Spring Festivals

Leggi e ascolta. Spring Festivals

After the long cold winter, people want to go outside and have fun. As a result there are lots of spring festivals in the UK.

Pancake Day Lent is the 40 day period of fasting before Easter. The day before Lent begins is Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. In the past, people made pancakes to use all their eggs, butter, milk and sugar before Lent began. Today this tradition continues on Pancake Day.

When people make pancakes, they often toss them in the air and (usually!) catch them. In some towns there are pancake races. People run and toss pancakes at the same time! It’s fun to watch them!

High Five Level 2 . Festivals C p. 210 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE Easter At the end of Lent Christians celebrate Easter. Easter was originally a pagan celebration when people celebrated the return of spring. In fact, the word Easter comes from Eostre, the name of the pagan goddess of fertility. In the Christian tradition Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ.

Today, on Easter Sunday people receive chocolate eggs from their family and friends. Eggs are a symbol of Easter because they represent new life.

May Day May Day is on 1st May. Celebrations on May Day date from Roman times and the Festival of Flora, the goddess of flowers and fruit. In some villages in England people elect a May Queen. She represents the goddess Flora. She is a beautiful young girl and she wears flowers in her hair.

Maypole dancing is another popular tradition in some British towns and villages. On May Day people dance around the maypole to traditional folk music.

High Five Level 2 . Festivals C p. 210 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE Morris dancing is also very popular on May Day. This is a type of British folk dance from the 15th century. The dancers are usually men, but women sometimes dance, too. There are usually six or eight dancers in a Morris group. They wear white clothes and they have little bells around their knees.