1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:05,040
Hey everyone and welcome back to
another episode of the 

2
00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:12,920
Understandable English Podcast. 
And today we are talking about a

3
00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:20,240
very popular holiday around the 
world in many places, and it is 

4
00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:25,560
called Easter. 
So as I record this podcast, 

5
00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:33,600
today it is Easter weekend and 
tomorrow is called Easter 

6
00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:39,840
Sunday. 
So today I want to talk about is

7
00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:44,560
Easter a popular holiday in the 
UK? 

8
00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:50,800
So we are going to look at the 
history of Easter in the UK. 

9
00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:56,000
We're going to look at how 
people celebrate it, So what 

10
00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:03,120
they do and how it has changed, 
so how the holiday has changed 

11
00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,680
over time, oh, around the time 
of Easter. 

12
00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:16,000
It has reasons in history for 
being a holiday, both religious 

13
00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:23,040
region reasons so related to 
religion and non religious, so 

14
00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:29,640
like Pagan origins outside of 
organized religion. 

15
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:35,320
So one of the most common 
reasons why Easter is celebrated

16
00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:41,760
is to commemorate, so to 
remember the resurrection of 

17
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:47,320
Jesus Christ within 
Christianity, so to celebrate 

18
00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:52,360
the belief. 
So they believe that Jesus died 

19
00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:58,560
and then came back to life. 
So he came back to life again. 

20
00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,920
And Good Friday. 
So the Friday of the weekend is 

21
00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:11,720
the day that people remember 
Jesus died, and then Sunday is 

22
00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:17,000
usually remembered as the day he
came back to life. 

23
00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:22,600
So three days later. 
And this celebration of Easter 

24
00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:27,680
within the Christian Church, 
both the Catholic and Protestant

25
00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:33,880
and other denominations were 
types of Christianity is still 

26
00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:40,000
popular to this day, so it's 
been popular for a long time. 

27
00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:49,480
But there are other origins of 
Easter, and Easter actually has 

28
00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:56,360
Pagan origins, and there were 
festivals around this time which

29
00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:01,280
were before, even before 
Christianity. 

30
00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:08,640
And this is with festivals 
dedicated to the goddess Easter 

31
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:16,480
or Eostra is how it's spelt and 
it symbolizes rebirth and 

32
00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:22,760
renewal around spring. 
And the name Easter actually is 

33
00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:30,480
derived from E Oster Easter or 
Ostara who is that ancient 

34
00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:37,680
goddess that people believed in 
and she was the goddess of 

35
00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:42,040
spring and fertility in their 
beliefs. 

36
00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:49,280
So this celebration or festival 
was actually not from organized 

37
00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:53,840
religion, it wasn't from 
Christianity originally. 

38
00:03:54,440 --> 00:04:02,960
But it is an important time now 
for for both religion and for 

39
00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:08,000
family. 
So some activities, traditional 

40
00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:15,320
Easter celebrations in the UK, 
so people use it as a fun family

41
00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:22,400
celebration now and one thing 
they like to do is to give each 

42
00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:27,320
other Easter eggs and have 
Easter egg hunts. 

43
00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,040
So they decorate and give 
chocolate eggs. 

44
00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:37,840
It's a very popular tradition in
the UK and another one that I 

45
00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:43,400
loved when I was a child was 
Easter egg hunts. 

46
00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:49,760
So parents or adults hide 
chocolate eggs around maybe the 

47
00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:55,680
house or the garden or school 
and the children have to try and

48
00:04:55,680 --> 00:05:01,680
find those eggs. 
It is such a fun, good Easter 

49
00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:03,760
tradition. 
I love it. 

50
00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:09,200
Another popular way is to eat 
hot cross buns. 

51
00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:15,560
And hot cross buns are spiced 
sweet buns like a bread with a 

52
00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:21,520
cross on top and these are 
traditionally eaten on Good 

53
00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:25,040
Friday. 
And finally, there are Easter 

54
00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,600
parades. 
So when people maybe dress up in

55
00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:35,840
costumes and dance in the street
right across a lot of UK towns 

56
00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:40,440
and cities. 
And these are exciting, happy 

57
00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:45,000
times for families. 
But one of the most popular and 

58
00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:50,600
common ways in the UK is to have
a family gathering or a meal. 

59
00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:55,960
So Easter is a time for families
to come together, enjoy a 

60
00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:01,120
special, maybe bigger meal and 
to give each other little gifts 

61
00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:05,200
sometimes. 
And these traditional meals 

62
00:06:05,280 --> 00:06:10,120
often include, for example, 
roasted lamb, potatoes, 

63
00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:13,280
vegetables and some nice 
desserts. 

64
00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:18,040
People also might go to an 
Easter Sunday church service 

65
00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:23,160
together just to celebrate and 
remember this holiday. 

66
00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:29,800
But like everything, Easter has 
become very commercialized. 

67
00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:36,080
So all about buying things. 
Lots of hot Easter drinks, 

68
00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:40,760
Easter eggs, chocolate, sweets, 
decorations. 

69
00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:48,880
It is a big commercial holiday, 
so holiday about buying things. 

70
00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:55,080
And like any holiday it has 
definitely changed over time. 

71
00:06:55,640 --> 00:07:00,520
So Easter has become a lot more 
secularized. 

72
00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,520
That's a very difficult word. 
So it basically means it has 

73
00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:09,360
become a lot less religious over
time. 

74
00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:15,520
So it's become more of a family 
holiday for everyone. 

75
00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:20,440
And a lot of people will focus 
now on, you know, the Easter 

76
00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:26,080
Bunny, which is a Bunny that 
parents tell their children 

77
00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:29,040
brings them chocolate eggs on 
Easter. 

78
00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,760
They'll focus on Easter egg 
hunts and chocolate treats 

79
00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:37,960
rather than the kind of 
religious significance or 

80
00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:42,560
importance of the holiday. 
This simply comes from the fact 

81
00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:48,760
that the UK now is a very 
multicultural society, so there 

82
00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:53,920
are lots of different cultures 
and religions, but they can all 

83
00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:59,320
still come together and 
celebrate holidays even if they 

84
00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:03,680
don't celebrate the religious 
element or part of it. 

85
00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:10,600
And even with this change in 
Easter over time, it still 

86
00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:17,720
remains a popular and important 
holiday in the UK and it 

87
00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:21,920
combines both the religious and 
the non religious. 

88
00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:27,680
It's a holiday that has 
something for everyone now. 

89
00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:33,440
By the time this podcast 
probably is uploaded and I think

90
00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,679
Easter will have already 
happened and I will have 

91
00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:42,840
finished my Easter holidays, 
which in the UK are very nice. 

92
00:08:42,919 --> 00:08:48,720
So you get a day off work, a 
bank holiday on the Friday and 

93
00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:55,920
Monday so you get a nice four 
day weekend, which is fantastic.

94
00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:58,960
Very nice long weekend without 
work. 

95
00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:04,080
But by the time this podcast is 
uploaded it will probably be 

96
00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:09,200
Tuesday or Wednesday. 
So I hope you had a very nice 

97
00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:12,400
weekend. 
If you celebrated Easter, Happy 

98
00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:15,080
Easter. 
If you didn't, I hope you have a

99
00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:20,280
nice weekend anyway. 
I know in some places or some 

100
00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:25,200
countries they celebrate Easter 
on a different date or a 

101
00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,040
different slightly different 
time of year. 

102
00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:33,520
So if it's like that in your 
country, I still hope you have a

103
00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:39,120
great Easter in the future. 
This weekend I am going to have 

104
00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:45,160
or going to spend some time with
my family, my wife, have a nice 

105
00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:50,240
meal I think together and I 
think we are going to go to a 

106
00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:57,000
church service together for my 
parents so it will be nice and 

107
00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,360
relaxed. 
So thank you so much for 

108
00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:03,400
listening and I hope you enjoyed
this episode. 

109
00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:08,560
I will speak to you all soon. 
Have a lovely rest of your day. 

110
00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:09,360
Goodbye.