The topic of my presentation is the customs and traditions of the USA.

Now I'm going to

highlight the following items. First of all, I'll speak on Thanksgiving Day, then I'll dwell upon
Christmas and in conclusion, I'll talk about Halloween.
Once Bernard Shaw said “The traditions can be really important. It’s a way of bridging
brɪdʒin the past with the new year”. This quote shows the significance of customs for people
because they unite different generations. Let's consider American traditions in detail.
The 1st thing I’ll speak on is Thanksgiving Day. What do we know about this holiday? It
is celebrated on the 4th Thursday in November. Schools, offices close for Thanksgiving and
many people make the whole weekend a vacation. This holiday is associated with the time when
Europeans first came to North America. Now the most important part of the celebration is a
traditional dinner with foods that come from North America. The meal includes turkey, sweet
potatoes, and cranberries. Pumpkin pie paɪ is for dessert. Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, when a
long line of people wears fancy costumes and marches through the streets, is an example of
treatment of this holiday. Thanksgiving is the beginning of the Christmas period when people go
out to shop for presents. On the whole, this holiday is a native American holiday and people
treat it in a very special way, thanking each other.
Now I want to draw your attention to American Christmas. When do Americans
celebrate this holiday? For most American families, Christmas Day is the 25 th of December and
it is the most important festival of the year. Before Christmas, people send Christmas cards to
their friends. These often show Santa Claus, snowman, and other symbols of this holiday. Most
towns put up a Christmas tree, this tree is decorated with coloured lights, shiny balls, tinsel
ˈtɪnsəl across the street. Most families decorate their houses with holly and ivy ˈaɪvi and a bunch
of mistletoe. According to the Statista's ˈsteɪtɪzəm Holiday Season, 58 % of people don't buy a
Christmas tree at all. Giving presents is a very important Christmas tradition. Family members
wrap up their gifts and leave them at the bottom of the Christmas tree. Due to the statistics, 52%
of people spend more than 100$ on Christmas gifts.
In short, this holiday is a significant one for both adults and children as it is a Day of
miracles and presents.
The last thing I’ll speak on is Halloween. What does Halloween mean? It means holy
evening. The Celts, the ancestors of today's Irish and Scottish people, celebrated it as the eve iːv
of the Celtic New Year. They thought that ghosts walked among the living on that evening and
people cooked and left the food for the ghosts. Now it's a time for parties. People dress up in
strange costumes ˈkɒstjʊmss and pretend they are witches. The traditional colours are black and
orange and people cut horrible faces in pumpkins. The entertainment includes songs, scary
stories and costume parades pəˈreɪds. For example, there were such top costumes among
children in 2017 as Superman, Batman, Spider-man and Star wars characters. So, Halloween is a
special day, at the same time funny and scary, but people follow the traditions of this holiday
every year.
To summarize everything up, I’d like to say that Traditions and customs of Americans
are various and diversified daɪˈvɜːsɪfaɪd. People appreciate their old native traditions and follow
them from year to year involving their children in the processes of preparing and celebrating. My
topic is over, thanks for your attention.