CULTURAL ASPECTS

AMERICAN HOLIDAYS : THANKSGIVING

BRITISH & AMERICAN TRADITIONS: HALLOWEEN

1st.NOVEMBER: ALL SAINTS´ DAY

http://www.catholic.org/saints/allsaints/

All Saints' Day is a solemn holy day of the Catholic Church celebrated annually on November 1. The day is dedicated to the saints of the Church, that is, all those who have attained heaven. It should not be confused with All Souls' Day, which is observed on November 2, and is dedicated to those who have died .

THE BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psrhLqynneo&feature=share&list=PL5BAAC32DF464D34C

BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM

THE UNION JACK

THE UNION JACK: Represents the United Kingdom. The UK is Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland. The flag is a symbol of unity. It is a combination of the flags of
                                                         Saint George of England,

Saint Andrew for Scotland

         Saint Patrick for Northern Ireland

Wales does not have any representation on the flag and its own flag is

Saint George is the patron saint of England. People celebrate Saint George´s day on 23rd April. The flower of England is the rose.
Scotland´s patron is Saint Andrew and his special day is November 30th. The thistle is the emblem of Scotland.
The patron saint of Wales is  Saint David. Welsh people wear daffodils on Saint David´s day on March 1st.

A SHORT HISTORY OF BRITAIN

Before the Roman invasion

About 2,700 years ago, people called Celts went to Britain from Europe. No-one called them Celts in the Iron Age, they were called Britons.Gradually, they mixed in with people who were already there. All those living in Britain became known as Britons. They were divided into tribes, some of them were Caledones or Picts, Brigantes, Parisi, Silures etc.

Celtic people moved around Europe and they stablished in different countries.

The Celts brought with them the skill of making iron tools and weapons. They built towns, which became trading centres. They were mainly farmers, but they made jewellery, pottery, leather goods...

They fought on foot with spears and swords while leaders used chariots. Warriors were painted or tattooed with a blue dye called woad.

The word Celt comes from the Greek word, Keltoi, which means barbarians and is properly pronounced as "Kelt".  The name Celts is a 'modern' name and is used to collectively describe all the many tribes of people living during the Iron Age. Northwest Europe was dominated by three main Celtic groups: the Gauls the Britons the Gaels Written accounts People visiting Britain wrote of their impressions of the people and things they saw. Many of these reports are biased. "Most of the inland inhabitants [of Britain] do not sow corn, but live on milk and flesh, and are clad with skins. All the Britons indeed, dye themselves with woad, which occasions a bluish colour, and thereby have a more terrible appearance in fight. They wear their hair long, and have every part of their body shaved except their head and upper lip. " Julius Caesar (A Roman Emperor) "They are very tall in stature, with rippling muscles under clear white skin. Their hair is blond, but not naturally so: they bleach it, to this day, artificially, washing it in lime and combing it back from their foreheads. They look like wood-demons, their hair thick and shaggy like a horse's mane. Some of them are clean-shaven, but others - especially those of high rank - shave their cheeks but leave a moustache that covers the whole mouth" Diodorus Siculus (A Roman historian) Celtic Priests

The Iron Age Celts of Europe and Britain were very superstitious people.
Celtic priests, called Druids, were the link between the supernatural world and the ordinary human one. They were able to predict what would happen in the future by interpreting nature. It is likely that they knew how to read and write, and they certainly had a good grasp of mathematics. They knew something of medicine and law, and they could trace the stars and the planets. The main centre of the druids in Britain was Anglesey, in Wales.

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They believed in many gods and they may have sacrificed humans.

Gods and Goddesses

The Celts believed in many gods and goddesses: over 400 in fact. Among them were:

Sucellos, the sky god, with a hammer that caused lightning,
Nodens, who made clouds and rain.

Many gods had no names, but lived in springs, woods and other places. Offerings to the gods were thrown into lakes, rivers and left by springs and wells.

The Celtic Year
Celtic festivals were held throughout the year. They measured time in Lunar (moon) months, and in order to bring the lunar and solar years into agreement would add an extra month to the year every three or four years.
The Four main Festivals of the Celtic year
Great feasts were held four times during the year - Imbolc, Beltain, Lughnasa and Samhain.

• Imbolc - 1st February
• Beltain - 1st May(See May Day)
• Lughnasa - 1st August
• Samhain - 1st November

Houses
The Celtic tribes lived in scattered villages. They lived in round houses with thatched roofs of straw or heather.The walls of their houses were made from local material. Houses in the south tended to be made from wattle (woven wood) and daub (straw and mud) as there was an ample supply of wood from the forests.

Most Celts lived in scattered farming communities surrounded by a bank with wooden fencing and a ditch to keep out intruders and wild animals.

Farmers grew wheat and barley, and reared sheep, goats, pigs and cattle.

Hill Forts

Sometimes groups of houses were built on the top of hills. These are called hill-forts. The largest and most complex Iron Age hill fort in Britain today is Maiden Castle in Dorset.

After Life The Celts believed that the human soul had an afterlife, so when a person died they were buried with many things they would need for the after life. Warriors were often buried with a helmet, a sword or dagger, shield and in some cases, even a chariot. Celts in Britain today There are still quite a lot of Celts living in the British Isles today. They live mainly in Wales, Cornwall, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Ireland. The Celts living in Britain today stem from the two main types of Celt who invaded Britain: the Goidelic Celts (Gaels or Gaelic ) - Scotland, Isle of Man and Ireland the Brythonic celts (Britons or British) - roughly Wales and Cornwall

THE ROMAN ATTACKED BRITAIN, 55 BC

They appeared off the British coast near Dover. Julius Caesar brught an army of 10,000 men.He wanted to conquer a new land and at the same time to punish those tribes who had been helping the Celts in Europe.

First invasion - Caesar's first raid

In August 55 B.C. (55 years before Jesus was born) the Roman general, Emperor Julius Caesar invaded Britain. He took with him two Roman legions. After winning several battles against the Celtic tribes (Britons) in south-east England he returned to France.

Second invasion - Caesar's second raid

The following summer (in 54 B.C.) Caesar came to Britain again landing at Walmer near Deal in Kent. This time he brought with him no fewer than five legions (30,000 foot soldiers) and 2,000 cavalrymen (horse riders). This time the Romans crossed the River Thames. After more fighting, the British tribes promised to pay tribute to Rome and were then left in peace for nearly a century.

The 10th Legion leadered by their standards "Aquilae" started fighting the Britons, but these weren´t so well trained and soon fled.

              

After this victory they left the new land and didn´t return for 97 years.

In AD 43, the Roman Emperor, Claudius decided to make Bitain part of the Roman Empire. An army of 40,000 Roman soldiers landed in Kent this time they had  come to stay.

The Romans made alliancs with some tribes and conquered others, one by one. Slowly, they drove their enemies into the mountains of Wales and Scotland.

The Romans did not invade Scotland until AD 84 but altough they won some battles they never could conquer Scotland.

                                                 

Third and final invasion

Nearly one hundred years later, in 43 A.D. (43 years after Jesus was born), Emperor Claudius organised the final and successful Roman invasion of Britain. General Aulus Plautius led four legions with 25,000 men, plus an equal number of auxiliary soldiers. They crossed the Channel in three divisions, landing at Richborough, Dover, and Lympne.

Many tribes tried to resist the Romans. It took about four years for the invaders to finally gain control over southern England, and another 30 years for them to conquer all of the West Country and the mountains and valleys of Wales. The battle for Yorkshire and the remainder of northern England was still underway in AD 70.

The first Roman city was Camulodunum also called Colonia Vitricencis. (We know it by the name of Colchester.) It was the seat of Roman power and governance of Brittania until sacked during the Boudiccan revolt.

The Roman won many victories and it seemed as though nothing could stop them from ruling the whole country.

Then, in AD 60, the Iceni Tribe, led by their queen Budicca, revolted.

A famous Celtic Queen

Warrior Queen Boudicca was the wife of the ruler of the Iceni, a Celtic tribe who lived in eastern England. After her husband's death, the Romans claimed the Iceni lands. When Boudicca protested she was beaten and her daughters attacked. In revenge, Boudicca led an army to attack London in AD 60. Boudicca's army caused vast amounts of damage before being defeated.

 London was then established as a seat of governance, and only became important after the Camulodunum event.

Why did the Romans invade Britain?

Why the Romans came to Britain is not quite certain. Two reasons have been suggested:

1. The Romans were cross with Britain for helping the Gauls (now called the French) fight against the Roman general Julius Caesar.
2. They came to Britain looking for riches - land, slaves, and most of all, iron, lead, zinc, copper, silver and gold.

The Romans remained in Britain from 43 AD to 410 AD. That is almost four hundred years (four centuries).The Romans leave Britain because their homes in Italy were being attacked by fierce tribes and every soldier was needed

The Romans called London 'Londinium'.

The River Thames was quick way to transport goods between Britain and the Continent. The Romans saw this and built the town of Londinium around the river's main crossing point.
 

Why was the Roman Empire important?

The Romans, even today, play an important part in our lives. Many of the things we do or have originated from the Romans.

The Romans gave us

• Language
  The language we used today was developed from the Romans. The Romans spoke and wrote in Latin and many of our words are based on Latin words.
• The Calendar
  Did you know that the calendar we use today is more than 2,000 years old? It was started by Julius Caesar, a Roman ruler. It is based on the movement of the earth around the sun, and so is called the 'solar calendar.' The solar calendar has 365 days a year, and 366 days every leap year, or every fourth year. The names of our months are taken from the names of Roman gods and rulers. The month 'July,' in fact, is named after Julius Caesar himself!
• Laws and a legal system
  The laws and ways we determine what to do with someone who is accused of breaking a law came originally from the Roman Empire.
• The Census
  The Roman Empire was huge and included millions of people living over a large area. How did they keep track of all these people? Easy! They counted them! The Roman Empire began the practice of taking a census, or a 'count,' of all the people within its boundaries every so often. Today, many countries like ours take a census every 10 years.

The Romans also gave us:

• straight roads, central heating, concrete aqueducts (bridges for water) and...Romans invented towns in Great Britain.

The Romans built Britain's first towns, all over Britain as centers to administer the people they had conquered. Within 17 years of the invasion, they had several major towns in place. connected by the famous Roman roads. Towns soon became important places for meetings and trade.

Reconstruction of Roman Sichester

The Roman towns were full of fine buildings and temples.

The Romans liked everything to be organised and orderly. Streets were laid out in neat, straight lines, like on a chess-board. In the middle there was a large square, called the forum. It was used as a market place and for meetings. It had shops and offices on three sides and government offices on the other side.

Many towns had running water and sewers. Aqueducts were bridges for bringing water to the towns.

Only the rich had water piped to their houses; everyone else used water from public fountains. The only toilets were public lavatories, which were built around the town and connected to underground sewers

Most towns would also have shops as well as the forum. At one end of the forum was a large building called the basilica. There were temples too where the Roman gods were worshipped. Some towns had public baths, an open-air theatre and huge monumental arches.


Throughout their empire the Romans built towns in exactly the same style. They were designed in the form of a grid, with streets built at right angles to each other and parallel with one of the two main roads.



The three largest were London, Colchester and St. Albans. Colchester was their main town.


The Romans called our towns different names to what we know them as today.

Verulamium (St Albans),Lindum (Lincoln), Eboracum (York)
Every town with a name ending in 'chester' or 'caster' or ' cester' was once a Roman town e.g. Doncaster, Dorchester and Cirencester.