Els britànics l’anomen
en Autumn, però els americans i canadencs en diuen Fall, una paraula curiosa que significa “caiguda” i que fa referència a les fulles seques que cauen dels arbres. La tardor és una estació de l’any marcada per una sèrie de tradicions i rituals a ambdós bandes de l’Atlàntic, molts d’ells arrelats a l’antiguitat. Us n’expliquem – en anglès, of course! – els més importants:
- Harvest Festival: 23rd September. Every year, schools and churches across the UK celebrate a Harvest Festival, a celebration of the food grown on the land. Thanksgiving ceremonies and celebrations for a successful harvest are very ancient and take place worldwide. In Britain, we have given thanks for succe
ssful harvests since pagan times. We celebrate this day by singing, praying and decorating houses with baskets of fruit and food.
- Halloween: 31st October. Evolving from the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain, modern Halloween has become less about ghosts and more about costumes and candy. The Celts used the day to mark the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, and also believed that this transition between the seasons was a bridge to the world of the dead. Over the millennia
the holiday transitioned from a sombre pagan ritual to a day of merriment, costumes, parades and sweet treats for children and adults.
- Bonfire Night: 5th November. People remember the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament by celebrating ‘Bonfire Night’. All over Britain there are firework displays and bonfires with models of Guy Fawkes, which are burned on the fire. Some people have a small bonfire in their garden. Traditional Bonfire Night food is hot baked potatoes. The potatoes are cooked on the bonfire and filled with butter and cheese. There are also toffee apples (apples on a stick, covered in sweet toffee) and in the north of England they eat a special type of cake called parkin. Cooking marshmallows on
the bonfire is also popular.
- Remembrance Day: 11th November. It is the time of the year when people wear a red poppy in memory of all those men and women who were killed during the two World Wars and other conflicts. It is also celebrated in Canada, Australia and most countries of the Commonwealth. The red colour of the poppy is a symbol of the blood spilled in the war.