One of the early Christmas traditions begun by Christians in Britain was the decorating of the home with evergreens.  While the Christmas tree would not find its way from Germany to Britain until 1840, holly, ivy, bay, and rosemary were all used as symbols of everlasting life.  What’s more, rosemary stood as a symbol of remembrance and bay of valour.  Holly, with its masculine symbolism and ivy as its feminine counterpart were also meant to represent the stability of a home.

White Christmas Origin

In 2014, it was reported that it’s only snowed in Britain on Christmas 4 times in the last 52 years.  The image of a white Christmas is thought to have originated with the writings of Charles Dickens.  During his lifetime, he grew up in a “Little Ice Age” and it snowed each Christmas for the first eight years of his life, supposedly influencing him to include it in his imagery for A Christmas Carol and other works.

Christmas No. 1s

The tradition of the Christmas no. 1 single began in 1973 when Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everybody” hit the top of the charts on Christmas Day (though other Christmas songs had made it to the top spot before this).  As Christmas is a major time for buying albums (along with many other items), it became part of British culture for bands to contribute songs especially for the holiday season.  Since 2002, these have largely been singles by singers affiliated with the programme X-Factor.  This trend was beaten in 2009 by a successful radio and Facebook campaign to get Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 single “Killing in the Name” as the no. 1 (specifically for its line “F*** you! I won’t do what you tell me!”).   The highest selling Christmas single was Band Aid’s 1984 hit “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” at 3.5 million copies.  The second highest is Wham!’s “Last Christmas” in the same year with 1.4 million.  The Beatles have the record for the most no. 1 singles on Christmas Day at 4 with “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in 1963, “I Feel Fine” in 1964, “Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out” in 1965, and “Hello, Goodbye” in 1967.

Father Christmas Lives in Scotland

Letters to Father Christmas that give his address as “Toyland” or “Snowland” will typically go to Edinburgh.  Ones addressed to the North Pole will go to the post office of Santa Claus Holiday Village on the outskirts of Rovaniemi in the Arctic Circle of Finland.

Christmas Present from Norway

Oslo has sent London a Christmas tree every year since 1947 as a thank you for Britain’s contributions to the fighting in World War II.  The tree is placed in Trafalgar Square.

Welsh

In the Welsh language, Christmas is called “Nadolig Llawen.”

Christmas Savings

Britons usually spend nearly £22 billion during the holiday season, special Christmas discounts and coupons will save consumers £51 million.  Shoppers also spend £700 million on unwanted Christmas gifts, like the horrible jumper your aunt gave you.

What’s in the Box?

Boxing Day’s name originates from the “Christmas box” that servants and staff would receive from their employers on the day after Christmas.

Hogmanay

Celebrated in Scotland the same way that New Year’s Eve is celebrated in England and the rest of the world, Hogmanay was once more popular than Christmas.  Christmas wasn’t treated in the festival sense that it is today and Hogmanay was the time for friends and family to get together to celebrate the solstice and exchange gifts.  Christmas was a normal working day in Scotland up until 1958.

First Christmas

The very first Christmas holiday celebrated in England is believed to have taken place in York in 521 A.D., by none other than the mythical King Arthur, whose forces marred the celebrations with their retaking of the city.

source: anglotopia

What can you connect to the following words? Can you fill in the table?

Key:

Válaszd ki a helyes megoldást!

Magyarázatok:

1. for –
   You give something to somebody but you buy it for somebody.
   prepozíció nélkül így is lehetne mondani: I bought my father a present.

2. faster –
   gyorsan –
   ‘fast’ és nem ‘fastly’, az egyszótagú mellékneveket nem fokozzuk a ‘more’ szóval
3. should have given –
   “adnom kellett volna”
   Mondhatjuk így is: ought to have given
   A “must have given” azt jelenti, hogy “bizonyára adtam”
4. you to read –
   would like somebody to + ige a helyes szerkezet
   (szeretné, ha valakit megtenne valamit)
5. to sit on –
   amin ülhetnék
6. Bill to come –
   ask somebody to + ige a helyes szerkezet
   (megkérni valakit, hogy csináljon valamit)
7. are going –
   folyamatos jelen, mert elterveztük, biztosan megyünk
8. noticing –
   can’t help vonzata az ige –’ing’-es alakja
   (kénytelen valamit megtenni/nem tudja megállni, hogy ne tegyen meg valamit)
9. will have started –
   By the time vonzata a mondat második felében: future perfect, azaz will have + az ige harmadik alakja
   (by the time: amikorra)
10. had been working –
    a mondat múlt idővel kezdődik, ami miatt az igét egyeztetnünk kell, ezért had been working és nem have been working
11. hadn’t taken –
    a feltételes mód harmadik esete: Mondat ‘if’-fel kezdődő felében: had/hadn’t + az ige harmadik alakja, a mondat második felében: would/wouldn’t + have + ige harmadik alakja
12. it cost –
    Függő beszédben állító szórendben lesz a kérdés, ezért nem ‘did it cost’, a cost ige mindhárom alakja cost, cost, cost, ezért nem jó a costed
13. still –
    a ‘yet’ a mondat végére jönne, az already pedig azt jelenti, hogy ‘már’
14. He can’t speak English very well. –
    command of English = angoltudás,
    command = parancs
15. should –
    Lehetne még ‘ought to’, ami a ‘should’-hoz hasonlóan azt jelenti, hogy ‘kellene’,
    a need pedig akkor lenne használható, ha állna utána egy ‘to’.

Dog lovers can rejoice, America’s first dog cafe is opening its doors in L.A on April 7th. The Dog Cafe, the first of its kind in the United States, will bring together coffee drinkers and rescue dogs.

Located in the south Silver Lake neighbourhood of Rampart Village, The Dog Cafe provides a space for visitors to intermingle with rescue dogs from local shelters who are available for adoption.

The Dog Cafe’s mission is to revolutionize dog adoption by reinventing the way people connect with rescues who need homes. The Dog Cafe offers a comfortable and fun space for humans and dogs to meet and spend time with each other, away from the environment of overcrowded shelters, which can provoke fear and aggression in perfectly adoptable pups. In addition to helping worthy pups find homes, The Dog Cafe also offers the opportunity for people unable to have pets of their own to spend quality time with furry friends (and vice versa) without the commitment of adoption.

Founder Sarah Wolfgang said: “After I moved to Korea from the United States as a child, I started frequenting the dog cafes there. As a dog lover, it was amazing to have the opportunity to go see and spend time with pups any time. Yet the sad fact is that those dogs are brought in from puppy mills for the sole purpose of spending their entire lives inside of a cafe, while millions of other animals are out on the streets or abandoned at shelters.”
Wolfgang works closely with South Los Angeles Animal Shelter, in addition to other local shelters, to rescue dogs who would best benefit from socialization at The Dog Cafe. While all dogs are evaluated to ensure friendliness with both people and other dogs, The Dog Cafe focuses specifically on bringing in rescues who have been overlooked or viewed as not traditionally adoptable due to age, special needs or behavioral issues that require training. The company plans to expand by opening additional locations of The Dog Cafe in major cities across the U.S.

The Dog Cafe’s website can be found here: www.thedogcafela.com