Extras din referat

Introduction:

Hello all. Thank you for being here. My name is ***** and I’m a student at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca.

Did you know that the celebration of New Year is one of the oldest known holidays and it was started around 2000 B.C. by the Babylonians?

Today I plan to say a few words about New Year around the world. I have chosen thins subject because it’s my favorite time of year and I think that everyone likes it. I believe that after listening to my presentation, you’ll be expecting the holiday even more than you do now.

I have divided my presentation into 3 parts:

Part one: the history of New Year

Part two: customs and traditions on New Year

Part three: New Year superstitions

The presentation will last for approximately 7 minutes. At the end of my talk there will be time for a discussion if you have any questions.

Main body:

I. Let’s pass to the first part of my presentation: the history of New Year.

New Year is one of the oldest holidays being observed from ancient times. Not all countries celebrate New Year at the same time, or in the same way. This is because people in different parts of the world use different calendars. Some calendars are based on the movement of the moon, others are based on the position of the sun. Here are some examples:

a) Babylonia

In the years around 2000 B.C, the Babylonian New Year was celebrated with the appearance of the first new moon in spring. This usually fell around the middle of March. The festival was 11 days long. During the festival, the king was sent away, and for a few days everyone could do just what they liked.

b) The Romans

For a long time the Romans celebrated New Year on the 1st of March. Then, the Emperor Julius Caesar began a new calendar based on the solar cycle and the New Year date was changed to the 1st of January.

January is named after the Roman god of gates, doors, and beginnings, Janus, who was always shown as having two heads - one looking forward and the other looking backward.

c) Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, most European countries used the 25th of March, a Christian holiday called Annunciation Day, to start the year. By 1600, many Western nations had adopted a revised calendar called the Gregorian calendar. This calendar, the one we use today, restored the 1st of January as New Year's Day.