UK Bank holidays and festivals

Burns Night (January 25th)

Burns Night is celebration of the life and poetry of poet Robert Burns. It is an important date on the calendar in Scotland and usually consists of a supper celebrating everything Scottish. This usually includes eating haggis, drinking lots of Scotch whisky and reciting Burns’ poetry

Valentine’s Day (February 14th)

Every February couples across Britain get all loved up for Valentine's Day. On February 14th couples go out for romantic meals, give each other gifts and cards and generally treat the day like a second anniversary..

Mothering Sunday (Mother’s Day) (Any Sunday from March 2nd to April

3rd)A day all about saying thank you to Mums across the country (and world). Sons and daughters buy their mothers flowers and cards and cook for them or take them for a meal out. Basically anything that makes mum feel special

St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th)

This started as an traditional Irish celebration of their patron saint - Patrick. These days it is celebrated throughout the UK and across the world wherever there is a large Irish population (like many parts of the USA).

Easter Sunday (Any Sunday between March 22nd and April 25th)

Celebrated all over the world, traditionally Easter Sunday is a Christian holiday to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. Though there are still strong religious ties for many people, it is now also just as well known for the chocolate eggs and Easter bunny in the UK.

April Fools’ Day (April 1st)

On April 1st each year everyone plays pranks (or tricks/practical jokes) on each other until midday. The pranks can vary in size and how complicated they are, but they are always very funny. For just a few hours the UK goes mad

Halloween (October 31st)

On Halloween the UK becomes a spooky, scary place full of monsters, zombies, witches and vampires. Everyone dresses up in monster costumes and celebrates everything that is scary.

Bonfire Night (November 5th)

This night commemorates an attempt to blow up the English Houses of Parliament hundreds of years ago by a man called Guy Fawkes. Thankfully he wasn’t successful and all that came out of it was a spectacular evening of bonfires and fireworks each year

Christmas Day (December 25th)

The English Christmas celebrations include the beautiful Christmas music, decorated Christmas Trees and hang up evergreen branches. The English gift giver is called Father Christmas and he wears a long red or green robe, and leaves presents in stockings on Christmas Eve. However, the gifts are not usually opened until the following afternoon.

In England the traditional Christmas dinner is roast turkey with vegetables and sauces. For dessert it is rich, fruity Christmas pudding with brandy sauce. Mince pies, pastry cases filled with a mixture of chopped dried fruit

Boxing Day (December 26th)

Nothing actually to do with boxing, this is the day after Christmas day and is all about recovering from the excesses of the day before. It is a public holiday that these days most people in the UK use to see family, go shopping (the post-Christmas sales start on Boxing Day) or watch some of the various sporting events that happen.

New Year’s Eve (December 31st)

New Year’s Eve is a big deal in the UK as it is in almost every country around the world. The British have a very particular way of celebrating the New Year that mainly involves partying and getting very ‘jolly’ (that is code for ‘drunk’ in Britain).

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