Доповідь учениці 6 класу "Easter in Great Britain and Ukraine"

Easter in Great Britain and Ukraine

Lilia Ovcharenko

Form 6-A

Kupiansk School 1

Teacher: Reznikova K.

Good afternoon. My name is Lilia Ovcharenko. I’m a pupil of the 6-th form school №1.

Today I am going to tell you about a very beautiful holiday — Easter. It is a religious holiday. It is celebrated in spring, in April or May. On this day we remember Jesus Christ, go to the church and congratulate our friends and relatives. In Christian countries Easter is celebrated as the religious holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God. The celebrations of Easter have many customs and legends. So today I’ll tell about them in Great Britain and Ukraine.

Easter was celebrated thousands of years ago as the victory of the Light over the Dark, Day over Night, Spring over Winter.

You know that Easter is celebrated every year on different days. In the 1st century AD (anno Domini), the resurrection of Christ was celebrated every week!!! but in the 2nd century disputes began. That’s why, the Council of Nicaea was held, declaring that Easter would be celebrated after the 21^st of March on the Sunday after the full moon.

Many Easter symbols and traditions are associated with renewal, birth, good fortune and fertility.

The main symbol of Christianity is the cross, often standing on a hill. It’s a symbol of suffering.

• The last Sunday before Easter in Ukraine is called Verbna nedilia. On this day pussy-willow branches are blessed in the church.
• Easter week in Great Britain begins with Palm Sunday. Why Palm? During the Roman Empire it was customary to greet guests waving palm branches. People greeted Jesus Christ by lining the streets with palm branches and waving them. Today, the British make crosses and garlands of palm branches to decorate their churches.
• Eggs always were a symbol of spring and new life.

• I Ukraine Krashanka is a boiled and painted egg. On this day they are given as gifts or exchanged.

• Originally in England, real eggs were used, they were boiled and painted in different colors with beautiful drawings. Today they are replaced with chocolate.
• British believe in Easter bunny- the rabbit, or hare as a symbol of something new . In England, children believe that if they behaved well, the Easter bunny would leave them chocolate eggs.
• Easter cake (‘Kulich’) is the symbol of Ukrainian Easter.
• In Great Britain people eat hot – cross buns on this day.
• On this Day Ukrainian kids play their favourite Easter game: knocking the eggs.
• In Great Britain some families have an” Easter egg hunt”.
• Saturday before Easter and Monday after it in Ukraine are weekends.
• And in Great Britain Friday before Easter is also a weekend.

•   My family is Christian. Easter is a great holiday for us. We honor its traditions and celebrate it with our relatives and friends. On Saturday evening we go to  the church for the Easter vigil till the very morning when priests bless the food we brought. After that we go home to celebrate Easter with our family. If we meet other people on the way we say: “Christ is risen!” and these people should reply “Risen indeed”. All the people exchange Easter greetings and give each other painted eggs (krashanky).

Thank you for attention!