NewYearElem.doc

–People both in Poland and the US celebrate Christmas and New Year. Do you know any customs related to these holidays?

–Other religions do not celebrate Christmas. They celebrate their own holidays. Complete these two short texts with for, in and on.

Ø         Hanukkah – This name means “Festival of Lights”. Jews celebrate this very old festival _____ 8 days. This festival takes place _____ December every year. They light candles _____ a menorah – a special holder.

Ø         Kwanza – This name means “first fruits of the harvest” _____ Swahili, an East African language. This festival developed _____ the US _____ 1966. It starts _____ December 26th and lasts _____ 7 days. About 5 million Afro-Americans _____ the US celebrate it.

–Some people do not celebrate New Year on January 1st or have some special ways of celebrating. Match the countries in the chart with the traditional ways of celebrating New Year there.

Flag				GLOSSARY vegetarian = without meat equal = the same sweet = a taste, e.g. of sugar sour = a taste, e.g. of lemon refrigerator = fridge firecrackers = a type of fireworks that explode loudly relatives = family
Country
People
When	Today: January 1st In ancient times: the same as Chinese and Korean New Year			Different date every year: somewhere between January 10th and February 19th
Customs no.

Designed by Bartosz Michałowski for Pearson Longman              PHOTOCOPIABLE 2

Definitions from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

1         New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are celebrated as a family affair. The families get together during this holiday. The New Year’s Eve dinner is very large and traditionally includes chicken. However, the New Year’s Day dinner is typically vegetarian.

2         People in this country have a custom of sending New Year’s Day postcards to their friends and relatives. People send them so that they arrive on the 1st of January.

3         The New Year season lasts 15 days. The seventh day traditionally is everyone’s birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older. The celebrations end with the colourful Lantern Festival on the evening of the 15th day.

4       
People in this country eat a special selection of dishes on New Year’s Day. Many of the traditional dishes are sweet and sour because most of the stores used to close for about a week and there was not such thing as a refrigerator back then.

5         On New Year’s Day people have a custom of giving pocket money to children. The amount of money given depends on the age of the child but is usually the same if there is more than one child, in order that they feel equal.

6        People celebrate New Year with firecrackers. Dragon dances and lion dances take place in some streets and public places throughout the first few days of the New Year.

Designed by Bartosz Michałowski for Pearson Longman              PHOTOCOPIABLE 2

Definitions from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English