Anecdotes about Festivals

【Abstract】 Festivals can be series of performance of music， plays， films/movies， etc.， usually organized in the same place once a year， such as beer festivals， a series of public events connected with a particular activity or idea such as Shakespeare Dramas Festival ， or a day or period of the year when people stop working to celebrate a special event， often a religious one. Some of the festivals shared in this paper may sound familiar to you， but you may not know some of the anecdotes associated with their origin. Others may be unfamiliar to you， or may even be quite informal， but youll find them interesting after reading the paper.

【Key words】Festivals; Anecdotes

【作者簡介】劉夢琪 （1989.10-），女，河北霸縣人，江西應用科技學院，碩士，研究方向：翻譯。

You may know Christmas or Christmas Eve， but have you ever heard of “Boxing Day”？ This legal festival falls on the day after Christmas， and is celebrated in the UK， Australia and New Zealand. Traditionally， it was on Boxing Day that people gave Christmas gifts or money to their staff or servants. Now that most British people do not have servants， this custom is no longer observed. However， a new Boxing Day custom has emerged. Shops open up to sell off all their Christmas stock decorations， food， cards and gift items at low prices. Various department stores in the UK such as Harrods， Selfridgies and LIBERTY will offer a lot of discounts and promotions， so shopping spree is a typical way of celebrating this festival.

According to the data of Experian， a data company， and IMRG （Interactive Media in Retail Group）， on the Christmas of 2014， the overall online sales volume reached 636 million pounds， while the overall sales volume of the UK on Boxing Day of the same year reached a record high of 3 billion pounds. This festival may be an equivalent to “Nov. 11” in China， when lots of e-commerce giants will offer discounts and promotions.

Everybody knows that International Childrens Day is celebrated on June 1st. This may be a joyous occasion for kids， but do you know that in 1950 when the festival was first established by Womens International Democratic Federation， it was aimed at commemorating the children that died in Lidice Massacre on June 10th， 1942 and all wars. It protests against torturing， killing and poisoning children， and guarantees childrens rights.

In Japan， however， the festival falls on three different dates. Boys Festival is on May 5th. On this day， colorful carp kites， called koinobori flags， are raised on a large carp from houses， indicating the number of boys in the family with the largest kite representing the oldest boy at the top. The carp is a symbol of determination and vigor， overcoming all obstacles to swim upstream. Girls Festival is on March 3rd. On this day， various dolls will be arranged at home. November 15th is for boys aged five and girls aged three and seven. Therefore， it is named Shichi-Go-San Festival. On this day， boys and girls will put on kimonos， and be led to shrines by their parents. They will buy thousand-year-old cakes there. Children of the three ages celebrate this festival since it is said that these are the critical period for childrens growth.