Read the text and complete the table.

Russian festivals and traditions

In Russia the New Year Eve is considered the most waited for and popular holiday. There are many particular Russian traditions linked to that holiday. First of all, it is the Grandfather Frost or “Ded Moroz” with the Snow Maiden or “Snegurochka”. The Grandfather Frost looks very much like Santa Clause. The Grandfather Frost comes into every Russian family and brings gifts to all children with the help of the Snow Maiden. For New Year, kids decorate New Year’s trees. Very often these trees are decorated with homemade toys.

Russian Christmas is celebrated on the eve of the 7th of January that is two weeks later than in the Western countries. This difference is due to the Russian religious tradition which uses the old Julian calendar. According to the tradition, the whole Russian family gathers to have a special Christmas meal. When the first star appears, people greet each other with this phrase: “Christ is born!” Due to the difference in the currently used calendar and the traditional calendar of the Orthodox Church, we can celebrate two holidays of New Year! We even have a special name for the second New Year holiday which is very confusing for foreigners – The Old New Year.

The main religious festival comes in spring and is called Easter. Christians believe that on that day Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead, which gave much reason for joy and hope for all people. The Easter is preceded by lent which lasts for forty days, during which time people are not allowed to eat meat, eggs and other kinds of food. To make this time easier there is a festival called ‘Maslenitsa’ (Shrovetide), or butter festival. At this time, we eat pancakes and get ready for lent.

On the Easter eve Russians cook special dishes, among which are Easter cakes. Also a very popular tradition is to paint eggs in different colours with specific meaning for each colour. The red colour, for instance, signifies Jesus’ blood on the cross. On Easter, people give each other a hug, kiss each other, say “Christ has arisen!” and exchange red eggs. In many regions of Russia, painting of eggs became a kind of art.

These are most important religious festival in Russia. There are also several national holidays celebrated in Russia throughout the whole year. On 23rd of February is the Defender’s Day. It has become a kind of Men’s Day and women give men small gifts. Soon after that holiday comes a holiday for all women, March 8. On this day, all women receive flowers and presents. There is an unofficial holiday very popular among all Russian. It is the Day of Laugh of April 1. People tell jokes each other and sometimes play practical jokes on somebody. May 1, or the Labour Day, used to be a grand holiday in the Soviet times with huge demonstrations in all cities. Victory Day on May 9 have parades and ceremonies to honor those who died in World War II. At 9 pm a minute of silence is announced after which in all major Russian cities there are fireworks in the memory of more than 20 million people who died in the war.

One of the newest official holidays is Independence Day on June 12. The beginning of the school year on September 1 is traditionally celebrated as the Knowledge Day. Teachers are given flowers by their pupils. Finally, on December 12 we celebrate the Constitution Day which was adopted in 1993. Since it is also a new holiday, no special traditions have evolved linked to that day. As you see, there are many festivals and holidays in Russia, traditional, religious and official ones. Besides these, we also love to celebrate western holidays such as Halloween or St. Valentine’s Day.

 

Holiday	Date of celebration	Way of celebration

 

Answer the questions

 

1. What public holidays are celebrated in Russia?

2. What is your favourite holiday?

3. How is New Year's Day celebrated in your family?

4. When is Christmas celebrated?

5. What holiday do we celebrate on the 23^rd of February/ the 8th of March?

6. What is the greatest national holiday in our country?

7. Why is the 9th of May so sacred for the Russian people?

8. What other Russian holidays do you know?

 

Grammar: Past Simple Tense употребляется:

1. Факт или законченное действие в прошлом

Мы используем Past Simple, чтобы рассказать о каком-то факте или действии, которое закончилось в прошлом.

На это указывают слова-маркеры Past Simple:

yesterday (вчера), three days ago (три дня назад), a long time ago (давно), the other day (на днях), last week (на прошлой неделе), in 2015 (в 2015 году), on Sunday (в воскресенье), at 5 p. m. (в 5 вечера), during the weekend (во время выходных) и т. д.

 

We bought a new car last month. — В прошлом месяце мы купили новую машину.

I met your sister two weeks ago. — Я встретил твою сестру две недели назад.

 

2. События, которые происходили одно за другим

Past Simple подходит для описания последовательности каких-то событий в прошлом. Такие события часто можно встретить в литературе, когда автор рассказывает какую-либо историю.

 

I woke up, put on my suit and drove to work. — Я проснулся, надел свой любимый костюм и поехал на работу.

 

3. Привычки и повторяющиеся действия в прошлом

В случае привычек на Past Simple указывают следующие слова-маркеры: always (всегда), often (часто), sometimes (иногда), from time to time (время от времени).

 

She always went skating on Fridays. — Она всегда каталась на коньках по пятницам.

 

 

Особенности образования прошедшей формы правильного глагола

Особенности образования прошедшей формы неправильного глагола

1. Если глагол заканчивается на согласную + -y, то -y меняется на -i, а после добавляется окончание -ed: study – studied, fry – fried, cry – cried, try – tried. 2. Если глагол оканчивается на гласную + -y, то мы добавляем -ed после -y: obey – obeyed, play – played, stay – stayed. 3.Если односложный глагол оканчивается на согласную (за исключением -х), перед которой стоит гласная, то согласная удваивается: beg – begged, clap – clapped, jog – jogged, tan – tanned. 4. Если у глагола более одного слога, при этом он оканчивается на согласную, перед которой стоит ударная гласная, то согласная буква на конце удваивается: fulfil – fulfilled, refer – referred.

Некоторые английские глаголы образуют другие формы прошедшего времени, которые нужно просто запомнить. Глагол-связка to be (быть) в простом прошедшем времени принимает форму was для местоимений I, she, he, it и форму were для we, you, they. Глагол to have (иметь) превращается в had: