Public holidays in Great Britain are called 'Bank holidays'. All the banks, offices, schools, shops and factories are closed. They are the following days: Good Friday and Easter Monday (Easter holidays), Christmas Day (December 25th) and Boxing Day (December 26th)
Good Friday is the Friday before Easter. It is the anniversary of Christ's crucifixion. On Easter Monday there are fanfares with roundabouts.
Christmas is the most beautiful of all holidays. Preparations start many weeks before. Various traditions and customs make it exciting and fascinating. Special decorations, coloured lights and Christmas trees can be seen in the streets and shops. Christmas carols are sung almost everywhere, in houses, cathedrals and churches. People buy presents and send postcards to their relatives and friends. On Christmas Eve (24th December) British homes are decorated with holly, ivy and mistletoe. Children hang their stockings on the foot of the bed for Santa Claus or Christmas Father to fill them. In the morning of Christmas Day, they enjoy Christmas presents. Mothers prepare the traditional dinner - roast stuffed Turkey and Christmas pudding. The following day is Boxing Day when boxes with presents or money are given to people who do services to the household, f. e. postman, dustman.
On New Year's Eve most people stay up till midnight to see the New Year coming. Many go to parties and dances. In Scotland, the last day of the year is even more important than Christmas. Friends and neighbours meet to drink a toast and wish each other luck.
They are other days of the year, which are not public holidays, but people celebrate in some way. It is the 14th February, St. Valentine's Day, when friends and lovers send greeting cards to express love or affection. There is a wide choice of cards - serious, romantic, sentimental, humorous, satiric and provoking. All are signed 'Your Valentine'. The first Valentine was a bishop, a Christian martyr murdered by Romans around 273. Before he was put to death he send a friendly greeting to his jailer's daughter.