The 8th of March is Mid-Lent Sunday, or Mothering Sunday. It is claimed that the name Mothering Sunday came from the ancient custom of visiting the "mother church" at this time; but to schoolchildren it always meant a holiday, when they went home to spend the day with their mother or parents. At one time in Britain, especially in Lancashire, it was the custom to eat simnel cakes on this day. The word simnel is derived from a Latin word meaning fine bread. Mothering Sunday is not the same as Mother's Day. The latter is an American festival celebrated on the second Sunday in May as an occasion for each person to remember his mother by some act of grateful affection.
Mothers Day in America
Mothers Day comes on the second Sunday in May. It is a day when Americans honour their mothers. It is not a national holiday. Mothers Day is an American national observance in honour of motherhood. The holiday, suggested by Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, was set (1914) by an act of Congress for annual celebration. It is also observed in England and Germany. In 1907, the day was celebrated in a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A member of that church planned the Sunday morning service to honour her own mother. More and more churches in cities and states set aside the day to honour mothers. Since 1914, the whole country has observed Mothers day.
| Most mothers like to celebrate the day with family reunions. Many people send their mothers a card or a gift. Some people take their mothers to a restaurant for dinner. It is a custom to wear a red or pink flower if ones mother is living. It is the custom to wear a white flower if ones mother is dead. | 
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Halloween
Halloween, name applied to the evening of October 31, preceding the Christian feast of Hallowmas, Allhallows, or All Saints Day. The observances connected with Halloween are thought to have originated among the ancient Druids, who believed that on that evening, Saman, the lord of the dead, called forth hosts of evil spirits. The Druids customarily lit great fires on Halloween, apparently for the purpose of warding off all these spirits. Among the ancient Celts, Halloween was the last evening of the year and was regarded as a propitious time for examining the portents of the future. The Celts also believed that the spirits of the dead revisited their earthly homes on that evening. After the Romans conquered Britain, they added to Halloween features of the Roman harvest festival held on November 1 in honor of Pomona, goddess of the fruits of trees. The Celtic tradition of lighting fires on Halloween survived until modern times in Scotland and Wales, and the concept of ghosts and witches is still common to all Halloween observances. Traces of the Roman harvest festival survive in the custom, prevalent in both the United States and Great Britain, of playing games involving fruit, such as ducking for apples in a tub of water. Of similar origin is the use of hollowed-out pumpkins carved to resemble grotesque faces and lit by candles placed inside.
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Task 3. Tell about your favorite holiday in Russia
(New Year, Easter, Womens day, Victory day, etc.)
Home reading
On Christmas Eve, Harry went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but not expecting any presents at all. When he woke early in the morning, however, the first thing he saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed.
Merry Christmas, said Ron sleepily as Harry scrambled out of bed and pulled on his bathrobe.
You, too, said Harry. Will you look at this? Ive got some presents!
What did you expect, turnips? said Ron, turning to his own pile, which was a lot bigger than Harrys.
Harry picked up the top parcel. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Harry blew itit sounded a bit like an owl.
A second, very small parcel contained a note. We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.
Taped to the note was a fifty pence piece.
Thats friendly, said Harry.
Ron was fascinated by the fifty pence.
Weird! he said, What a shape! This is money?
You can keep it, said Harry, laughing at how pleased Ron was. Hagrid and my aunt and uncleso who sent these?
I think I know who that ones from, said Ron, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel. My mom. I told her you didnt expect any presents andoh, no, he groaned, shes made you a Weasley sweater.
Harry had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge.
Every year she makes us a sweater, said Ron, unwrapping his own, and mines always maroon.
Thats really nice of her, said Harry, trying the fudge, which was very tasty.
His next present also contained candya large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione.
This only left one parcel. Harry picked it up and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it.
Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. Ron gasped.
Ive heard of those, he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every Flavor Beans hed gotten from Hermione. If thats what I think it istheyre really rare, and really valuable.
What is it?
Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.
Its an Invisibility Cloak, said Ron, a look of awe on his face. Im sure it istry it on.
Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell.
It is! Look down!
Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible. He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely.
Theres a note! said Ron suddenly. A note fell out of it!
Harry pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. Written in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words: Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A Very Merry Christmas to you.
There was no signature. Harry stared at the note. Ron was admiring the cloak.
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Id give anything for one of these, he said. Anything. Whats the matter?
Nothing, said Harry. He felt very strange. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to his father?
Before he could say or think anything else, the dormitory door was flung open and Fred and George Weasley bounded in. Harry stuffed the cloak quickly out of sight. He didnt feel like sharing it with anyone else yet.
Merry Christmas!
Hey, lookHarrys got a Weasley sweater, too!
Fred and George were wearing blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F on it, the other a G.
Harrys is better than ours, though, said Fred, holding up Harrys sweater. She obviously makes more of an effort if youre not family.
Why arent you wearing yours, Ron? George demanded. Come on, get it on, theyre lovely and warm.
I hate maroon, Ron moaned halfheartedly as he pulled it over his head.
You havent got a letter on yours, George observed. I suppose she thinks you dont forget your name. But were not stupidwe know were called Gred and Forge.
Whats all this noise.
Percy Weasley stuck his head through the door, looking disapproving. He had clearly gotten halfway through unwrapping his presents as he, too, carried a lumpy sweater over his arm, which Fred seized.
P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, were all wearing ours, even Harry got one.
Idontwant, said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.
And youre not sitting with the prefects today, either, said George. Christmas is a time for family.
They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater.
Harry had never in all his life had such a Christmas dinner. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauceand stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table. These fantastic party favors were nothing like the feeble Muggle ones the Dursleys usually bought, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats inside. Harry pulled a wizard cracker with Fred and it didnt just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a rear admirals hat and several live, white mice. Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizards hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him.
Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice. Harry watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Harrys amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided.
When Harry finally left the table, he was laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of nonexplodable, luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, and his own new wizard chess set. The white mice had disappeared and Harry had a nasty feeling they were going to end up as Mrs. Norriss Christmas dinner.
Harry and the Weasleys spent a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight on the grounds. Then, cold, wet, and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where Harry broke in his new chess set by losing spectacularly to Ron. He suspected he wouldnt have lost so badly if Percy hadnt tried to help him so much.
After a meal of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy chase Fred and George all over Gryffindor tower because theyd stolen his prefect badge.
It had been Harrys best Christmas day ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of his mind all day. Not until he climbed into bed was he free to think about it: the Invisibility Cloak and whoever had sent it.
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Ron, full of turkey and cake and with nothing mysterious to bother him, fell asleep almost as soon as hed drawn the curtains of his four poster. Harry leaned over the side of his own bed and pulled the cloak out from under it.
Joanne Rowling
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone
Give the summary of the text.
