• A pancake is a thin, flat cake made of batter and fried in a frying pan. The traditional English pancake is very thin and used immediately after being fried. Yellow lemon juice or caster sugar was often used together as toppings for pancakes.
• The pancake has a very long history and featured in cookery books as far back as 1439.
• Pancake Day, also called Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday, is the day preceding Lent because that is when people use up foods in their houses such as eggs, milk, and sugar. Therefore, pancakes are the perfect way to use up these ingredients.
• The ingredients for pancakes can be seen to symbolize four points of significance at this time of year:
  Eggs ~ Creation
  Flour ~ The staff of life
  Salt ~ Wholesomeness
  Milk ~ Purity

WHEN is PANCAKE DAY celebrated?

ACTIVITY of PANCAKE DAY

• The pancake races have been forming an important part of this celebration. This is an opportunity for everyone often in dress to race down the streets tossing pancakes.
• In the competition, people need to run as fast as possible to touch the line first. They hold the cooked pancake in the frying pan and flip that pancake while they are running.
• The contestants have to toss pancakes three times during running. The first person arriving at the church will serve that pancake to the bellringer and be kissed by him. That person will be the winner of the race. 

SUPERSTITION of PANCAKE DAY

• Three first pancakes that are ripped will be the sacredness. Each pancake will be signed with the cross, then added a little bit of salt to avoid ghost spirits and put aside.
• In Ireland, the Irish girl that is the first child in the family and not married yet will toss the first pancake. She succeeds which means she will get married that year. 
• In Scotland, special oat cakes called Bannocks are made with oatmeal, eggs, and salt and are grilled with a charm added to the dough. Regarding eating and drinking, if an unmarried person finds it, it is believed that they will get married within the year.
• Wales also had their own custom where people would go from door to door begging for flour, lard or butter. In some areas Welsh children will kick tin cans up and down the streets, believed to celebrate the giving of pots and pans to Lent.

WHEN is CHRISTMAS in BRITAIN?  

• Unlike in America, the essential Christmas in Britain is up to four days. Not only the public holiday that is December 25th, but also the day after, December 26th known as Boxing Day. Additionally, it is now customary for Britons to enjoy one or two additional public holidays on Monday and potentially the Tuesday that follows one or both of these holidays falling on a Saturday or Sunday.

MEANING of BRITISH CHRISTMAS 

The TRADITIONS of ENGLISH CHRISTMAS

• Date back to the 19th century or before, British Christmas includes Christmas cards, Christmas carols, decorations, and a Christmas tree under which are many gifts. Of course, it could not lack Christmas dinner.
• Even though today people can send their Christmas cards via email, and social media such as Facebook or Instagram, British Christmas is still defined in terms of great traditions.
• The British love singing the Christmas Carol on this occasion. There are also carol singers in many major shopping streets and malls in the days before Christmas. Away from the street, almost all churches organize some form of Carol Service, which attracts many more than just regular worshipers
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• On Christmas day, people often spend their time with their families. They give presents to their friends and families
• In the morning, lots of families go to church, and come back home and have a special Christmas dinner with their families. Roast turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. 
• Unlike America Christmas dinner, the British finish their Christmas dinner with a Christmas pudding that sometimes people put a silver coin in it. They don't eat it, it brings them good luck.

WHEN ? 

SYMBOLS of BRITISH EASTER

• THE CROSS: the main symbol of the Christian festival of course is a cross, often on a hill. As a result of Jesus' crucifixion, the cross came to represent pain. Christians later viewed the resurrection as a sign of triumph over death. At the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, Constantine declared the Cross to be the recognized emblem of Christianity.
• PALMS: The week of Easter begins on Palm Sunday. When welcoming royalty in ancient Rome, it was usual to wave palm branches in a manner akin to a ticker-tape procession. Therefore, on what is now known as Palm Sunday, people welcomed Jesus by scattering and waving palm branches throughout the streets of Jerusalem. Christians still participate in parades today on Palm Sunday, carrying palm branches that they have made into crosses and garlands to adorn the church.
• EASTER EGGS: Easter eggs are a very old tradition going to a time before Christianity. Eggs after all are a symbol of spring and new life. Exchanging and eating Easter eggs is a popular custom in many countries. In the UK before they were replaced by chocolate Easter eggs real eggs were used, in most cases, chicken eggs. The eggs were hard-boiled and dyed in various colors and patterns. The traditionally bright colors represented spring and light 
• THE EASTER BUNNY: Rabbits, due to their fecund nature, have always been a symbol of fertility. The Easter bunny (rabbit) however may actually be an Easter hare. The hare was allegedly a companion of the ancient Moon goddess and of Eostre.
• HOT CROSS BUNS: Hot cross buns, now eaten throughout the Easter season, were first baked in England to be served on Good Friday.

HOW is BRITISH EASTER CELEBRATED? 

• The modern-day celebration of Easter in the UK is a mixture of pagan and Christian traditions with a sprinkling of commercialism. Easter was originally a pagan celebration and was named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, Eostre. Later, it was adopted by the Christians to mark the crucifixion and rebirth of Jesus.
• The holiday’s mixed origins have resulted in some interesting traditions in the UK, including Brits gobbling chocolate shaped like eggs.
• Playing silly games such as the egg and spoon race is something Brits love to do and the aim of the game is to run a race while balancing a hard-boiled egg on a spoon. The first person to finish the race, without dropping the egg, is the winner.

DIFFERENCES between BRITISH EASTER and AMERICAN EASTER.

• In the UK, Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays known as bank holidays. However, Easter Monday is not a public holiday in Scotland. Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday are not federal holidays in the US. However, some employers gave their employees the days off.
• The oldest tradition is to use dyed and painted chicken eggs but the modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs wrapped in colored foil. This is something Brits have embraced far more than the Americans. Additionally, the British did not really give Easter eggs as a gift. 
• In the UK, on Easter Sunday, the traditional family meal is roast lamb. However, in the US, it is ham usually glazed and baked. In the UK, cinnal cake is made with a layer of marzipan in the middle and on top. 

HISTORY of VALENTINE's DAY 

• The holiday is celebrated in Britain since the XVII century. The origins of Valentine’s Day are rooted in the history of the Roman Empire, when one of the rulers, Claudius II, forbade marriages because it was believed that the best soldiers are single men. It was then that the Christian priest Valentine began to conduct the engagements of people secretly.
• Valentine was immediately arrested and sentenced to death, as soon as the ruler learned about what he did. Before the execution, on the night of February 14, his woman received the last note from the priest with the signature
  
  

THE CUSTOMS and SYMBOLS of THE VALENTINE's DAY IN UK

• In medieval England, lovers gave gifts to each other secretly on Valentine’s Day, and young single boys chose «Valentines» among the girls by lot, then they wrote poems and songs for them all year, admiring them like knights. 
• In Sussex, the day of lovers is also known as the day of bird weddings. Since Geoffrey Chaucer, an English poet, called this holiday a day when birds choose their own pair, ceremonies were not done without birds. According to the belief, if an unmarried girl saw a robin on that day, then she should be married to a sailor, if she saw a sparrow, her future husband would be a simple peasant, and the goldfinch symbolized a rich spouse.
• In Wales, there was customary to give each other wooden spoons of different shapes on the day of all lovers. The most popular were spoons with ornaments of heart-shaped locks and keys to them.
• In the county of Norfolk, lovers’ day is celebrated on a special scale. This is due to the legend of Jack Valentine, who on the night of February 14 left gifts on the porches of houses for all residents.
• In England, flowers are presented on the day of lovers since the XVII century. This tradition came from France from Louis XVI, who gave Marie Antoinette red roses. They are the symbol of Valentine’s Day and symbolize the blood of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Two drops of her blood fell on white roses, making them red.

What do British lovers give to each other?

• The most valuable Valentine’s Day gift is actually pastries and sweets made with your own hands. There is a tradition of baking a cake in the shape of a heart, which is given to the loved one.
• The British do not make expensive gifts. They buy chocolate sweets, various sweets, valentine's cards, and soft toys, among which Teddy bears are the most popular.
• As for valentines, anonymous valentines still are given. Confessions of love can be often seen in British newspapers and local magazines.
• Flowers are a must-have gift for Valentine’s Day, a symbol of sympathy, tenderness, and love. The color of roses and their number in the bouquet have different meanings — scarlet roses are given to a girlfriend or a boyfriend; yellow and white — to acquaintances and relatives.
• In addition, British people congratulate and give gifts not only to their lovers but to all those whom they love — parents, relatives, and even pets.