Seasonal Festivals

Summer
Every year people build bonfires on hilltops all over Cornwall in the south-west of England. These fires are a celebration of summer and they are lit on the night after the Summer Solstice (on 22 June). The ceremony isn?t performed in English; it is performed in Cornish, an old Celtic language.

Spring
The Heston ?Furry (floral) Dance? is one of the oldest festivals in England. It takes place in Heston, an old Cornish town. It celebrates the coming of spring. The ?dance? is a procession through the narrow streets of the town. The men wear top hats and suits, the women wear their best dresses and children are dressed in white. The streets are decorated with flowers. People follow an old route through the town and even pass through people?s houses, shops and gardens!

Winter
The celebrations of Halloween on 31 October was begun by the Celts over 2000 years ago. Their festival of the dead marked the beginning of winter. People believed that ghosts and witches came out on that night. These beliefs were not encouraged by the church, but the festival wasn?t abandoned. The Irish lit lanterns and candles to keep the ghosts away and wore costumes and masks to frighten them. People traveled from village to village and asked for food. They believed that any village that didn?t give food would have bad luck. These customs were brought to the USA in the nineteenth century by Irish immigrants. Today in the USA and the UK, children wear costumes and go from door to door saying ?Trick or