Исследовательская работа День яблока

МБОУ лицей № 4 г. Данкова

Лицейское научное общество

«Синяя птица»

Конкурс исследовательских работ

«Первые шаги в науку»

Секция: языкознания.

Тема проекта: Apple Day in Great Britain and

Yablochniy Spas in Russia.

Авторы проекта:

Кожемякин Руслан

Дьякова Ольга

8 класс

Руководитель проекта:

Ростова Оксана Евгеньевна

Учитель английского языка

г. Данков

2014 г.

Contents

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………...2

2. Why apples?..........................................................................................................3

3. "An apple a day keeps a doctor away"…………………………………………..4

4. Some good reasons why you should eat an apple a day…………………………5

5. Some interesting apples facts……………………………………………………6

6. Apple Day in Great Britain………………………………………………………7

7. Yablochiy Spas in Russia………………………………………………………..9

8. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...11

9. Bibliography……………………………………………………………………12

Introduction

Every country has its own holidays. Some of them appeared ages ago and are unique for one particular country, others can be found all over the world. The way people celebrate this or that holiday can tell us much about the culture and the history of the country, its traditions and customs.

So, the object of our research has become one of the most popular and widely used fruit in Britain and Russia - the apple. It appears in many religious traditions and folktales as a symbol of love and sexuality, rebirth and beauty, health and wealth; a symbol for knowledge, immorality, temptation, the fall of man and sin.

We have decided to find out and learn all facts about holidays devoted to this wonderful fruit in Russia and Great Britain, catch and compare likeness and difference of two cultures.

We set ourselves the following tasks:

• To get acquainted with useful properties of apples and prove a popular saying "An apple a day keeps a doctor away".

• To find out as much as possible about "Apple Day" in Great Britain and "Yablochiy Spas" in Russia, compare them and make a conclusion.

• To activate and increase the vocabulary on the theme "Holidays"

• To cultivate positive and tolerant attitude to different cultures.

The practical value of work is evident. It may be interesting and useful for pupils. It can develop and broaden their outlook, help to understand better the history and traditions of their own country and a foreign one, observe them and be proud of them.

Why apples?

There's nothing like an apple. Not a thing

In summer, fall, millennium or spring

The crisp, collapsing clutter in the mouth

Wet sugar squirting east, west, north and south!

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree in the rose family. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits that are used by humans. Apples grow on small, decidius trees. The tree originated in Central Asia. Apples have been grown for thousand of years in Asia and Europe, and were brought to North America by European colonists. Apples have been present in the mythology and religions of many cultures, including Greek and Christian traditions. There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples and last year over 80 million tons were grown.

"An apple a day keeps a doctor away"

Have you heard the old saying about an apple a day keeping the doctor away? Of course, you have. The origin of the phrase is explained in an article in a Welsh magazine from 1886. The saying printed there was "Eat an apple on going to bed, and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread".

It means that an apple is a healthy, fresh and nutrient - rich food. The proverb tells us that if we eat an apple every day, it will help us to stay in good health.

According to recent research, there may be a great deal of truth to this statement. The unassuming apple often gets overlooked for more exotic produce, but it has some pretty powerful health benefits in its own right. Here are four good reasons why you should eat an apple a day.

Eat an Apple a Day to Prevent Cancer

Apples have shown some convincing anti-cancer benefits. The inside of an apple is a good source of flavonoids that help to fight cancer, but the real anti-cancer compounds are in the outer skin. Apple peels are a good source of chemicals called triterpenoids that stop cancer cells cold in the laboratory. Another recent study showed that an apple extract given to mice reduced the size of their breast tumors. Extracts from the apple have also been shown to reduce the growth of colon and liver tumors in rats.

Eat an Apple a Day to Lose Weight

Apples are a good source of fiber and a fiber-like substance known as pectin. Pectin slows down how fast food moves through the digestive tract. This leads to an increased sense of fullness and reduces the risk of overeating calorie rich foods. An apple a day may be the most effective way to chase hunger away and reduce the risk of weight gain. Keep one handy and eat it when they pass around the doughnut box at work.

Eat an Apple a Day for a Younger Brain

A study in mice showed that the human equivalent of two glasses of apple juice kept levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine high despite the mice being placed on a nutrient poor diet. Acetylcholine is needed for communication between nerve cells and plays a particularly important role in memory. Not only did mice that drank apple juice have higher levels of acetylcholine, they also performed better on maze tests that used memory skills. Chomping on a juice red apple could be a natural way to keep brain cells young and vital.

Eat an Apple a Day for a Healthier Heart

Apples are loaded with a dizzying variety of antioxidants that support heart health, plus they're a good source of soluble fiber and pectin to help lower cholesterol levels. They contain flavonoids that reduce inflammation which can indirectly contribute to a heart attack They also help to keep cells from clumping together to form a clot which can cut off blood flow to the heart. Plus, they improve the function of endothelial cells which lowers blood pressure and helps to reduce the risk of heart disease. Not bad for a single piece of fruit.

Eating Apples: The Bottom Line?

Apples may not be a super fruit, but maybe they should be. If you're not eating an apple a day, now's a good time to start. Since so many of the benefits of apples are concentrated in the skins buy organic and eat the apple in its entirety. Enjoy the many health benefits that apples have to offer!

Some interesting apples facts

Did you know that?

1)The heaviest apple was found in Japan in 2005, weighing 1.85kg.

2) There are more than 7,500 known apple cultivars.

3) China is the world's biggest grower of apples, producing more than 27.5 million tons yearly - 40 per cent of the world's total.

4) The average person eats 65 apples a year?

5) Apples float because 25% of their volume is air.

6) One medium apple contains only 80 calories.

7) There are more than 7,500 varieties of apples in the world with about 2,500 of those varieties being grown in the U.S.

8) Red Delicious apples are the most popular with Golden Delicious coming in a close second.

9) Apple juice was one of the earliest prescribed antidepressants.

10) Fresh apple cider is raw apple juice that has not undergone a filtration process to remove coarse particles of pulp or sediment. It is typically sold during the fall and during holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Apple Day in Great Britain

Apple Day is an annual celebration, held in October, of apples and orchards. It is celebrated mainly in the United Kingdom.

Apple Day was initiated by Common Ground in 1990 and has been celebrated in each subsequent year by people organizing hundreds of local events. Common Ground describe the day as a way of celebrating and demonstrating that variety and richness matter to a locality and that it is possible to effect change in your place. Common Ground has used the apple as a symbol of the physical, cultural and genetic diversity we should not let slip away. In linking particular apples with their place of origin, they hope that orchards will be recognized and conserved for their contribution to local distinctiveness, including the rich diversity of wild life they support.

Apple Day events can be large or small, from apple games in a garden to large village fairs with cookery demonstrations, games, apple identification, juice and cider, gardening advice, and of course many hundreds of apple varieties.

Apple games

Both kids and adults love a silly game. There are lots of games involving apples:

Apple bobbing

Fill a large tub with water and place apples in the water. The challenge is for players to try and catch an apple with their teeth, while it's bobbing around on the surface. The only rule is: no hands.

Longest peel competition

All you need is a few apples and a peeler. The challenge is to create a continuous length of peel from the apple skin. The person with the longest peel wins.

Apple creatures

You can keep kids busy for hours making creatures from apples (as the body) and natural materials as the arms and legs etc. Good things to use are twigs, stones, cloves or raisins, but if your event is taking place outside you can encourage them to explore and find their own materials.

Apple drawings and poems

Invite kids to draw the apples on display - which, if you have a good collection - could be really different shapes and colors. Or you could set them off on a task to write a poem about them.

Apple growing advice

If you know a local expert, they may be able to give advice on how to grow apples. You can then ask people to bring in apples they're growing which have pests and diseases, or which they would like to identify. Your local horticultural college of society may be able to help, or ask keen gardeners if they can offer assistance.

Yablochiy Spas in Russia

Since ancient times, in Russia we celebrate the Transfiguration Day or "Apple Feast" on August 19, a religious and popular holiday, the second one after the Honey Feast.

In the Gospels, redeemers called Jesus Christ. According to their texts, the Son of God at the end of his life on earth told his three apostles that in order to save the human race, they must die on the cross and resurrected. To prove his words, he was transfigured before the apostles, his face lit from within by the divine light, and his clothes were white. This day is celebrated by the church as a great Holiday, the Holy Transfiguration.

During this period, in central Russia, where most of the ancient Slavs lived, it was time to collect the ripe apples. The Russian people gathered the harvest and prepare a feast to welcome the autumn. On that day, they offered each other apples, cooked jam, dried and soaked apples to store them, baked pies, commemorated the dead relatives, and in the evening, they left their houses to accompany the sun and the summer in the same time to their departure.

The two feasts were reunited, the church started to sanctify the fruits' harvest and glorify Jesus Christ. Since everything in the world, men, plants and their fruits, should be devoted to God.

There are many superstitions associated with this holiday. It is believed that on August 19, apples are blessed with magical powers: stand to make a wish, eat an apple, and your wish will surely come true. It is also believed that the weather on that day will forecast the same weather for January, as at that time starts the first cold. The proverb says: The Transfiguration Day has arrived, keep your mittens next to you, meaning that the temperature will drop fast.

Would you like to celebrate the Transfiguration Day too? Then prepare Russian dessert-baked apples.

Take a big apple, cut in half, take off the core and put honey, jam or simply sugar mixed with cinnamon. Bake in the oven or microwave. A simple, healthy and tasty dessert is ready.

An old legend

It was very interesting: according to the legend, 2 birds with female's faces come to Earth: Bird Siren and Bird Alkonost. They come from the gardens of Paradise and bring curative herbs in the beaks. The face of the Bird Siren is severe, the face of Bird Alkonost is kind. The first remind of the useless of power and money, the second reminds of love and belief.

Sirin comes to the Earth till the Day of Apple Spas, Alkonost - only this day. That's why you can't eat apples and other fruits till 19 August- you don't know if the Bird Sirin brought the dead dew to the leaves of this tree. But since 19 August it can be only curative dew of the Bird Alkonost.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Conclusion

People all over the world celebrate different holidays because these celebrations are a part of their culture and history. And people try to preserve their traditions and keep them.

Russia and Great Britain are not an exception. "Apple Day" and "Yablochiy Spas" are now an integral part of two different cultures. The holidays have different roots and are celebrated in a variety of ways by a diverse range of people.

Yablochiy Spas is a religious and well-know holiday. It is aimed to sanctify the fruits' harvest and glorify Jesus Christ.

Apple day in Britain is a demonstration of the importance of the apple to British culture, landscape and wildlife. Britain has the largest apple heritage in the world. The annual festival is aimed to promote these wonderful fruits.

The apple has become a symbol of physical, cultural and genetic diversity in both countries.

We believe that traditional celebrations of these holidays join generations together and pass down different beliefs, practices and customs from past to the present.

So, it is very important and necessary for us to be aware of holidays and traditions of Great Britain and Russia It contributes to better understanding the history of your own country and another one, observing traditions and customs, positive and tolerant attitude to different cultures.

Bibliography

Интернет-ресурсы:

• ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Яблочный_спас

• ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/День_яблока_(Великобритания)

• www.calend.ru/</</u>