Festivals and celebrations

There are lots of events you can get involved within the UK, from street parties to traditional festivals!

On ‘bank holidays’, most shops, businesses and institutions are closed. Some of the events below are bank holidays, but not all – and there are different dates in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

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Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day is a special day mostly celebrated in English-speaking countries like the UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada.

Pancake Day is always on a Tuesday in February or March. It is the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent.

Pancakes are very easy to make. Here you have a recipe.

Ingredients:

• One cup of flour.
• One cup of milk.
• One large egg.
• Some salt.
• Some butter / oil.
• Lemon juice.
• Some sugar.

Instructions:

1. Fill one cup with flour and put into a bowl. Fill another cup with milk and pour into the bowl. Crack the egg into the bowl and whisk the flour, milk and egg until the mixture is smooth. Put a very small amount of butter or oil in a pan, and when it is hot, put some mixture in the pan and move the pan to make a thin pancake. After one minute hold the pan carefully and throw or toss the pancake in the air to turn it over. Now cook the pancake on the other side.
2. When the pancake is ready, squeeze some lemon juice and put some sugar on it and eat it immediately. If you don’t like lemon juice, eat them with jam, chocolate sauce or ice cream. Mmm, delicious!

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Saint Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated the 17th of March. This is a very important festivity for Irish people because they commemorate the death of their patron saint.

People celebrate this special day dressing in green. They also attend parades.

The first Saint Patrick's Day festival was in 1996.

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Easter weekend

Easter is a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is always on a Sunday in March or April (called Easter Sunday), and the previous Friday (Good Friday) and following Monday (Easter Monday) are bank holidays.

People celebrate Easter in different ways, but many give each other chocolate eggs and eat ‘hot cross buns’ (sweet buns with a cross design) while children decorate eggs or take part in Easter egg hunts.

• Game - Easter egg hunt
• Video - White House Easter egg roll

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April Fools' Day

For one day of the year, it is acceptable – even encouraged! – to play tricks, pranks and practical jokes. Even newspapers, TV and radio shows often feature fake stories on April 1.

It’s customary to reveal the joke by saying ‘April fool!’ (the person who falls for the joke is the ‘fool’), and to stop playing tricks at midday.

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More festivities and detail at Education UK.