family for the New Year.
In Scotland the First Foot must be a man (or a boy), not a woman! And he must have dark hair.

February.

There are twenty-eight or twenty-nine days in February. The 14th of February is St. Valentine's Day.
People buy or make Valentine cards and send them to people they love. They don't sign their cards - you must guess who sent the cards to you.
Boys and girls, husbands and wives, relatives and friends send cards to each other.
There are different cards to suit all tastes.

In Great Britain there are two spring months: March and April.

March.

There are 31 days in March. In England spring begins at the end of March. The 17th of March is a national holiday in Ireland - St. Patrick's Day. People send greeting cards. On that day people wear a shamrock. A shamrock is a plant with three leaves. It is the national emblem of Ireland.
In March there is also a holiday for English women - Mother's Day. People in the family try to make it a day off for Mother and help her in any way they can. On that day they visit their mothers and give them some presents. If they can't do that, they send their mothers "A Mother's Day Card".

April.

April is the second spring month. There are 30 days in April. In April or at the end of March English people celebrate Easter Day. They celebrate it as the start of spring or a religious festival. In England it is time to give and to get presents.
On Easter Sunday children get chocolate Easter eggs or rabbits. You can buy them at any sweet shop in the weeks before Easter.
The Easter holidays are at the end of March and in the first half of April. Pupils go back to school after Easter.
In April there is a day for fun - April Fool's Day. It's on the first of April. English children like this day very much. They play jokes and tricks on other people: other children, parents, friends, relatives, school teachers. One is to tell someone that something is wrong with his dress when in fact all is in order.
"Oh, Ted, look, your right shoe is on your left foot!" When the boy looks at his feet and sees that he has got the right shoe on the right foot, the one, who is playing the joke, says, “April Fool!” So children play different jokes and tricks.
As you see the first of April is a day for fun.

May, June, July, August. In Great Britain summer begins in May. So there are four summer months. They are May, June, July and August. The weather is usually warm but not always. It is often changeable. The days are long and the nights are short. When the sun is high in the sky it is hot.
People wear light clothes — cotton shirts, jeans, skirts, T-shirts and light shoes.
In

May

on the first Monday English people celebrate the May Day holiday. Big shops are open and some people go shopping.
In

June

the English people celebrate Father's Day. On that day children send cards and give presents to their fathers.
Most people stay in Britain in the summer. In

July

and

August

there are lots of things to do: you can go to the parks, to the swimming pools, to the stadiums.
If the weather is fine, there are a lot of people on the beaches. In July and August you can have a very good time.

September, October. Autumn comes in September. Autumn is usually a nice season in England. It is warm and dry. But it can rain a lot too.
The summer holidays are over in

September

. The parks, beaches and streets of Britain are very quiet. It is time to go back to school. In Great Britain school begins in the second week of September.
On the 31st of

October

in Great Britain there is a nice holiday for children — Hallowe'en. People put pumpkins on the windowsills. They draw eyes, noses and mouths on the pumpkins and put candles into them. So the pumpkin looks like a face.
Children dress up in funny clothes. They go from house to house and say "Trick or treat". People give them sweets, fruit, cakes, cookies or money.
This is a nice, funny and "tasty" holiday, isn't it?