Customs and Traditions

This section covers the UK's main Christian festivals, other religious festivals celebrated across Britain's diverse communities, secular traditions throughout the year, and bank holidays.

The Main Christian Festivals

Christmas Day (25 December) celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and is a public holiday. Many Christians attend church on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day itself. Traditionally, people spend the day at home eating a special meal — often roast turkey, Christmas pudding and mince pies — giving gifts, sending cards and decorating a Christmas tree. Young children believe Father Christmas (Santa Claus) brings presents overnight. Boxing Day (26 December) is also a public holiday.

Easter falls in March or April, marking the death of Jesus on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday; Good Friday and Easter Monday are both public holidays. The 40 days before Easter are Lent, a time of reflection when Christians traditionally fast or give something up. Shrove Tuesday ("Pancake Day"), the day before Lent begins, sees people eat pancakes made to use up foods like eggs and milk before fasting; Lent then begins on Ash Wednesday, marked in churches by an ash cross on the forehead. Easter eggs — chocolate eggs symbolising new life — are enjoyed even by non-religious people.

Other Religious Festivals

Other Festivals and Traditions

• New Year (1 January, public holiday) — celebrated on New Year's Eve. In Scotland, 31 December is Hogmanay and 2 January is also a holiday; for some Scots, Hogmanay outranks Christmas.
• Valentine's Day (14 February) — lovers exchange cards and gifts, sometimes anonymously.
• April Fool's Day (1 April) — people play jokes on each other until midday; TV and newspapers often run fake stories.
• Mothering Sunday — the Sunday three weeks before Easter, when children give cards or gifts to their mothers.
• Father's Day — the third Sunday in June.
• Halloween (31 October) — rooted in an ancient pagan festival marking the start of winter; young people dress up for "trick or treat," and pumpkins are carved into lanterns.
• Bonfire Night (5 November) — fireworks mark the failed 1605 Gunpowder Plot, when Guy Fawkes and other Catholics tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
• Remembrance Day (11 November) — commemorates those who died fighting for the UK and its allies, originally the dead of the First World War. People wear poppies, observe a two-minute silence at 11am, and wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

Bank Holidays

Besides the dates above, the UK has additional public holidays called bank holidays — with no religious significance — in early May, late May/early June, and August. In Northern Ireland, the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in July is also a public holiday.

Check That You Understand

• The main Christian festivals celebrated in the UK
• Other religious festivals important in the UK
• Some of the other events celebrated in the UK
• What a bank holiday is