Describe a public holiday in your country.
You should say:
- what public holiday it is
- how it is celebrated
- what you do during this holiday
and explain how important this public holiday is to people in your country.
[Instruction: You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
Model Answer 1:
People in my country, Thailand, celebrate a number of public holidays throughout the entire year. Today, I would like to describe one of those holidays and tell you how people usually like to celebrate it.
The name of this public holiday or celebration is popularly known as “Songkran”. Now, although many people in Thailand and outside of it like to associate this holiday or festival with “religion”, it is actually celebrated to mark the beginning of a new lunar year in Thailand.
Here it is worth mentioning that the word “Songkran” comes from a phrase in the “Sanskrit” language which literally means “passage of the sun”. In other words, this holiday’s main focus is to “move forward”. Kicking off around mid-April, this particular holiday usually lasts for three days, even though the festivities can start early and end later in some cities.
Now, as for how it is celebrated or what people do to enjoy this public holiday, it actually starts with a “sprinkle or splash of water”. Yes, water plays a vital role in this festival, speaking symbolically, it washes away the previous year so that people can start anew for the next year. During this holiday, they clean their houses, schools, offices, and other public spaces. They’re also joined by their other family members who have moved away and returned for the holiday to spend time with their loved ones. Many families wake up early during Songkran and visit Buddhist temples as well, where they bring offerings such as food and listen to monks as they preach.
As far as I am concerned, I also like to enjoy this public holiday by doing the same things, like sprinkling water over the hands of the elders to show them respect and visiting the places of my relatives and friends.
But, no matter how we enjoy this public holiday, it is really important to the people in my country, primarily because it unites the family in a loving bond. Besides, it also rejuvenates the minds and moods of our people to start fresh, after forgetting the past.