APRIL FOOL'S DAY: THE HISTORY

Once again it's 1st April, so it's April Fool's Day, a traditional day for jokes and pranks. Do you know why? Here's a video that explains the history of this day:

Video:

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY 2016

Another Saint Patrick's Day, the day when everything turns green and everyone is Irish.

Remembering the day, we link you to previous post on this blog to celebrate Ireland, the Irish and the green.

LINK HERE.









Video "Destination Ireland":

29th FEBRUARY: THE LEAP DAY OF A LEAP YEAR

2016 is a leap year, because February has an extra day, which is today: the 29th of February, leap day. Leap day is an extra day inserted into the calendar to keep it synchronised with the astronomical and seasonal year and it occurs every 4 years.

+ info: @ Wikipedia: LEAP DAY & LEAP YEAR.

A GUIDE TO BRITISH CULTURE BY STEPHEN FRY

British actor Stephen Fry  stars in a three minute video explaining the essence of British culture to visitors arriving to the UK via London's Heathrow airport. The film shot inside a pub features the actor talking about British cultural features and mentions important British attractions. You can watch it here with subtitles. The video was released last Thursday on Heathrow's free Wi-Fi page.

Video:

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ClickOnEnglish.

Click HERE for the infographic of British Christmas traditions.

A SNAPSHOT OF CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD

Today we're bringing you a link to see and check how Christmas is celebrated around the world through photos and descriptions of traditions. Take a look:

Link: Photobox's Snapshot of Christmas around the world

THE HISTORY OF LONDON: THE BIGGEST & THE SMALLEST CITY IN THE UK.

[From Bristoleños.com]

As if it was the Vatican City and Rome, London (UK capital city) has a borough called the 'City', but it isn't a borough, it has a special distinction that sets back a long time ago. Below you can watch a video which clearly explains the main differences between them, but here's a summary of the most important ones:

- More than 8 million people live in Greater London (the grey area of the map above), the capital of England and the UK.

- About 11.000 people live in the City of London (the red area of the map above). It has a totally independent organization from the rest of the country.

- Both cities have different councils, lord majors, police and even laws and collect their own taxes.

- The City of London sometimes acts like Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland or England, the other countries that make up the UK.

- The organization that rules the City is older than England's.

- The City was founded by the Romans, called Londinium. They built a wall and the city grew within it. After William I, the Conqueror, had united England, he couldn't defeat the City, so he offered the Londoners some privileges that have lasted since 1705 until now.

- Later, William I founded another capital, Westminster, to diminish power from the City. This city grew so much to become Greater London.

- Not all London and England's laws are directly applied on the City. 

- Another curiosity is the tradition that the Queen of England can't enter the City without asking for permission to the Major of London.

Video:

BLACK FRIDAY 2015

Today is this year's Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States... but not only. Black Friday has become bestselling date throughout the world. Even here in Spain we start hearing about "Black Friday's offers and sales".

+ info:
- BLACK FRIDAY 2015 info from The Telegraph.
- IF YESTERDAY WAS THANKSGIVING DAY IN THE U.S.A., TODAY'S BLACK FRIDAY, previous post from this blog.

Video:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2015

Today's Thanksgiving Day in the USA (always the 4th Thursday in November).

(In Canada it was 12th October, always the 2nd Monday in October).

Link to previous Thankgiving posts on this blog HERE.
And a new one @ Oxford Culturemania
Thanksgiving: A brief history

BONFIRE NIGHT 2015

Guy Fawkes: Remember, remember the 5th of November

Once again it's the 5th of November and Bonfire Night is celebrated in the UK. We've talked about it here several times. Go to previous posts HERE.

+ info:

Bonfire Night 2015: Why do we celebrate with firework displays? Who was Guy Fawkes?

BRIT FOOD: A BRIEF HISTORY OF FISH & CHIPS

If any food is traditional in the UK, fish & chips is the one. Here you can click on to a brief history of typical British takeaway and cultural symbol.

Link: [Anglotopia]

Brit Food: A Brief History of Fish and Chips

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2015!

It's Haloween once again. This year with two extra free days linked to the normal weekend.: so we've got a 4-day long weekend holiday!!! Have a frightening good time!

.+ INFO: 

Click HERE to previous Halloween related post on this blog, and on the following links to:

- HALLOWEEN AROUND THE WORLD.

- EVERYTHING ABOUT HALLOWEEN: SUPERSTITIONS, CUSTOMS & TRADITIONS.

- HALLOWEEN @ THE BRITISH COUNCIL

Video Halloween costumes for kids on Ellen Degeneres TV show:

BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY TREE

The Royal British Family is an important part of British culture and tradition. With a new baby girl just born into the family yesterday, here's the British Royal Family Tree to see who's who in this family. By the way, the new member is called Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. She's fourth in line to the thrown.

Video of the news:
.

LUKE'S TALK AT "RAFAEL DIESTE"

This morning, we had the pleasure to receive Luke's visit to our school. He's an Englishman from Liverpool, who lives in A Coruña.

Unfortunately, we forgot to take photos of him talking, but during his talk he showed the cartoon picture of "Family Guy's" character Peter Griffin, telling us that his friends said he looked like him.

Luke gave a speech for 1stBAC students about British culture: 

- the British flag ("The Union Jack"), (Info about this is also in this blog: HERE1)

- the difference between Northern Ireland, part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, (Info about this is also in this blog:  HERE2).

- why British drive on the left, which countries do so and the reason why. (Info about this is also in this blog:  HERE3).

- Scottish traditions (pagpipes, kilts, tartan...)

He was very amusing, making students participate and enjoy.

Thanks Luke and we hope to see you again (and take photos when you come!)

Luke is sponsored by Burlington Books.

St. PATRICK'S DAY 2015

It's Saint Patrick's Day, the National Day of Ireland, once again. So we're linking to previous St. Patrick's posts HERE. And remember everything turns GREEN today.

GROUNDHOG DAY 2015

Previous post about the Groundhog Day in this blog: HERE.

All the info about it in their webpage: Groundhog.org.

26th DECEMBER: BOXING DAY/St. STEPHEN'S

Today is BOXING DAY or St. Stephen's Day in Great Britain. It's also an important day in Ireland, Catalonia... Here's some information about it from the Wikipedia.

Boxing Day is traditionally the day following Christmas Day, when servants and tradesmen would receive gifts from their superiors.

The exact etymology of the term "boxing" is unclear. There are several competing theories, none of which is definitive. The European tradition, which has long included giving money and other gifts to those who were needy and in service positions, has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown. It may come from a custom in the late Roman/early Christian era, wherein metal boxes placed outside churches were used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen^] which in the Western Church falls on the same day as Boxing Day.

In Britain, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect "Christmas boxes" of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year. This custom is linked to an older English tradition: Since they would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts and bonuses, and sometimes leftover food.

St. Stephen's Day, or the Feast of St. Stephen, is a Christian saint's day celebrated on 26 December in the Western Church and 27 December in the Eastern Church. Many Eastern Orthodox churches adhere to the Julian calendar and mark St. Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which places it on 9 January of the Julian calendar used in secular contexts. It commemorates St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. It is an official public holiday in Austria, Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Poland. 

TIPS FOR A BRITISH CHRISTMAS

We're approaching Christmas, so it's good to check on what makes a real British Christmas compared to celebrations in other countries. Here's another Anglophenia video which gives the top ten of British Christmas traditions, confronting most of them with American ones. Take a look...

Check your understanding after watching & listening. Answer the following questions:

1) HOW DOES FATHER CHRISTMAS GET HIS LETTERS IN BRITAIN?

2) WHERE DO THE BRITISH HANG THE CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS?

3) WHAT IS A CHRISTMAS CRACKER?

4) WHAT MUST YOU DO WITH A CHRISTMAS HAT?

5) WHAT DO BRITISH HAVE FOR DINNER ON CHRISTMAS?

6) WHAT'S A CHRISTMAS PUDDING?

7) WHAT DOES THE QUEEN DO EVERY CHRISTMAS DAY?

8) WHAT'S BOXING DAY? WHY IS IT CALLED BOXING DAY?

9) WHAT HAPPENS ON BOXING DAY NOWADAYS?

10) WHEN SHOULD YOU TAKE DOWN THE CHRISTMAS TREES?

Video HOW TO HAVE A BRITISH CHRISTMAS:

More about Christmas in the video below:



More about it all: CHRISTMAS IS COMING (from English With a Twist)

ANSWERS TO THE ABOVE QUESTIONS ON THE VIDEO:

1) In England, letters to Father Christmas aren't sent by post, instead they're burnt in fires which supposedly take them directly to the North Pole.

2) Christmas stockings are hung on the beds, close to the person sleeping.

3) Christmas crackers are a colourful cardboard tube filled with tiny prizes, a paper crown and/or jokes, which are pulled by each side to break.

4) Paper crowns must be worn on your heads.

5) Turkey, pork sausages, roast potatoes and Brussel sprouts are the typical food eaten at the Christmas dinner.

6) A Christmas pudding is a dense boiled cake of dried fruits, spices and soaked in alcohol and made months before Christmas.

7) She gives her yearly speech about the year's past events on TV.

8) Boxing Day is the day after Christmas. It's called so either because workers used to receive presents from their bosses or because people had to prepare them in boxes for the poor.

9) It's a holiday now and people go shopping for bargains.

10) The British say that the Christmas tree and decorations should be taken down within 12 days after Christmas to be lucky.

CHRISTMAS IN BRITAIN

Another post devoted to how Christmas is celebrated in Britain. Sally and Jack show us different traditions to celebrate Christmas there.

Video:

FAMILY'S SPECIAL EVENTS

Here's a chart to check on the vocabulary related to the family and special occasions celebrated with the family.