from Crown Academy of English and today I am going to

explain to you all about

an English Christmas because Christmas

is very soon and

this is a very big celebration

in England. So I thought some of you might be interested

in knowing about what we do

in England for Christmas and

what is a traditional Christmas in England.

So we're going to start,

and I'm going to first of all show you just a few scenes

of Christmas

with some music and then I'll start with the lesson.

Okay? Let's get started!

So

Christmas is

a Christian celebration

ok... and Christmas

is actually a celebration of

the birth of Jesus.

Okay, so Christians believe

that Christmas Day

is the day when

Jesus was born okay? Now

this is not going to be a religious video

but I have to just explain this obviously

... to explain what Christmas is.

So Christmas

is the birth of Jesus and

Christians believe that Jesus was born

in a stable. So this is a

stable. The stable is a building

which is for animals,

in fact. A stable is where...

animals like cows

and donkeys live

and sleep okay? So Jesus

was born there because there wasn't enough room

in the inn. So he had to be

born in the stable and

this is Jesus' mother,

called Mary and

this is Mary's husband,

Joseph and

Jesus was actually born in a manger.

So here he is sleeping in a manger...

and a manger is in fact where

animals eat from because that was the only...

according to the story, that was the only

place that they could find to put him.

And...

here on the left, these three men,

we call them the three wise men

or the three magi.

They were people who came

... to bring gifts

in fact. They heard the news that Jesus

had been born and they wanted to bring some

gifts. So you can see they are carrying

gifts in their arms and

the three gifts that they brought were

gold, frankincense

and myrhh okay?

And this

whole scene, this scene here, this

of the model in fact these are

models obviously.. So this scene with Jesus,

Mary, Joseph in the stable,

we call this a "nativity scene" and sometimes

we call it a "crèche" okay?

We often see this during the month of December

in churches and

in cathedrals, for example. Okay, so when

is Christmas? Well let's have a look at the calendar.

So this is a calendar

for December 2013

so this is the month that we are in

now, and these two

days in red are

public holidays. So the 25th of

December is Christmas Day. So that is

the official day of Christmas.

That is the celebration of

the birth of Jesus and

we call the day before Christmas...

we call this Christmas Eve

okay? So this is a special name

and it is called Christmas Eve.

So that falls on the 24th

December but that is not

a public holiday. Then Christmas Day is a public holiday.

So people do not work on

Christmas Day and

the day after Christmas Day, the 26th

December is called "Boxing Day."

Okay this is the name that we give the 26th.

Now no-one really knows why

we call it "Boxing Day" okay. It is nothing to do with

the sport of boxing! That is not the reason.

But one theory is

that, a long long time ago

in history ... (excuse me)

rich people had servants,

and those servants were working...

could not celebrate Christmas Day

because they were working for their master.

And so the servants

celebrate Christmas on

the 26th December and on that day,

their masters used to give them

a box. And in the box,

there were gifts and some money

and some food to give to their families.

And so we think perhaps because of those boxes,

that is why we call it "Boxing Day"

Now

Christmas lasts for

twelve days. Officially,

there are twelve days of Christmas

celebration. And it starts

on the 25th December and

it finishes on the 5th of January.

Now

Christmas decorations.

A big tradition during Christmas is

that we decorate our homes...

and the

the main way that we decorate our home

is with a Christmas tree.

And this is a Christmas tree here.

And you can either have

an artificial Christmas tree

like this one, made of plastic...

or some people have a real

Christmas tree and

if it is a real Christmas tree,

then it is a pine tree.

So on the Christmas tree,

at the top, there is a star.

So this is a star...

and also we can see, on the tree,

are some Christmas decorations.

And this yellow thing is called

"tinsel". "Tinsel"

And also, hanging on the tree, you can see

there are some balls. Well these glass

balls are called "baubles"

"bauble"

Here is a bigger picture here.

So this is a bauble and we hang

baubles on the tree with string.

And on the Christmas tree, there are also

some lights, some small lights...

and we call those lights..

"fairy lights". So these are

"fairy lights" and we hang the fairy lights

on the tree. And sometimes,

the lights flash

on the tree. "to flash" -

That means that the lights come on and then

off. So on and off. That means the lights are flashing.

And some other Christmas decorations are...

we sometimes put this plant in the house...

and this plant is called "holly". So "holly"

has these green leaves

which ... have... sort of prickly green leaves

and also red berries.

So very often during Christmas,

people decorate their house with holly.

And, also with another plant called "mistletoe".

So this is mistletoe. And mistletoe.. we

have a tradition with mistletoe where

we put it, for example, on the ceiling and

then, if two people pass under the mistletoe,

then they can kiss each other.

Okay so they can kiss each other.

So this is a tradition during Christmas

and we think that tradition is because

mistletoe is a symbol of fertility.

So mistletoe is used for

romantic couples and so they pass underneath it,

and they can kiss each other.

And also we can also decorate

our house with Christmas cards.

So another tradition during Christmas is that people

write a message inside

the Christmas card and they send

the Christmas card to people.

To friends and family. And so,

during Christmas, people

receive lots and lots of Christmas cards

from people, and so often

we decorate our homes with the cards.

For example, we can put them

on the mantelpiece in the living room

or we can hang them

with string on the walls.

And also during Christmas, or

just before Christmas, we can

hang a Christmas stocking. So this is

a Christmas stocking and

we put these stockings in

the living room, close to the fireplace and that

is for Father Christmas. So Father Christmas

will put presents and gifts inside the stocking.

And here, this is called a "wreath", a "wreath"

And a wreath is a round shape of... it can be

holly or pine or some other plants.

And we put a wreath on the front door

of the house okay. So,

on the wreath, on this wreath, there is

a ribbon. A red ribbon. And now,

I'm going to just show you a short

film of some Christmas decorations

in a town. So I'm going to show you some decorations

in a town at night...

And here is Father Christmas.

And we can also call Father Christmas

Santa Claus. Santa Claus

is used more in America,

and in England, and in Britain

we call him Father Christmas...

and...

Father Christmas has a big

white beard. This is his beard

and he's also carrying a sack, and

inside the sack are presents.

So Father Christmas is a fictional character

and the legend is that

if children are well-behaved during the year,

so if the children are good during the year,

then on Christmas Day,

Father Christmas will deliver presents to their

home. And if the child... if the children are not well behaved,

if children...some children are naughty,

then parents tell them that they will not

have any presents.

And the legend is that Father Christmas

delivers his presents on the night of Christmas Eve...

and he does this on a sleigh. So this

is his sleigh. And the sleigh is pulled by some

animals. And these animals are called reindeer. Reindeer.

So on the night of Christmas Eve, the reindeer

and Father Christmas go all over the world and

deliver presents to all the children

who have been well-behaved.

And Father Christmas, to enter the house, he

goes down the chimney. So Father Christmas,

to enter inside the house,

he climbs down this chimney, and then he

enters the living room. And when he's in the living room,

he puts the gifts under the tree.

So Father Christmas comes down the chimney,

goes into the living room, and he puts the presents

under the tree for the children.

Christmas music

During Christmas, we often hear

lots of traditional Christmas music.

And Christmas songs are called Christmas carols.

So a carol is a Christmas song.

Three examples are: "Silent night",

"We wish you a Merry Christmas"

and "Good King Wenceslas"

So, if you just do a search on Google

or the Internet for those songs, you

you will be able to hear them. And

there are many more. There are many many Christmas carols.

And here we can see some carol singers.

So these children here, they are singing Christmas carols.

So we say they are carol singers.

And this is very common during the month of December.

Carol singers knock on people's doors in fact