The year
The year has 365 days; every leap year has 366 days. It has 12 months, 52 weeks. One week has 7 days. There are 4 seasons during the year. Each season lasts about three months and is attractive in some way. The Slovak Republic has a moderate continental climate.
Spring is green. It begins on the 21st of March. Nature wakes after winter sleep. Trees, bushes and grass are green and they start to bloom. Nights get shorter and days get longer. Temperature grows up to about 15˚C (degree). There is more sunshine and it becomes warmer and warmer. The snow melts and there may be floods in the regions through which the rivers flow. April is changeable, in one day we can have sun, shower, and again sun. Soon in the garden and woods the first flowers appear – white snowdrops and snowflakes, daffodils, blue forget-me-nots, coloured tulips, purple violets. The trees (chestnuts, fruit trees) come into blossom too. Birds like swallows and storks come back from the southern countries. People go for walks.
People like spring. They can go out to the woods for a long walks, children clean their bikes and ride them, boys play football, and girls play with balls or badminton. Parents and grandparents start to work in the garden.
Summer is hot. It begins on the 21st of June. It is the favourite season of every school children, because they have holidays. Days are long and nights are short. Temperatures are about 30˚C. Sometimes was can have storms with heavy rain, strong wind, lightning and thunders. But in 2 or 3 hours everything is over, there is sun in the sky again. People like going to swim to the lakes or sea. They play beach volleyball or Frisbee. Schoolchildren love this season because they have 2 months´ holiday. People set out on journeys, trips and vacations. In the morning there is often dew, the sky is clear and bright, it is sunny and dead calm, no wind blows and sometimes we suffer from a heat wave. If it stays hot too long, the land becomes arid and both people and nature long or rain.
But in summer rain often comes in the form of a storm. All of a sudden the sky clouds over, it gets dark and cools down, a breeze changes into a strong wind. They there is a crash of thunder and a flash of lightning and a heavy downpour. It is dangerous to stand under a tree during a storm because it can be hit by a lightning. After the storm calms down a rainbow may appear in the sky. Summer is also the time for strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and the harvest.
At the beginning of September when the school year begins, summer is over and on the 23rd September autumn (fall in American English) comes. In autumn the sun rises later and it sets earlier, days are shorter. Autumn is colourful. Trees in the woods and parks change colour of their leaves. They can be orange, yellow, brown or red and they start to fall down. Days are shorter, temperatures are between 10-19˚C and the weather is horrible. We often have rain, fog; it is cloudy and windy. Sometimes the weather is beautiful. We call this period Indian summer. People work in the gardens; they pick up fruits (apples, pears, plums, peaches) and vegetables (potatoes, cabbage, carrots, celery, sugar beet, tomatoes). Children ride bikes, fly kites, ride in-line. The sky is cloudy. Grass turns yellow and gets dry. Many people go mushrooming. Birds flock together and set out on the journey to the south. The days are chilly, wet and rainy and it may drizzle. The first frosts come and in the morning there may be fog. A cold wind blows from the north. People may get cold easily and catch a cold or flu.
According to the calendar, winter comes on December 21, but it fact it often begins earlier .Winter is white. Short days, long nights. It starts to be dark at about 4 o´clock. Temperatures fall down to 5-10˚C. Typical winter weather brings snowfall, icy winds and frosts. As the climate gets warmer, we miss a real winter more and more. Winter in the country is wonderful. Everything is white covered in the snow like in the fairy tale. People are skiing, snowboarding or skating on frozen lakes or streams. Children build snowmen, igloos or fight with snow balls.
Winter in the town is horrible. Snow melts quickly, there are pools of water on the pavements and they are slippery. Even the roads become icy and slippery which makes driving quite hazardous. The nicest period of winter is Christmas! Christmas carols are sung almost everywhere. People buy presents and send Christmas cards and text messages to their relatives and friends. For Christians, Christmas is much more connected with going to church to holly masses, praying, fasting, helping people in need through good acts, charities or Christmas benefit concerts. In Slovakia, Christmas preparations are connected with cleaning households, baking gingerbread and other pastries, decorating houses with lights and visiting Christmas markets where spirits such as hot “medovina” (mead), mulled wine (hot wine), or Christmas punch, are sold.
days get shorter/longer good/bad weather
weather becomes warmer be in a good/bad temper/mood
the sky is clear feel well/unwell
storm be optimistic/pessimistic
Indian summer encourage sb to work
the sun sets/rises feel happy/merry
sunset/sunrise sad
thick layer of snow active
icy road take pleasure in small joys
snow melts cheer up
harvest be eager to do things
go mushrooming have problems
shiver with cold sleepy
mud be moody
slippery lazy
Holidays and anniversaries
1.1
a) New Year – we sleep after New Year´s Eve, In the afternoon we go to visit family and wish them Happy New Year
b) Birthday of the Slovak Republic (1993)
6.1.
Epiphany
14.2.
- Valentine´s Day – it is lovers´ day. We buy flowers and little presents to people we love and admire – sometimes anonymously- and exchange gifts. The holiday is commercialized. Everywhere are red hearts and flowers, roses.
8.3.
- International Women´s Day – we buy flowers to our mothers and girlfriends to say them, that we love them
28.3.
- International Teacher´s Day – we buy flowers, ... to thank them
1.4.
- All Fool´s Day – people make fun and jokes from their friends and then you can shout “April Fool!”
Beginning of April - Easter
- In Slovakia men and boys to water girls. They get chocolate eggs or decorated eggs, some sweets or money. Traditional meal of this holiday is – ham, eggs, sausages, cheese, beet root, horse radish. Eggs symbolise a new life.
- Christians commemorate the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ (on Good Friday) and His return to life
- In Great Britain and the USA parents organize “egg huntings” for their children.
They hide eggs in the house or in the garden and look for them
1.5.
- International Day of All Working People – people organize parties
8.5.
- end of WW II (the World War II) in Europe
Mother´s Day
- 2nd Sunday in May- honours all mothers
1.6.
- International Children´s Day – parents buy their children presents, little sweets and try to spend with them as much time as possible. They usually go out, play games, barbecue
Father´s Day
- 3rd Sunday in June – honours all fathers
5.7.
- Arrival of Cyril and Method to the Great Moravia Empire (863) - they brought with them alphabet and translated Holy Bible to the Slavic language
29.8.
- Slovak National Uprising (1944) – our great-grand fathers uprised against fascism
1.9.
- The Day of Slovak Constitution
31.10.
- Halloween – it is celebrated in the USA. People put on strange clothes, costumes, go to the parties. Children go to knock on the door of their neighbours; shout “trick or treat” and get candies. In Europe people start to organise parties and discos, but not very often.
1.11.
- All Saints´ Day- we go to cemeteries (graveyard) to put flowers and lit candles on the graves (tombs) of our ancestors.
6.12.
- St. Nicholas´s Day – Nicholas brings gifts, usually sweets and fruits to good children, who clean their shoes and put them to the windows or to the feet of bed
24.-26.12.
- celebrate the birth of Christ
- Christmas – on the 24th of December we decorate the Christmas tree. Mums cook traditional meals – fried fish (carp) and potato salad, sour craft soup with mushrooms and sausages (and pasta), bobaľky – special sweet dumplings topped with poppy seeds, milk, sugar, some cake and fruits. After dinner we to the Christmas tree, unwrap presents, speak with family, watch TV. Some people go to church at midnight.
- next two days we go to visit our friends and family members
- on the 26th of December are organized Štefan´s parties
- the English have no traditional celebration on Christmas Eve. Before children to bed on Christmas Eve, they hang up Christmas stockings and at night “Santa Claus” fills them. Larger things are found under the Christmas tree. On December 25 – Christmas Day – the children enjoy unwrapping presents and at midday they eat Christmas dinner – roast turkey with chestnut stuffing, roast potatoes, and Christmas pudding (made with lots of dried fruit, eggs, ... and very little flour). There are plenty of carols on the radio and TV.
31.12.
- New Year´s Eve – people organize parties, wait to 12 o´clock to welcome New Year. Some go to the town, dance, sing, watch fireworks.