English speaking world

National Day of Wales: 1st March

Monday 1st March is St David's Day, the national day of Wales.

The name Wales comes from the Anglo-Saxon term Waleas, meaning foreigner. It's a small country with a population of just 2.94 million. The majority or people speak English; however, the Welsh language is popular and is now spoken by more than 20 per cent of the population. Welsh is one of Europe's oldest languages. Since 1999 all schoolchildren in Wales have had to study Welsh, either as a first or second language. The Welsh language has two additional vowels - w and y - to add to the English a, e, i, o and u. The Welsh for Wales is Cymru, and the country's motto is "Cymru am byth" ("Wales forever").

The capital city is Cardiff, in South Wales.  Other major cities and towns are Swansea and Newport, in South Wales, and Wrexham in the north.

Wales has some spectacular scenery. It has three national parks and five designated areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Snowdon is the highest mountain at 1,085 metres (3,559 feet). Wales is also famous for its castles. In fact, Wales has more castles per square mile than any other country in western Europe.

The national flag of Wales has two equal horizontal stripes, white above green. A red dragon appears on the green-and-white background. The origins of the flag are unknown. One legend tells of the struggle between the red dragon of Wales and the white dragon of England.

St David is the patron saint of Wales, and St David's Day is celebrated on March 1. The most famous story about St David tells how he was preaching to a crowd of people when suddenly the ground he was standing on rose up, so that he was standing on a hill and everyone could see and hear him.

On St David's Day people wear daffodils or leeks. The daffodil and leek are famous emblems of Wales. According to legend, St. David ordered his soldiers to wear a leek on their helmets in a battle against Saxon invaders that took place in a field full of leeks.

A lot of towns and villages in Wales have very long names. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the name of a Welsh town. The name translates as "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St Tysilio's of the red cave".

Rugby is the national game of Wales. Other popular sports are football and golf. Wales has some of the best golf courses in Britain.

Wales is known for its great actors. Richard Burton, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones are all Welsh. Famous musicians include Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, and the groups Catatonia, Super Furry Animals, Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers. Other famous names include Sir George Everest, the explorer, the poet Dylan Thomas, and the authors Jackie Collins and Roald Dahl.

Welsh food is usually made from local ingredients. Some traditional dishes include laverbread (made from seaweed), bara brith (fruit cake), and cawl cennin (leek stew). Welsh rarebit (or rabbit) is a traditional Welsh snack that is similar to cheese on toast.

New Zealand: two islands where old meets new

New Zealand or Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud, is a country of two large islands and many smaller islands in the south-western Pacific Ocean. New Zealand's National Day is celebrated on 6th February.

The first New Zealanders were the Maoris, who travelled there by boat about ten thousand years ago. Maori legend has it that Maui magically fished New Zealand’s north island up out of the sea. The south island was his canoe. When you look at a map of the north island, it looks like a fish.
With Maui were his brothers, who promised to stay on the canoe while Maui dived down into the sea to thank the gods for his discovery. While waiting, the brothers got greedy, and started trying to divide up the land by beating the fish. When Maui came up and stopped them, the fish had changed shape – which is how the north island got its valleys and mountains.
‘New Zealand’ in Maori is ‘He Aoteroa’ which means ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. When the Maoris travelled by boat to the islands, they crossed what must have seemed like a never-ending ocean. The first thing they saw for a long time was a long white cloud on the horizon, over New Zealand, hence the name.
Centuries later, Europeans arrived. Unfortunately, the relationship between these settlers and the Maoris was difficult. In 1840, the British and the Maoris signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which detailed land and fishing rights. Poorly translated into Maori, the Treaty was misinterpreted, often unfairly for the Maoris.
In 1975, the government established the Waitangi Tribunal, to clarify the Treaty and honour it as a relevant and living document. Now the New Zealand government has a large Maori representation, and Maori rights have been recovered.
Traditionally community-minded, Maoris lived close together, with extended family living nearby. Now, many Maoris are again buying houses together to recreate these communities. The houses may not be old, but they are decorated with traditional paintings and carvings, and in front of the ‘marae’ (meeting house) is a space where visitors can be welcomed into the house traditionally.
New Zealand is a very developed, industrialised country, where western and Maori cultures and peoples have integrated so much that Maori traditions were in danger of dying out.
Both Maoris and non-Maoris realised the importance of preserving Maori culture. Maoris began re-teaching their children traditional Maori crafts. Recently, Maori language became a school subject. Many New Zealanders encourage this development, recognising that Maori language is an integral part of New Zealand’s culture.
The Maoris probably originated from around Japan, as the pronunciation of the Maori language is very similar to Japanese, and the Japanese can often say Maori words more convincingly than the average non-Maori New Zealander.
Interestingly, New Zealand English also has its’ own vibrant language! New Zealand slang is different to British and American slang, and even different to Australian. Some favourites are ‘chilli bin’; nothing to do with spicy food, but New Zealand slang for a cool box, and ‘give it some jandal’, meaning ‘put your foot down on the accelerator and speed up’ (‘jandals’ are plastic shoes -‘flip flops’ in the UK and ‘thongs’ in Australia!). Now I must rattle my dags (hurry up) because today I’m off tramping (walking) in the bush (countryside). See you later! And in Maori – Aroha nui!

Scotland

3oth November is Saint Andrew's Day, the patron saint of Scotland.

Scotland is the UK’s most northern country and has around 790 islands off its coasts – 130 of which have people living on them. Scotland is well known for its stunning landscapes, beautiful beaches and lochs, which are fresh water lakes. There are over 600 square miles of lochs in Scotland including the most famous one, Loch Ness.
It has a population of just over five million people which is about 8.5 per cent of the whole UK population. Over 2 million of these live in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and almost half of Scotland's population live in the Central Belt, where both the largest city (Glasgow) and the capital city (Edinburgh) are located.

Scotland also hosts one of the biggest arts festivals in the world.This is commonly known as the Edinburgh Festival which takes place in August and September. Many people have heard of the Fringe Festival, but there are also the International Festival, the Film Festival, the Children’s Festival and the Edinburgh Mela which is an intercultural festival.
Musically it has recently produced bands like Travis and Franz Ferdinand and other famous Scots include Ewan McGregor and Sean Connery (both actors) and JK Rowling (the famous Harry Potter's creator).
Stereotypical images of Scotland often focus on things like tartan, kilts, heather and haggis as well as the mountains and the lakes. These are all still a part of the country but contemporary Scotland is building a name for itself in other areas, such as its thriving computer games industry.

Now try the following online games about Scotland:

Word games: Scottish icons.
Match the names of things that are typical to Scotland to descriptions of them. Play:
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/CET/flashactivities/learnenglish-central-scotland-02.html

Word game: Bagpipe jokes.

Match the questions to the answers of 5 jokes about bagpipes. Play game

Have fun!