New Year in England for children. Traditions and New Year's events of the British. New Year's program in the UK from “A” to “Z”. What to do, what to see, where to go

Do you think that on New Year's holidays the British enjoy oatmeal and raise a cup of tea to the boring speeches of the Queen? Stiffness is their hallmark, but not in winter!

Christmas in the UK

It's no secret that all of Catholic Europe and America celebrates and celebrates Christmas much more than the New Year. The difference lies not only in a different date, but also in a completely different approach to the holiday.

Christmas is a religious holiday, not a secular one, so the British believers prefer the church service, which begins at midnight, rather than the culinary bustle.

Little Britons expect gifts not from Santa, but from Father Christmas. This is what was originally called the kind bearded wizard in green robes, delivering gifts. The change in costume, image and popularization of another name for Father Christmas is due to the Coca-Cola company, which dressed its Santa in red decoration. Children throw letters with wishes into the fireplace (so that they are sure to reach Santa) and expect gold coins and gifts in special Christmas socks and stockings.

While the younger generation is languishing in anticipation of a miracle, adults are puzzled by many questions in advance. A month in advance, they choose the most beautiful spruce wreath, symbolizing prosperity, decorate it with five candles and believe that such a creation can bless food. The house is also decorated with wreaths of mistletoe and holly plants, decorating them with ribbons, sparkles, pine cones, and berries. A Christmas tree with an angel and a Christmas star at the top is an integral attribute of the holiday.

British cuisine can also surprise on holidays: Christmas bread (Christ’s Bread), baked pig’s head, English pudding (Christmas Pudding), in the preparation of which all members of the seven take part, and Christmas Pie with fortunes. According to an ancient tradition, a prudent housewife puts a coin, ring, bean or button into the pie dough. Each item has its own meaning: marriage, happiness, wealth or poverty (if someone is lucky, they will be so lucky).

The British only have enough patience to unpack gifts on the morning of December 25th. It should be noted that they do not compete in the ability to impress at the cost of gifts - it is customary to give each other gifts of approximately the same value. This is followed by a fireworks display in the form of a Christmas Cracker with confetti and surprises and... again a festive table. December 25th is a kind of “Groundhog Day”, when it is time for a long sleep, family TV watching and board games. It is important not to oversleep the queen’s address to her subjects at three o’clock in the afternoon.

On most streets of Christmas London you can hear the traditional song “Jingle Bells”, but in the neighborhoods full of shops, “I will survive” is not a novelty. What other entertainment do entertainers come up with to create a holiday and attract tourists to stores with huge discounts will be shown in a video based on real events, during the filming of which not a single Londoner was harmed:

Are you tired of a bowl of Olivier, sandwiches with caviar and photographs in front of the Christmas tree every year? Then try to celebrate the New Year in English style. How? Now let's reveal a military secret.

New Year celebrations in the UK

Dishes familiar to the eye and stomach can be replaced with roasted turkey with chestnuts, aromatic potatoes with gravy and herbs, stewed cabbage, sweet pies, nuts, fruits and other delicacies are sure to be present at the festive dinner on December 31st. You can capture yourself in a photo with your loved one against the backdrop of a mistletoe sprig. And you can and should celebrate the New Year noisily and cheerfully with friends and acquaintances, unlike Christmas. If you are a lonely brunette who has no one to celebrate the coming year with, go to any house - you will invariably be welcome, since the first visit of a dark-haired man promises good luck for all 12 months.

Another nice thing: save expensive gifts for Christmas; on New Year's it is customary to exchange greeting cards, bought in a store or made by hand. Yes, yes, in the UK, where the convenience of using Skype is no less known, they continue to use traditional mail and do not forget to put kind words in a postcard!

You can celebrate the New Year... At home, according to the principle, it doesn’t matter where, it matters with whom. In a cafe or restaurant where a costume party, massive fun and dancing until the morning are guaranteed (about 100 pounds). In the club, which is what British youth prefer, where you can dance yourself and watch the performances of artists, paying about 80 pounds for the pleasure in the capital's Ministry of Sound club. The most active and lovers of a healthy lifestyle are invited to celebrate the year at the skating rink at the Natural History Museum. Incorrigible romantics should invite their significant other on a cruise on the Thames - The Symphony. The £200 treat includes stunning views of festive London and a royal dinner.

In the city squares of Piccadilly or Trafalgar, you can merge with the merry crowd, hear the clink of tens of thousands of glasses and millions of various New Year's greetings, see costumed performances and fireworks, and absolutely free. On New Year's Eve there is a place for miracles, and the rule of free cheese in a mousetrap is canceled. If you go to London for New Year, there is no way to avoid the chimes at midnight. Of course, not the Kremlin ones, but Big Ben ones :)

It is better to see once than to hear 100 times. For now - a video, but next year you can see it in person. Don't believe me? In vain! This is why the time of magic exists, to make people believe in the most incredible and allow it to happen in the coming year!

Celebration in the UK New Year(English New Year) takes place on the night of December 31 to January 1 according to the Gregorian calendar. New Year is considered a less important holiday than Christmas and is therefore celebrated without gifts. However, in Scotland the opposite is true.

New Year, unlike Christmas, is celebrated not only at home with family.

The favorite New Year's delicacies of the British include: apple pie, round oatcakes with a hole in the middle, pudding, kebben cheese, and hot dishes - roast goose, steaks. In Scotland, they also bake an unusual shortbread cake with almonds, nuts, marzipan figures and national symbols made of sugar. Housewives also cook turkey with chestnuts and potatoes, stewed Brussels sprouts and meat pies. The traditional English New Year's drink is punch.

Typically, all New Year's decorations remain in the house from Christmas - these include sprigs of holly, mistletoe and ivy, which are hung above the door, on chandeliers and table lamps. Of course, the central place is occupied by an elegantly decorated spruce.

In Great Britain, it is not customary to give expensive and large New Year's gifts, since the holiday is considered only a continuation of Christmas. However, close people exchange useful little things and souvenirs like key chains, candles or beautiful teaspoons. Gifts are distributed by lot. They also give small cards and Christmas tree decorations.

At the end of December, festive processions take place through the streets of London - the London New Year's Parade, in which more than ten thousand people participate, including musicians, magicians and mummers; Chinese parade with dancing, singing and fireworks; many other street carnivals with the participation of Santa Claus and fairy tale heroes - the March Hare, Punch, Humpty Dumpty.

There are many ancient rituals and observations associated with the New Year in Britain.

• It is customary when the clock begins to strike midnight to open the back door of the house and let out the Old Year, and with the last stroke let the New Year in at the front door.
• · If after the twelfth blow a young man with dark hair (the first guest) enters the house, then the coming year will be successful. The first guest should bring bread, coal and a pinch of salt. After he burns the coal in the fireplace, everyone congratulates each other, and the guest who brought good luck is always fed.
• · Lovers kiss under the mistletoe at the sound of Big Ben - it is believed that this will ensure a strong relationship for them in the new year. Kissing someone standing under the mistletoe in the center of the room is believed to bring good luck and happiness for the whole coming year.
• · On the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, it is customary to set fire to a tar barrel and thereby “get rid” of everything old, including the past year.

· Great Britain

· The end of December attracts tourists to the UK with its New Year sales in boutiques, as well as Christmas festivals and fairs. The New Year is almost not celebrated, and gifts are not accepted on this day. The real holiday is the preceding Christmas; the New Year passes almost unnoticed as a continuation of the Christmas festivities. So if you are going to the UK for the New Year holidays, it is better to arrive early to catch Christmas. But in Scotland everything happens the other way around, as in many other countries, including ours. Also, unlike Christmas, New Year in the UK can be celebrated outside the family circle, this can be done with friends, in a club, and so on. Tourists come to local clubs from other European countries, the fact is that no one can have as much fun on New Year's Eve as in London clubs.

If valuable gifts are not accepted for the New Year, then it is impossible to come to visit without sweets or champagne; apple pie, pudding, kebben cheese, oatmeal cakes, steaks and roast goose are also popular treats on a festive night. Although instead of champagne, a drink such as punch is often used.

· Festive processions last throughout the end of December, for example, serious festivities are held every year in London. New Year's parade with the participation of musicians, mummers, magicians with fireworks. Carnival nights are also organized with the participation of a Chinese or oriental parade.

Many customs and traditions are associated with the New Year in the UK, for example, it is believed that when the clock strikes twelve times, you need to open the back door of the house and release the Old Year, and with the last blow, let in the New Year in the front door, this is possible, of course, if available there is the required number of doors. The first guest who entered the house after the New Year must certainly be a dark-haired young man with bread, coal and salt. He needs to burn the coal in the fireplace, after which the guest must be treated to food from the table.

· Traditionally, young people in love kiss under the Big Ben fight under the mistletoe (oak berries are an evergreen shrub plant).

· If you come to Edinburgh on New Year's Eve, then know that it is customary here to set fire to a barrel of tar on New Year's Eve, thus getting rid of all the failures of the outgoing year.

Christmas is one of the most beloved household holidays in the United Kingdom. But New Year for the British is something special! Bright fireworks take off, illuminating the already vibrant cities. The streets are filled with people having fun. London clubs are good at any time of the year - some of them are so famous that European youth go there to party even from Paris and Amsterdam! For the New Year's holiday, clubs and restaurants always prepare something special that will amaze the imagination of everyone who comes to the light! In addition to club life, tourists will be able to enjoy music Christmas festivals (until December 23) and seasonal sales in London's largest department stores.

At Christmas, all the windows of rural houses in Great Britain are lit with candles, so among locals the night before Christmas is called “the night of candles.” In England today, on Christmas Eve, instead of the traditional Yule log, a thick Christmas candle is lit. In Wales, lit candles decorated not only private homes in rural areas, but also rural churches and chapels during the Christmas holiday. Candles for decorating the church were made and presented to the priest by the inhabitants of the parish. In many villages, shortly before the holiday, women held competitions for the best decoration of Christmas candles. These decorations were made from strips of colored paper, foil, gold and silver threads, bright ribbons, etc. In some areas of Wales, with the same decorated and lit candles in their hands, the inhabitants of the parish went to the morning mass, which used to start at 2-3 in the morning. Many similar candles were lit that night in private homes.

Ever since the Middle Ages, the church began to use the old rites of disguise in order to give the people a more vivid impression of biblical stories. Thus, "mysteries" arose - dramatic representations of such religious scenes as the annunciation, the visit of the baby Christ by the three wise men of the East, etc. The participants in the dramatic versions of biblical stories were usually masked or with a face covered with a scarf, like the performers of ancient pagan rites. Among the performances of this kind among the English, the dramatic pantomime game about St. George and the Dragon, widely known in many other countries.

In Scotland in the Middle Ages, a very ancient game was performed at Christmas - a pantomime called goloshan. There are references to this game in old written Scottish sources. A pantomime game similar to goloskhan was previously common in those areas of England where Celtic traditions were strong - in Cornwall and the southwestern counties. The game is based, apparently, on the myth of the resurrection of nature after a long death, since the essence of the play lies in the fact that its main character, called Galgacus (Galgacus), Goloshan (Goloshan) or Galatian (Gala-tian), is killed in battle by the Macedonian king Falkirk or otherwise by the Black Knight and brought back to life by Dr. Beelzebal or simply Dr. Brown.

The magical significance of the Christmas rituals of mummering was forgotten long ago; now mummering is still preserved throughout England as entertainment; Such rituals are performed in most cases by teenagers. Traces of these ancient magical rituals can be seen in various pantomimes and masquerades organized in England in the past and now. There is information about masquerades and pantomimes at Christmas dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries. Thus, one of the sources reports that in 1377 a Christmas pantomime was organized at the Scottish royal court for the amusement of little Prince Richard. In the treasury registers of Scotland in the 15th century. The funds spent on organizing court masquerades for Christmas are often listed.

Another interesting custom in Britain was associated with the organization of masquerades: on the 12 days of Christmastide, in each palace or castle, the manager of the entire festival was chosen, called in England the “Lord of Misrule”, and in Scotland - the “Abbot of Mock). The Lord of Disorder was the one who could joke well, organize various entertainments, and carnivals. He himself selected his retinue, the members of which were dressed in bright dresses, decorated with ribbons and bells. In Scotland, the retinue of the “imaginary abbot” included characters typical of folk processions of mummers, such as Hobbie-horse - a guy portraying a horse. Such a noisy company and especially its leader were allowed to do whatever they wanted - break into any houses to play some kind of joke on their inhabitants, arrange games, dances and other entertainment. This custom was banned by Henry VIII.

All these old traditional customs were attacked with great force by the new Protestant Church in the 17th century. The Christmas holiday was especially persecuted in Puritan Scotland. Every pagan rite and custom, even the most innocent, was mercilessly cursed by the church. Thus, according to the records of a church session in 1574, several people were accused of playing, dancing and singing Christmas songs on this holiday. Even baking Christmas bread was considered a crime by the clergy of the Protestant Church. In December 1583, Glasgow bakers were asked to name those for whom they baked Christmas bread. In 1605, five people were summoned to court in Aberdeen for walking around the city wearing masks and dancing at Christmas. Finally, in 1644, the celebration of Christmas was prohibited throughout England by a special act of parliament. In many villages in Scotland, on Christmas Day, men and young men, led by bagpipers and accompanied by many people, went outside the village and played football on some lawn, balls, organized various sports competitions: running, hammer throwing exercises, etc. The winner of all games received a beret decorated with feathers and ribbons; After the competition, the youth sang and danced, and in the evening, led by the winner, returned to the village. In the evening, the winner of the competition presided over the ball.

After such persecution in Scotland, the celebration of Christmas never again reached its former popularity; only a few rituals were preserved, most of them began to coincide with the New Year. And currently, December 24-25 are working days there, and the New Year is considered a holiday - January 1-2. In England, already at the end of the 17th century. Christmas began to be celebrated again, but throughout the 19th century the rituals that accompanied it changed, and by the beginning of the 20th century. From a major social event for the entire community, Christmas became a purely family holiday, only some of its old customs have survived to this day.

For example, the custom of exchanging gifts on Christmas Day is observed everywhere among the English. With the introduction of Christianity, this custom was associated with the bringing of gifts to the baby Jesus by three magicians of the East. In memory of this, gifts are given primarily to children. Gifts are delivered to children by the kind old gentleman Santa Claus, red-cheeked, with a long white beard, dressed in a red fur coat and a tall red hat. Its origin is not entirely clear, but the name Santa Claus itself is a corruption of the name of St. Nicholas and, apparently, came to Britain from southern countries. Some identify Santa Claus with the creatures of the underworld - gnomes, which, in their opinion, confirms his appearance. Usually, not only children, but also adults receive gifts at Christmas; before dinner, they are presented to everyone by the youngest member of the family.

Since the 19th century it became customary to exchange greeting cards - instead of the once obligatory personal congratulations on the holiday. In 1843, the first Christmas card was printed in the printing house, and soon their production became a special branch of printing production. In the design of postcards, motifs from old traditional Christmas customs are often found: the robin, which has been around since the 18th century. often replaces the wren in rituals, branches of eternal greenery - holly, ivy, mistletoe, and on Scottish postcards an image of a sprig of heather intertwined with tartan ribbons is the national symbol of Scotland. Such cards are sent in large numbers at Christmas time to all parts of the world to Scottish emigrants as a reminder of the homeland they left behind.

Christmas dinner today includes such traditional dishes as stuffed turkey (in the English) or roast goose (in Wales, Ireland) and the inevitable plum pudding.

The old custom of decorating the house for Christmas with branches of eternal greenery - ivy, holly, etc. is still preserved. As before, a sprig of mistletoe is strengthened above the door. According to custom, a branch of mistletoe gives the right to kiss everyone who enters the door over which it hangs.

Apparently, a late transformation of the custom of decorating houses with eternal greenery was the Christmas tree as a symbol of undying nature. The custom of decorating spruce appeared in England relatively recently, in the middle of the 19th century, and was brought here from Germany. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had their first Christmas tree for their children in Windsor, and the fashion quickly spread. Nowadays, in almost every English home, a Christmas tree is decorated with colorful shiny toys and sweets; a Christmas fairy or a large silver star is usually attached to the top. During the Second World War, a huge spruce tree was first smuggled from occupied Norway to England, where the Norwegian king and government were located at that time, and installed in Trafalgar Square. Since then, such a spruce has been presented every year by the city of Oslo to the British capital, and it is installed on the same square. It is decorated with Christmas tree decorations and multi-colored light bulbs.

Finally, from the once widespread processions of mummers and dramatic performances, Christmas pantomimes and masquerade balls, organized in all theaters and concert halls on Christmastide, originate. The second day of Christmas in the church calendar is dedicated to St. Stephen. In England this day is called Boxing Day. This name comes from the custom of installing special piggy banks in churches before Christmas, where offerings for the poor were placed. On St. Stephen, the pastor distributed the collected money among his parishioners. Later, the boxes were no longer installed in the church, but the poor people of the parish gathered in groups on St. Stefan with a piggy bank went around houses, receiving small coins. Such groups consisted of apprentices, apprentices, messengers, etc. And now there is still a tradition of giving small sums of money to letter carriers, messengers and servants on this day.

In the Middle Ages in rural areas of England on St. Stefan's pets were bled. They believed that such a remedy had a good effect on the health of animals and preserved their strength during hard work. Previously, some old people bled themselves on this day in order to maintain health for the whole year. The same practice of primitive medicine can probably explain another cruel custom of this day, which survived until the end of the 19th century. In some areas of Wales, on this day, men used large bundles of prickly holly to whip the naked arms and legs of women until blood appeared. In Montgomershire, the person who stood up last that day was beaten with bundles of holly.

The first day of the new year is a clear boundary between the recent past and the mysterious future that awaits a person in the coming year. It was with this day that many signs and beliefs were associated, various kinds of fortune-telling, with the help of which people sought to predict the future, tried to protect themselves and their property from the action of evil forces, from various misfortunes.

Farmers noted the weather of the first 12 days of January, because they believed that whatever the day, such would be the weather in the month corresponding to it in order. Rain on New Year's morning foreshadows a bad, lean year. They also tried to determine what the harvest would be like by the outline of the clouds. On New Year's Eve, the Scots also wondered about the fate of the family. To do this, in the evening before going to bed, they covered the burning peat with ash, and in the morning they tried to see a sign on it that resembled a human footprint: if the toe next to the footprint is turned towards the door, then the number of family members this year will decrease, if it is away from the door, it will increase. There is no imprint on the ash, there will be no change.

The custom of “Letting in the New Year” is widespread in the British Isles. In Herdfordshire the custom of letting in the New Year is that when the clock begins to strike 12, the back door of the house is opened to let out the Old Year, and at the last stroke of the clock the front door is opened to let in the New Year. In Scotland, before midnight on farms, a bright fire is lit in the fireplace and the whole family sits around it, waiting for the clock to strike. When the clock hands approach 12, the owner of the house gets up and silently opens the door. He keeps it open until the clock strikes the last stroke. So he lets out the old year and lets in the new one.

And now in the UK they still prepare special traditional dishes for the New Year. For breakfast they usually serve oatcakes, pudding, a special type of cheese - Kebben, for lunch - roast goose or steak, pie, apples baked in dough. New Year's oatcakes among the Celtic peoples had a special shape - round with a hole in the middle. We tried not to break them during baking, as this would be a bad omen.

Currently, in Scotland, a large round sand cake is baked for the New Year's table, with tucks along the edges, decorated with almonds, nuts, sweets, sugar and marzipan figures boiled in sugar. Every year, a huge number of such cakes are sent to all corners of the globe to Scots in exile. They are usually decorated with national emblems - heather, Scottish cross, arms crossed over the sea, mountains, etc.

In Edinburgh, on New Year's Eve there are especially many people on Princes' Street. New Year's services are going on in churches. Fruit and confectionery shops are open all night. The arrival of the New Year is heralded by the ringing of bells, horns and sirens from factories. After 12 o'clock everyone congratulates each other and goes home to the festive tables.

Christmas is celebrated with great solemnity in Sweden in the regions of Småland and Skåne. Preparations for the holiday begin a month before it. One of the family, according to the old custom, must take care in advance of new clothes and shoes for Christmas. On one of the days, two weeks before the holiday, the fattened Christmas piglets are slaughtered, which usually happens between two and three o'clock in the morning. The day before, the housewife prepares a well-cleaned or new cauldron of flour, into which the blood of the animals should flow. When the pigs are slaughtered, someone stands near the cauldron and stirs the blood and flour until the mixture becomes thick and baked. This was most often performed by a woman over 50 years of age who was not pregnant, since it was believed that a pregnant woman in this case could give birth to a sick child (with falling sickness or with a physical disability). Young women or girls with a groom were strictly forbidden to take any part in the slaughter of livestock.

Fireworks over the Thames, rivers of champagne in Trafalgar Square, the New Year's carnival - all these are integral components of the grandiose New Year's celebration in the UK.

The concept of the New Year in Great Britain is inextricably linked with a string of traditions and beliefs that the British strictly adhere to. Thus, on New Year’s Day it is customary to give a crust of fragrant bread as a symbol of abundance, a coal as a symbol of warmth, a pinch of salt as a symbol of prosperity.

Competitions of illuminations and decorations are considered characteristic of London on New Year's Day. They are held among the owners of shops, hotel and business complexes, and ordinary residents. Thus, every street turns into an open-air museum, where you can walk for as long as you like in the company of friends and relatives.

Weather in the UK for Christmas and New Year weekends

Great Britain is characterized by a humid maritime climate, which is determined primarily by the proximity of the warm Gulf Stream. That is why, even in the depths of winter, the temperature on the island does not drop below zero.

On Christmas and New Year's weekends it usually stays at +6...+7 degrees Celsius.

A slightly cloudy, shaggy sky with snowy clouds creates a special holiday mood. From time to time they sprinkle the streets with light, fluffy, “sugar” snow.

New Year's program in the UK from “A” to “Z”. What to do, what to see, where to go?

New Year's Eve in London promises to be truly unforgettable. Each traveler's to do list includes:

Fireworks over the Thames. It starts with the final thunderous blow of Big Ben and lasts 40 minutes. The charges are mounted on spacious barges, as well as on London Eye supports, which makes the action truly mesmerizing.

Memo to tourists: the best places for observation are the South Bank and Victoria embankments. Please note that access to bridges in central London is closed at around 8 o'clock to avoid crowding, so an observation point should be arranged in advance;

Ice skating rink near the Natural History Museum, which is open all New Year's Eve.

Memo to tourists: after skiing, be sure to try the local aromatic coffee and mulled wine;

Historical banquet. New Year in London can be celebrated in one of the colorful bars, pubs, and restaurants occupying the central part of the city.

Each of them offers a special program for the weekend. If you are lucky, there is a chance to get to a medieval feast, where everything, from the menu to the decoration, is reminiscent of the glorious royal era;

Evening cruise on the Thames. If you don't want to reserve seats on the embankments in advance, but want to enjoy all the splendor of the festive fireworks and at the same time receive excellent service, choose Thames cruises. The evening's program includes musical performances, cocktail shows and much more.

Memo to tourists: seats on the ship must be booked in advance. For such holidays there is a dress code (neat festive clothes). It is also not allowed to stay on the ship with kids - an evening cruise on the Thames will be a vivid romantic memory;

Celebrations in Trafalgar Square, which have traditionally taken place since the mid-19th century. The main Christmas tree of the country, originally from Norway, is also installed here. Take part in festive round dances, try local sweets from merchants' shops and soak up the incredible atmosphere of a noisy New Year's celebration;

Club parties, including themed ones. A banquet and dancing until the morning is an excellent solution for seeing off the old year. Entrance to the most famous club in London - Ministry of Sound - will cost 80 pounds.

Coming to the UK for New Year's celebrations, you get a chance to see everything at once: torchlight processions, carnivals in Scotland for the pagan festival of Hogmanay with spiced wine and sumptuous pies, bell competitions in Wales and much more.

Great Britain, like no other country, is suitable for a family New Year's holiday with children. Restaurants offer a special menu for the little ones, entertainment centers for kids of all ages operate in the capital and large cities. And there are countless shops with toys, souvenirs, and sweet gifts.

Mandatory to visit during a trip to the UK London Zoo, children's theaters. Their performances on holidays are held on the streets, and anyone can take part in them.

Villas, apartments, cottages for the New Year in the UK

Renting houses, villas, and cottages in the UK remains one of the most expensive in Europe. But this is not a reason to deny yourself the pleasure of plunging into a winter fairy tale.

Best deals for travelers:

Houses and apartments in Greater London for 2-4 people – from 620 to 1550 euros for renting an object for 7 days;
in the South, South-West, South-East - an average of 470-780 euros for a similar weekly rental.

Villas and cottages in Wales and on the outskirts of Edinburgh will cost much less - from 310 euros for two people. The range of offers also necessarily includes luxury real estate - for example, studio apartments in London Kensington from 3,200 euros.

NOTE! The amount indicated in the price lists may increase by the amount of additional or mandatory expenses provided by the apartment owners. The total amount includes the cost of using Wi-Fi, parking spaces, special equipment, facilities for the disabled, small children, etc.

What should you do during the New Year holidays in the UK to fully experience the holiday spirit?

To fully experience the spirit of the English New Year and go home with a heap of unusual impressions, experts advise trying everything that the European capital and its charming suburbs offer:

• taste aromatic potatoes with green gravy, turkey with chestnuts, sweet pies and other treats that are traditionally served on the New Year's table;
• to make a card in a small London workshop, which is considered the main New Year's gift in the UK. The tradition of giving it goes back to 1843, when Englishman Henry Cole first sent a colorful souvenir to his friends;
• join the festive procession at Trafalgar and Piccadilly and clink glasses with at least a dozen people. According to experts, at least 10,000 people take part in the festivities in these squares. You can enjoy the magnificent spectacle absolutely free of charge;
• visit at least one of the famous English pubs. On New Year's holidays, any feast in such establishments is accompanied by explosions of firecrackers. Before you try the local ale - foamy beer - be sure to shower your neighbor with colorful confetti. This will be the best holiday wish for happiness and prosperity.

Want to see what a real European New Year looks like? Do you dream of finding out where the line is that separates thousand-year-old traditions and modern holiday programs? Travel to the UK - a place where joy reigns!

New Year in Great Britain is celebrated on the night from December 31 to January 1. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is second in popularity to Christmas. In Scotland, New Year is more loved and celebrated. In this part of the Kingdom it is called Hogmanay. Its celebration takes 3 whole days (from December 30 to January 1).

On New Year's Eve, the British have family dinners, visit people, go to parties, go to pubs, restaurants and have fun on the city streets.

The main Christmas tree of the United Kingdom is installed in London in Trafalgar Square. Since 1841, by decree of the English Queen Victoria, this tradition has been unchanged. The peculiarity of the British coniferous beauty is that since 1947 it has been delivered from Oslo. With this gesture, the people of Norway express their gratitude for the help during the Second World War and the salvation of the Norwegian royal family.

Trafalgar Square hosts the main Christmas and New Year events. The solemn ceremony of lighting the Christmas tree is accompanied by the performance of musical and choir groups that perform traditional English songs. Festive concerts and processions continue throughout the New Year holidays.

Traditions and customs

On New Year's Eve, the British make a list of goals for the future: quit bad habits, play your favorite sport, save money for an important purchase.

In Scotland, housewives clean their houses on December 31, throw out garbage and old rubbish. They believe that celebrating the New Year in a dirty house will bring bad luck for the next year.

When the clock begins to strike midnight, the residents of the houses open the back door to let out the outgoing year, and at the last blow - the front door to let in the new one.

An ancient British tradition on New Year's Eve is welcoming the first guest. The first person who crosses the threshold of the house in the coming year is able to bring good luck and prosperity, or, conversely, misfortune. The most welcome guest is a handsome young man with dark hair. Women and people with blond or red hair are not welcome in the house - they symbolize misfortune. The roots of this sign have been growing since ancient times, when Viking tribes carried out predatory raids on sea towns and villages. The dark-haired ones were fellow countrymen, and the blondes and red-haired ones were foreign enemies. The first guest should bring a symbolic gift with him. Coins and salt signify wealth, a piece of bread or pie - satiety and abundance, coal - warmth and comfort.

It is not customary among UK residents to give expensive gifts for the New Year. Relatives and close friends present each other with pleasant little things: keychains, teaspoons, souvenirs, postcards and Christmas tree balls. At parties, comic drawings and lotteries with such gifts are held.

history of the holiday

Until 1752, when Great Britain and its American colonies switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, the New Year fell on Christmas Day (December 25). In 1752, the official date of the holiday became January 1. Residents of the Kingdom eagerly accepted this innovation, as they had the opportunity to extend the Christmas holidays.

New Year decoration

Residents of Great Britain begin to decorate their streets and homes at the end of November. Decorated Christmas trees appear in the main squares of cities and in houses. Bright garlands and fabulous New Year-themed compositions flash in store windows. In addition to spruce, the British decorate their homes with branches of sacred plants: mistletoe, holly, ivy, which are supposed to protect them from evil spirits and magicians. They hang them above the door, on chandeliers and lamps.

Festive table

British housewives serve traditional English dishes at the New Year's table: baked turkey with chestnuts, goose with apples, fried potatoes, steaks, meat pies, stewed Brussels sprouts, oatcakes. Among desserts, residents of the United Kingdom prefer puddings, apple pies and fresh fruit. A popular New Year's delicacy in Scotland is shortbread cake decorated with almonds, nuts, marzipan figures and national symbols made of sugar.

Popular alcoholic drinks include champagne and punch. The British make punch from strong alcoholic drinks (rum, cognac, bourbon) with the addition of honey, slices of fruit and tea.

Cities and resorts

The New Year holidays in the UK will bring unforgettable emotions and impressions.

The heart of the winter holidays is London. Citizens and tourists will be able to join in the noisy festivities on Trafalgar Square, which last throughout New Year's Eve and are accompanied by performances by musical groups. Performances based on famous folk tales are performed for children. In London, the start of the New Year is marked by the ringing of the bells of Big Ben and fireworks from the Thames bridges.

Visitors to Liverpool will be able to enjoy the New Year's atmosphere, architectural sights, and amazing panoramas of the city. Liverpool is a paradise for music lovers. The famous group The Beatles was born in this city. Bars, restaurants and monuments are saturated with the atmosphere of their songs.

There are ski resorts in the north of Scotland. Tourists will find comfortable hotels, equipped slopes and lifts. Fans of medieval architecture will be able to visit castles located nearby. Dog sledding will be an unusual entertainment for tourists.

Most holidays are always compared to their English counterpart. It was in England that many holiday traditions appeared, which then spread throughout the world. The English New Year is no exception in this regard.

The New Year is celebrated in England on the traditional night from December 31 to January 1. Most European countries, including England, have a simpler attitude towards the New Year than ours. Here the main celebration is considered to be Christmas, and the New Year is just a continuation of the Christmas holidays. Some features of organizing the holiday depend on this not too serious attitude towards this day.

Celebration organization

The British usually celebrate New Year not in a close family circle, like Christmas, but among friends. They usually don’t give luxurious gifts on the occasion of the New Year - everything global has already been given for Christmas. Cute souvenirs, for example, teaspoons, souvenir dolls, candles, key rings or beer mugs, are chosen taking into account the fact that the recipient of the gift is traditionally determined by lot.

It was in England that the tradition of exchanging New Year's cards was born. The first such postcard was made back in 1843 in the capital of England.

There are no special decorations for the home for the New Year: everything remains from the Christmas celebration. According to tradition, this is an elegant spruce tree standing in the central part of the room, as well as branches of mistletoe, holly and ivy hanging on chandeliers, table lamps, floor lamps and above the doors.

Mistletoe is generally considered a magical plant in England and is a participant in many New Year's rituals.. Candles, gift boxes, pictures of Santa Claus, garlands, New Year's wreaths for the front door and other bright decorations are also used by many Englishmen as New Year's decor.

The organization of the festive table remains on the conscience of the hostess. The favorite hot dishes of the British for the New Year are roast goose and steaks; in addition, delicacies in the form of apple pie, pudding, and special oatcakes with holes in the center always find a place on the table.

Other popular masterpieces on New Year's Eve include turkey with chestnuts and potatoes, stewed Brussels sprouts with meat pies. A drink consumed by the British on a variety of occasions, including New Year's, is punch.

Like other nations, the British have their own New Year's traditions. One of these traditions is seeing off the old year and welcoming the new one, and in the most literal sense. To do this, the owner of the house must open the back door of the house with the first chime and let go of the old year, not forgetting to thank him for all the events, and with the last strike open the front door to welcome the new year.

Other traditions and signs of the British are associated with the first guest to come in the new year. For example, there is a sign that the coming year will be successful if a light-haired or dark-haired man enters the house first (the desired hair color of the guest varies depending on the specific locality of England).

By the way, the first person to come to visit must bring the owners symbols of food, warmth and prosperity in the form of bread, coal and a pinch of salt. Having entered the house, the guest silently goes to the fireplace and throws a coal there. Only after the coal burns in the fireplace do those gathered begin to congratulate each other. According to tradition, the first guest is always fed.

Children in England, going to bed before New Year's Eve, leave a plate on the table to receive gifts from their kind grandfather Santa Claus, and put hay in their shoes as a treat for his donkey.

Another tradition is associated with mistletoe, which is magical for England. It is believed that if lovers kiss under a mistletoe branch during the chiming clock, they will have a strong relationship throughout the next year. There is also a belief that good luck and happiness in the new year will accompany those who kiss the person standing under the mistletoe in the center of the room.

Large-scale events

The most important public event is the London Parade.. This is the world's largest New Year's parade. Almost ten thousand people take part in it, including artists, clowns, acrobats, dancers, magicians and musicians. The parade always passes through, where every year a Christmas tree brought from Norway is installed. This is how the Norwegians express gratitude for the help of the British in the Great Patriotic War.

On city streets they sell a lot of toys on New Year's Eve: masks, squeakers, balloons and whistles. Both children and adults will be able to have fun with such souvenirs, creating noise effects and filling the streets with bright colors.

Another parade is organized in London - the Chinese one, which also brings together many dancers and musicians. In Chinatown, powerful fireworks are also launched, which are visible to almost all local residents.

The bell alerts Londoners to the arrival of the New Year.. The bell begins to make itself known long before the new year itself, but first it is covered with a blanket, so the sounds are rather muffled. But then, at 12 o’clock at night, the bell is “undressed”, and its chime can be heard in all the nooks and crannies, in a unique way congratulating residents on the advent of the New Year.

For children, theaters organize performances based on old English fairy tales on holidays. A carnival procession with fairy-tale characters (Humpty Dumpty, the March Hare, etc.) is another undoubted attribute of the New Year.

Having seen how the British celebrate the New Year, one may get the logical impression that the holiday itself is not expected with such enthusiasm as New Year's sales. At the end of December, real crowds begin in shopping centers and regular stores, but this is not surprising: discounts in stores at this time sometimes reach 95%.