Book Review

 

Seasons and Celebrations

 

   I read “Seasons and Celebrations”. Today, even in Japan, there is a custom to celebrate and enjoy overseas festival. For example, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas and so on. When I was little, I was looking forward to those events every year. However, many Japanese probably do not know their origin. This book tells us about not only their origins but also the true way of celebrating. Among the many events that have been introduced in this book, this time I will introduce Christmas.

   For the Japanese, Christmas is December 24th rather than 25th. People decorate their homes and shops with illuminations and eat chicken for dinner. Then, on the morning of the 25th, the children will check to see if they have received a gift from Santa Claus. This is how to spend Christmas in Japan.

On the other hand, Christmas is a very important time in the Christian year, but it is also very important to people who do not go to church. This is because about two thousand years ago, Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem and at Christmas, people remember that special time. Christmas is a time for presents, parties, and time with family.

People start to get ready for Christmas in late October or early November. It feels early for Japanese people. In the middle of December, people prepare Christmas trees and they also send cards to friends and family. The cards say things like, ‘Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year’ or ‘Season’s Greetings’. These two traditions, the trees and cards, both started in the nineteenth century.

I live in Japan, but I made a Christmas card at school and exchanged it with my friends. There is also a traditional card sent to New Year in Japan, which is called a ‘Nenga jo’. I was looking forward to receiving this card at the beginning of the year every year. Recently, many Japanese people have been less likely to send or receive this card.

If you spend Christmas abroad instead of Japan, you can have many more fun events. On Christmas Eve, many people go to church at midnight and then listen to the Christmas story and sing carols. Next day is Christmas Day. Christmas dinner is in the afternoon and is the biggest meal of the day. Before they start to eat, people pull crackers.

At three o’clock the Queen says ‘Happy Christmas’ to everyone, so many people in Britain turn on their television. British Christmas traditions include many other things, for example Boxing Day, which is 26 December, and the pantomime.

British Christmas season ends on the twelfth day after 25 December. I really want to spend Christmas in British once!





Seasons and Celebrations (Oxford Bookworms: Factfiles, Stage 2)
著者 : JackieMaguire
Oxford Univ Pr
発売日 : 2008-03-15
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