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New Year Celebrations in Britain
New Year in Britain is celebrated on January 1, the first day of the first month as per the Gregorian Calendar. This day was officially declared as New Year’s Day in 1752.New Year is the much awaited celebration for the people of Britain. Many people hold or attend parties in the evening to say goodbye to the old year and to welcome the new year. The past year is also thoroughly reviewed in the media, including television and newspapers. The custom of exchanging gifts on New Year has become widely popular in Britain. Although this custom of exchanging gifts was originally done at New Year it is now transferred to Christmas. In England the children rise early on New Year so that they can make rounds to neighbors and singing songs.The children are given sweets, coins, apples and mince pies for singing. Hogmanay
In Scotland the New Year celebrations are known as Hogmanay. Hogmanay is the Scot’s word for the last day of the year, 31st December and the partying can last right through to January 2nd, which is a Bank Holiday in Scotland. Hogmanay has its origins in pagan times, an ancient time when the people would hold festivals for the sun and fire in the middle of the winter, to help them go through the cold hard times and to encourage the warmth and the longer days to return in the spring.Up until the 1960’s, Hogmanay was a more important festival in Scotland than Christmas. On the day of Hogmanay, 31st December, traditionally the house would be cleaned throughout so that the New Year would be welcomed into a pristine, tidy home. It is regarded as very bad luck to welcome the New Year into a dirty and untidy house!
New Year Symbols
One of the most widely known symbols of New Year’s Eve is the image of the Clock Tower at the Palace of Westminster, in London, counting down the last minutes of the old year. The first chimes of Big Ben, the bell housed in the Clock Tower, in the new year are broadcast live on radio and television.This is followed by a spectacular fireworks performance, often centered on the London Eye, which is claimed to be the largest Ferris wheel in Europe.
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Easter is one of the most important and holiest of all the festivals on the Christian calendar. It is a celebration of death and of rebirth as Christians celebrate the crucifixion and subsequent rising from the dead of Jesus Christ.
These days, Easter is celebrated with a church service on Good Friday, and the giving of small Easter Gifts on the Sunday.
As with many other Christian celebrations, a lot of our Easter symbols and traditions of today have their roots in paganism. When the Emperor Constantine of Rome converted to Christianity and decreed it to be the sole religion of the empire, the Christian religious leaders integrated many of the pagan rituals that were common at the time with those of Christianity.
The word "Easter"
The word Easter is said to come from the name of a beautiful pagan goddess of the spring, Eostre. Eostre was honoured during the spring equinox, the time when we now celebrate Easter.
Easter Egg
Over the centuries, the egg has been considered the ultimate symbol of rebirth and new life. In all cultures through the ages, the egg has symbolised the beginning of everything, especially new life.
To Christians, it symbolises the death and rebirth of Christ, but more, it also celebrates their new life in Christ when they become a Christian.
Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny is in fact an Easter hare. Hares have long since symbolised the moon, and it is the first full moon after the spring equinox that determines the date of Easter each year. The hare is a nocturnal creature, coming out at night with the moon and was thought to neither blink nor close their eyes.
According to one legend, the Easter Bunny was originally a large beautiful bird that belonged to Eostre. One day, she chose to transform her bird into a hare. As the Easter Bunny still thinks he's a bird, he continues to fill nests with eggs which he then leaves in our gardens for children to find at Easter.
Hot Cross Buns
One of the oldest and most delicious traditions of Good Friday is the eating of hot cross buns. These spicy buns, which are marked with a white cross are said to have originated in pagan times. The early Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians all marked their breads with symbols that honoured their gods and goddesses.
The custom of eating hot cross buns has given rise to many superstitions. Some believed that a hot cross bun which was kept from one Good Friday to the next would bring good luck to the household, while others believed that hanging a hot cross bun over the fireplace ensured that all bread baked there would be perfect. Still others believed that eating hot cross buns on Good Friday protected the family and the house from fire.
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