St George of England   St Andrew of Scotland   St Patrick of Ireland

Great Britain is made up of 3 separate countries: England, Scotland and Wales. Scotland and Wales have their own smaller parliaments but the main legislative power remains in London. However, when it comes to things such as sports, for example, ( Rugby and Football especially) then the three countries proudly stand alone. The Scots are Scots, the Welsh are Welsh and the English are English.

1^st Jan                         New Year’s Day

17^th Mch                      St Patrick’s Day (Northern Ireland and the Republic only)

Good Friday

Easter Monday

May Day                      ( 1^st Monday in May)

Spring Bank Holiday      (Last Monday in May)

Summer Bank Holiday   (Last Monday in August)

25^th Dec                       Christmas Day*

26^th Dec                       Boxing Day**

* As far as I can tell, the celebrations surrounding Christmas are fairly similar in the UK and US, though we normally say Father Christmas, and not Santa Claus, but there is one thing I have been asked to explain that I don’t think ever took off in the US (and trust me, you’re not missing much!) - The Christmas Cracker!! So, when the family sit down for our Christmas turkey and all the trimmings, on the table next to you there may well be a brightly decorated cardboard tube. Inside this contraption will be a novelty gift, joke, paper hat, and a banger. Two people take either end, pull the cracker, it bangs, and the items fall out. You are then forced by your family to wear a paper hat for the duration of your meal! I did say you weren’t missing much!

**Boxing Day - Depending on which history book you read, Boxing Day came from either the distributing of funds to the poor from the collection boxes, or the practise of the servants receiving gifts from employers, called their Christmas boxes. It is now a bank holiday within the UK.

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14^th Feb      St Valentines Day

1^st March     St David’s Day - Patron saint of Wales Emblem = Daffodil ( or leek)

March         (depending on when Easter falls) Mothering Sunday

1^st April       April Fools Day

23rd April    St George’s Day - Patron Saint of England. Emblem = Rose

June           (normally the third Sunday) Father’s Day

21^st June     (approx)  Summer Solstice

31^st Oct      Halloween

5^th Nov       Bonfire Night *

30^th Nov     St Andrew’s Day - Patron Saint of Scotland Emblem = Thistle

21^st Dec     (approx) Winter Solstice.

*

1605 - James I of England is proving unpopular with several factions within Stuart England, including many Catholics, who had hoped for changes when he succeeded Elizabeth the First just two years before. A small band of protestors conspire to get their point across in a dramatic way - to blow up the King, and Parliament, by planting barrels of gunpowder underneath the House of Lords. One of these conspirators, and the one we all remember, is one Guido, or Guy Fawkes. One of the group got cold feet, and leaked details of the plot to the King’s advisors. Therefore, on the 4^th of Nov 1605, Guy Fawkes is found underneath Parliament, red-handed, and arrested for treason, to be executed on 31^st Jan 1606. James declared the following day, the 5^th Nov, a public holiday, and hence the childhood rhyme arose as a warning to would-be conspirators of the future. Nowadays there is no public holiday, but we still commemorate the event with a roaring bonfire, often with an effigy of Guy Fawkes on top of it, plus firework displays and torch-lit processions on, or around, the 5^th Nov.