Christmas , also referred to as Christmas Day or Christmastide, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that marks and honors the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.[2][3] The birth of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini system of dating, is thought to have occurred between 7 and 2 BC.[4] December 25 is not thought to be Jesus' actual date of birth, and the date may have been chosen to correspond with birthday of Mithras, a Roman festival[5] or as some claims with the winter solstice.[6]

Modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, church celebrations, and the display of various decorations—including the Christmas tree, lights, mistletoe, nativity scenes and holly. Santa Claus (also referred to as Father Christmas, although the two figures have different origins) is a popular mythological figure often associated with bringing gifts at Christmas. Santa is generally believed to be the result of a syncretization between St. Nicholas of Myra and elements from pagan Nordic and Christian mythology, and his modern appearance is believed to have originated in 19th century media.

Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian population, but is also celebrated by many non-Christians as a secular, cultural festival. The holiday is widely celebrated around the world, including in the United States, where it is celebrated by 96% of the population.[7] Because gift-giving and several other aspects of the holiday involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, Christmas has become a major event for many retailers.

80% Czechs vote on EU membership
Czechs vote on EU membership

By Alix Kroeger
BBC correspondent in Prague


Preliminary exit polls from the Czech referendum on joining the European
Union show that more than 80% have voted in favour.
Polls have closed for the first day of voting but are due reopen on Saturday
for a further six hours.


Results are expected around 1600 GMT on Saturday.

But it is difficult to see how Friday's monolithic result could be
overturned.

Many Czechs do have their doubts, among them, the President, Vaclav Klaus.

He has described joining the EU as a marriage of convenience rather than
love and does not want to say how he voted.

"I am absolutely sure that my vote was the right one and you may just
guess," he said.

Fireworks and a celebration concert are already planned for Saturday night.

After that, it's back to work.

The Czech Government is trying to bring its budget into line with EU rules.

But teachers are threatening strike action, and Nato is unhappy about cuts
to defence spending.

There is still much to be done before EU membership becomes a reality next
year.

Ex-presidents Bush, Clinton to head Israel's 60th
Ex-presidents Bush, Clinton to head Israel's 60th celebrations in U.S
By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent

Former U.S. presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton will head the national
committee marking the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence.

June Walker, Chairperson of the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations, said: "We are excited and pleased that these two most
distinguished American leaders have agreed to serve as the honorary co-chairmen
of the national committee for Israel-60 which will initiate and coordinate
events that will celebrate Israel's special anniversary and will highlight the
U.S.-Israel special relationship."

Israel's 60th Independence Day, which will be celebrated in May 2008, will be
marked by a series of events across the United States. Advertisement

www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/924965.html
iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/147813

Perhaps the most famous UK wide custom is the annual Guy Fawkes
Night (also known as Bonfire Night) on 05 November. On that day in
1605 Guy Fawkes and his accomplices’ gunpowder plot to blow up the
British Parliament was foiled. Celebrations involve the lighting of
large fires where effigies of Guy Fawkes are burnt. There are
normally firework displays too.

Many customs/festivals tend to be regional, some examples are:

Cheese rolling on a spring bank holiday Monday – the most famous
course is at Coopers Hill in Gloucestershire. Competitors chase a
round cheese down a very steep hill (often resulting in broken
arm/legs/noses).

In Derbyshire they have well dressing hereby elaborate, mosaic-
decorated panels are fixed to the sides of wells.

Then there’s the Straw Bear Fesitval (to celebrate plough Monday –
it’s a farming thing!) in Whittlesey.. A straw bear – it’s really
man covered in straw to look like a bear – is walked through the
town accompanied by dancers and musicians from across Britain.

My favourite – and easily scores ten out of ten on the eccentricity
scale – is Maypole dancing (celebrates 01 May)…a team of Morris
dancers dance round a wooden pole, occasionally hitting each other
on the head with small, wooden sticks.

Do Betki !
Lily-of-the-valley is an essential part of May Day in FranceMay Day traditions
go back to the dawn of time. In the ancient world, it was the date when sailors
went back to sea. It was the beginning of the third quarter of the Celtic
year.In the middle ages, May was the month when betrothals were made.As Labour
Day, it has been a public holiday in France since 1889.

In each case it has been an opportunity for merrymaking.Lily-of-the-valley
(Convallaria majalis L., liliaceae family) is found wild as a woodland plant
throughout Europe. It was not used as a garden plant until the sixteenth
century.Lily-of-the-valley has been associated with French May Day celebrations
and regarded as bringing good luck since the renaissance. But its use
specifically as the May Day flower was confirmed at the beginning of the 20th
century by two events.On May Day 1895, Mayol, the cabaret singer, was greeted
by his girlfriend Jenny Cook with some lily-of-the-valley and that evening he
wore lily-of-the-valley in his buttonhole instead of the more usual Camellia.

At the turn of the century, the great fashion houses gave sprigs of lily-of-the-
valley to their customers and apprentices on May Day. By 1976, lily-of-the-
valley was completely associated with May Day and every year tens of millions
of sprigs of both wild and cultivated lily-of-the-valley are sold on this
day.The gathering of wild lily-of-the-valley depends on the weather and varies
considerably from one year to another.

Pozdrawiam.

Re wiecej z prawdy
Amber Room Reconstruction in Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo Is Completed
05/13/2003 12:44
The ceremony of the official opening of the unique Amber Room will take place
on June 3
The Expert Council will sign on Tuesday an act on completing the restoration of
the Amber Room in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo, a former residence of
Russian czars near St. Petersburg, Tatyana Zharkova, chief of the press service
of the Tsarskoye Selo museum and preserve, said.

The Expert Council includes representatives of the Culture Ministry, the
Tsarskoye Selo preserve and the German Ruhrgas company.

According to Zharkova, the experts of the Amber Workshop in Tsarskoye Selo
installed the last panel on weekend, and the reconstruction of the Amber Room
will be fully completed by Tuesday.

The first people who saw the reconstructed wonder were about 400 WWII veterans
and the St. Petersburg residents who had survived the Nazi blockade. They were
shown the Amber Room on May 8, 9 and 10. On May 31 it will be seen by the heads
of state who will arrive in St. Petersburg for the celebrations of the city's
300th anniversary.

The ceremony of the official opening of the unique Amber Room will take place
on June 3. By that day an exhibition devoted to the many years of work to
reconstruct the lost Amber Room will have been opened.

The Amber Room (with amber panels decorating the interior) was presented to
Russian czar Peter the Great by King Wilhelm I of Prussia in 1716. In 1755 the
amber panels were installed in one of the halls of the Grand Palace in
Tsarskoye Selo.

During World War II Tsarskoye Selo was occupied by the Nazis and the Amber Room
was dismantled and carried away to Konigsberg. Its fate is not known to this
day, and the long search for it proved futile.

In 1979 the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation decided to
reconstruct the Amber Room. In 1983 the chief architect of the Catherine
Palace, Alexander Kedrinksy, one of the few people who saw the original Amber
Room, began working on the project of reconstructing the panels. Reconstruction
was performed by experts with the Amber Workshop in Tsarskoye Selo.

The work was funded from the federal budget. During the 20 years of
reconstruction work a sum of 7.85 million dollars from the federal budget was
spent on the project. In 1999 an agreement was signed, obliging the German
Ruhrgas AG company to invest about 3.5 million dollars in the last stage of
Amber Room reconstruction.