Как мы празднуем Рождество

В каждой семье свои традиции празднования Рождества. Но есть и много общего.

У жителей одной страны – общая история, одни и те же сказочные герои, они слушают одни и те же песни, смотрят одни и те же фильмы и программы по телевидению.

Что касается Рождества, то Father Christmas или по-простому Санта – у англичан один на всех.

Целый год на Северном полюсе кипит работа – Санта вместе со своими эльфами трудится в поте лица, заготавливая подарки детям. Перед самым Рождеством он заглядывает в свои записи и проверяет, хорошо ли ребенок вел себя весь год, и, если нет больших нареканий от родителей, то загружает подарки в сани. И в канун Рождества отправляется в кругосветное путешествие, чтобы за 24 часа раздать все, что приготовил.

Сегодня Наташа расскажет вам все о том, как мы празднуем Рождество в Великобритании. Не только день после того, как ранним утром дети увидят, что оставил им Санта, но и следующий, у которого очень странное название – Boxing Day. Что это такое? День спортивных соревнований по боксу? Или что-то связанное с какими-то коробками? Посмотрите скорее видео, и вы все узнаете!

 

Как обычно, мы добавили к видео субтитры, которые вы можете активировать или убрать, нажав специальный значок внизу справа. Для тех, кто предпочитает смотреть видео без субтитров, размещаем полный текст того, что говорит Наташа, ниже.

 

Hello! Natasha is here again!

Dear friends, many of you have been asking about Christmas: how do we celebrate it?

Well, today I will give you some details about what we do at Christmas time.

Night time on Christmas Eve, which is evening of December 24th, is a very exciting time for young children.

It is the time when Santa or Father Christmas comes. Children hang up their stockings and go to sleep.

Santa and his elves make all the toys for Christmas in his home in the North Pole.

On Christmas Eve he piles all the toys onto his sleigh and rides across the sky with his 9 reindeers. The most famous reindeer is Rudolph. He is always the one at the front, to lead the way with his red nose. Children believe that Santa stops at every house and leaves presents for them. Santa enters the house through the chimney or goes to the house through the open window.

Traditionally on Christmas Eve, mince pies and sherry (or milk) are left out for Santa and nowadays carrots are left for his reindeers, so that they don’t feel hungry on their long journey around the world. Most children are in bed anyway before midnight waiting for Santa to visit. They have to be asleep in order to receive the presents in the morning.

In the morning the children usually are the first to wake up to open their presents, very often still in their pyjamas.

Once the wrapping paper has been torn off all the presents, the family sits down to breakfast.

Some British families always attend church on Christmas Day.

Then it all comes to the big Christmas dinner. Dinner is usually served at 2pm, with majority of the people enjoying the traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings: roast potato, parsnips, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and sprouts.

All that food and drink means the first person to fall asleep is around 4pm, with Granddads being the leaders in losing the "staying awake" battle.

For those who manage to stay awake, family board games are brought out and we spend time playing games and watching favourite films on TV.

We, here in Britain, think that spending time with the family is the best thing about Christmas Day.

Now let me tell you a bit about Boxing Day, which is the next day after Christmas.

Not every English person can explain why Boxing Day is called Boxing Day. Is it something to do with sport boxing, or there are some sort of boxes to open? I will tell you the story you need to know.

The holiday Boxing day was originally celebrated in England by the servants to the rich people. After Christmas, the servants used to “boxed up” all the leftovers from the rich people’s dinner and bring them home.

So now in England Boxing Day, traditionally, is a time to give gifts to tradesmen, servants, and friends.

There is also another story behind Boxing Day.

They say it is originated from the medieval times.

All churches used to have alms boxes (also known as poor boxes) where people donate small change during the year.

Every priest was supposed to empty the alms box of his church and distribute the gifts to the poor at Christmas time.

Dear all, I hope that you’ve learned some new things about Christmas today.

As we say in Britain, Christmas is for giving and sharing with other people.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

See you next time! Goodbye!

 

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