How English People Take a Holiday?
A holiday is basically a day set apart by law or custom, where most normal activities, particularly work or school including church or work are cancelled or significantly reduced. Generally, holidays are marked by joyous celebration or commemoration of any occasion or tradition of spiritual or cultural importance. They are a period of time when people go out of the house and socialize with family and friends. Holidays are marked by lights, parades, sports and recreation and generally the spirit of joy is prevalent throughout.
In United Kingdom, there are six major public holidays which are widely observed. The two national holidays which are not British English national holidays are Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day. British English celebrate all three of these holidays with equal fervor and enthusiasm, while the residents of some other countries observe them in a different manner. Some other international public holidays observed by the people of other countries are Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
In United Kingdom, public holidays are usually set apart for different purposes. For example, St. Valentine’s Day is an international public holiday to mark the martyrdom of St. Valentine. The festival of St. Valentine’s Day was unheard of during the medieval times when people did not observe any kind of public holiday. The martyrdom of St. Valentine was due to his conversion to the Roman religion. The festival commemorates the martyrdom of St. Valentine. Millions of people from all over the world participate in this festival in February every year, while millions of others celebrate the festival on February 14.
The British public also celebrate several other national holidays which are not specified as a public holiday by the British Government. These include the Children’s week, which were observed on the last Friday of the month of January, the week beginning on New Year’s Day and is regarded as Children’s week in the United Kingdom. There are also some religious festivals observed in the United Kingdom such as Christmas, Good Friday and Easter. All these are privately-held festivals and are not necessarily connected with the government.
Apart from the major public holidays that we have discussed above, there are certain public holidays in the United Kingdom that are largely recognized for their importance by the people. There are two types of holidays recognized by the government. The first type of holiday pay is paid time off or bonus holiday pay. As the name indicates, the bonus holiday pay includes a fixed percentage of an employee’s annual salary. The second type is more flexible and is known as ordinary or standard time off. This type of holiday pay does not have a predetermined amount and has no restrictions, so it is often used by employees to take short breaks throughout the year.
As you can see, the holidays listed above are very popular among the British English. When they are not on break, they like to spend time at home enjoying games, chatting, reading books, watching television or surfing the internet. So it is no surprise that most British English use their holiday time to these various activities and do not go abroad in search of exotic holidays. They are English speaking people and therefore, do speak British English! This makes them excellent candidates for working overseas!