celebration

Mother's Day has quietly crept up on us again and is coming up this Sunday (10th March). If you're still looking for something to buy or do with your Mum, we've got some brilliant ideas for you right here. Aren't we good to you eh?

For food lovers, today is one of the best celebrations of the year- Pancake Day. Historically known as Shrove Tuesday, the second Tuesday of February has traditionally been used as a final day to gorge on food before the restraint and fasting of lent begins.

However, these days few people in the UK still fast during lent and today has instead become simply the perfect excuse to eat so many pancakes that you can hardly stand up.

British pancakes are not quite like any other country's. They are much larger and thinner than American pancakes, but slightly thicker than French crêpes. Below you can find a really simple recipe to make perfect British pancakes.

Step 1: Sieve the flour into a large bowl and add the two eggs. Add a little of the milk/water mix and start whisking the mixture with a fork or balloon whisk. 

Today in India, people are celebrating what is probably the most colourful festival in the world- Holi. Indeed, the festival, which marks the beginning of Spring has even taken on the name the Festival of Colours.

Though traditionally a Hindu festival, the sheer fun of it attracts Indians of all religions, and huge numbers of tourists, to join the celebrations each year. Large crowds gather throughout the country before people begin to hurl gulal (coloured powder) around, roaming the streets and celebrating with others. Buckets of rang (or coloured water) are thrown over passers-by, as people of all ages and social status join the celebrations.

However, there is also still a religious context to the festival, with devoted Hindus praying for days in their temples, often whilst covered in multi-coloured paint themselves. You can get an idea from the pictures in the video below of the scale and colour of the festival.

Today is one of the stand out celebrations in the Scottish calendar, for today is Burns Night. The annual festival celebrates the life and poetry of Scottish national poet Robert Burns (above), who was born on this very day (January 25th) in 1759. In typically Scottish style, the celebrations are a brilliant mix of solemn traditions and raucous fun.

Traditions and Celebrations

Burns Night is all about celebrating everything that is Scottish, and centres around a supper held in the evening. Many people will dress in traditional Scottish clothes for the evening, which often means donning a tartan kilt. However, the most important aspect of any Burns Night supper, has to be the haggis. Haggis is the most quintessential of all Scottish foods, and if you haven't tried or even seen one before, you may not like the sound of what it is made from. Sheep's heart, liver and lungs are minced with onion, oatmeal, suet (beef fat), and spices and then boiled in a sheep's stomach for 3 hours. Sounds nice eh?

Amy is an international student currently studying at Kingston University in London. Here she describes how Chinese New Year is celebrated in her home country of Taiwan.

The most important holiday in Taiwan is the Lunar New Year. It normally comes around one month after the Western New Year, and there are similarities between Christmas and Chinese New Year. On this special holiday, families get together for the festivities. Whilst visiting relatives and friends, we greet them with New Year sayings, wishing them good luck, good health, great fortune and so on. Adults give children little red envelopes with money inside them instead of gifts.

At New Year's time, most families paste signs on and around the front doors of their homes. These signs consist of black or gold Chinese characters written on squares or strips of red paper, because red is a happy colour which brings good luck. You always see red as the main decorative colour during this holiday.