English Vocabulary in Use Advanced » Unit 37: Festivals in their cultural context
Well, it was called the Festival of Flowers, and it was to do _____ with the coming of spring, after the dark, serious _____ winter months. It was a time of everything being new again _____. Its origin can be seen _____ in the religious tradition of taking flowers to offer them to the gods. Spring flowers were the main thing in _____ the festival, and there was always a big group of people marching _____ through the streets. It was all very lively and extremely colourful _____ and probably rather noisy _____, and there was a great atmosphere _____. The flowers meant _____ new life, and people thought they would be guaranteed a good harvest later in the year if they were offered to the gods. Nowadays, most people don’t have such funny beliefs about nature _____, but there are still some festivals that are all about nature’s special powers _____ celebrated every year.
Read this short text about a Kenyan cultural festival.
| noun | verb | adjective |
| There are big celebrations on New Year’s Day. | New Year’s Day is celebrated in many ways. The festival celebrates the New Year. | It was a public holiday and everyone was in a celebratory mood. |
| The festival is held in March. [special day(s)/event] The festivities go on for days. [enjoyable activities] | There was a festive mood in the village during the spring holiday. | |
| The parade in the town square was a very colourful spectacle. | On the anniversary of the battle, soldiers paraded through the streets. * | The parade is always very spectacular. * |
| Everyone in the village attends a big feast in the evening [big meal to celebrate something]. | During the national holiday, there is a whole week of feasting and celebrations. | |
| Many of the customs have their origin in ancient ceremonies. | A ceremonial procession goes through the streets of the city. | |
| The festival is a time of renewal. | Each year, the festival renews the national spirit of the people. | The celebrations at the end of the war brought renewed hope to the people. |
* There is no verb for spectacle and no adjective for parade.
A lot of people are very superstitious, especially about numbers and colours. [have illogical beliefs about hidden forces in nature]
The festival celebrated the centenary/bi-centenary of the country’s independence. [100th anniversary / 200th anniversary]
The Rio de Janeiro Carnival is always a very flamboyant and raucous event. [extremely colourful and exaggerated] [very noisy]
The Festival of the Dead is very sombre and atmospheric. [serious, heavy and sad] [has a special feeling or atmosphere] It can be traced back to pagan times. [its origin may be found in] [the times when people believed that nature had special powers]
The annual holiday commemorates all those who died in the country’s civil war. [respects and remembers officially; formal]
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