CHRISTMAS

         Christmas Day is celebrated on December 25. Many peo­ple look at Christmas as the time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, but really the tradition goes back to the earli­est times.

        In those days the sun meant so much to primitive man that when it began to go lower each day till December 23, people thought the sun was going to die out and they were worried. They ate less keeping the food for the next year.

          On December 23 the sun stayed in the sky longer and after that the nights were becoming shorter and shorter. When this happened, the primitive man was very happy. He even felt he wanted to celebrate it.

          Later it became a tradition to celebrate it at the end of De­cember with presents and plenty of eating. Now Christmas tree stands in everybody’s living-room at Christmas. In the earli­est times green trees were symbols of life. Candles at Christ­mas also go back to those times. People believed then that their light helped them to forget the darkness of winter.

           The first weekday after Christmas is a public holiday. In England it is called Boxing Day. In past times it was the tradi­tional day to give presents to servants. This day is called Bo­xing Day because at one time the presents were put in boxes (Christmas boxes). Usually Boxing Day is December 26, but if Christmas Day falls on a Saturday, Boxing Day is on Decem­ber 27.

             Not all Christmas traditions are old. The first Christmas card was made only in 1842 by an English painter who sent that card to one hundred of his friends. Now millions of Christ­mas cards are sent and received.

             Christmas is a time for eating. The traditional food is tur­key, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding made of fruit. Some families make pudding a year before they eat it. Believe it or not, in a year they eat the pudding with great pleasure.

QUESTIONS:

1.  When is Christmas celebrated?

2.  Why did people feel they wanted to celebrate this day?

3.  What stands in everybody’s living-room at Christmas now?

4.   How is the traditional day to give presents called?

5.   When was the first Christmas card made?

6.   What is the traditional Christmas food?

VOCABULARY:

to celebrate — праздновать

birth — рождение

primitive — примитивный, простой

to worry — беспокоиться

plenty of — множество, большое количество

candle — свеча

servant  — слуга

turkey  — индейка