Festivals and Legends

THE LEGEND OF KING ARTHUR

Nobody knows the real story about King Arthur. Some scholars linked Arthur to a Roman soldier.  According to the legend, he was the son of Uther Pendragon. Arthur was grown away from his parents and when the king died nobody knew who would be the next king. A magic stone appeared with the sword Excalibur stuck to it. There was a message on the sword which said that the person who pulled the sword from the stone would be the king of Britain. Arthur did it and this is how Arthur became king.

Nowadays, Arthur is not only a mythical figure but a symbol of Britain and the virtues of the Round Table. King Arthur is an important character in the culture and even the Tudor dynasty claimed Arthur as their ancestor.

For further information, visit:

www.legendofkingarthur.co.uk

HALLOWEEN

Halloween is celebrated on 31 October. It has ancient Celtic origins. On the Celtic calendar “Samhain” was the last day of summer and the last day of the year. The Celtic priest practised religious rituals on “Samhain”. On this day Celts made big fires and dressed in scary costumes. They wanted to frighten the evil spirits. They believed that ghosts came out of their tombs on the night of 31 October. “Samhain” also became a harvest festival after the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD. Christian practices replace pagan practices. The Christians called 1 November All Hallow’s Day, the day of all saints. The evening of 31 October was called All Hallow’s Eve. This became Halloween. It is popular to make “jack-o’-lanterns” out of pumpkins. People put them in front of the windows of their homes. The jack o’lantern is of Celtic origin too. The “jack-o’-lanterns” tradition originated in Ireland, but they decorated large turnips and potatoes.  Irish immigrants brought the tradition to America, home of the pumpkin, and it became a part of Halloween festivities. Irish also introduced the custom “trick-or-treating” on Halloween evening. They go from house to house in their costumes and ring doorbells. When the door opens they shout “Trick or treat?” People usually give them sweets. If not, the children play a trick!

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

2 kg of pumpkin

½ litre of milk

4 eggs

4 tablespoons of flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

100g of butter

¼ teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon of cinnamon powder

Cut the pumpkin into small pieces and remove the peel. Put the pieces into a big saucepan and add the milk. Cook the mixture for 30 minutes and don’t forget to mix it while it’s cooking.

Now break the eggs into a bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, butter, salt and cinnamon powder. Mix these ingredients well. Add the pumpkin and milk mixture to the ingredients in the bowl and mix. Put the mixture into a non-stick pie dish. You can also use puff pastry under the mixture.  Put the dish into the oven (180ºC) for one hour. Serve the pumpkin pie cold. Happy Halloween!