British English Holidays Notting Hill Carnival
hi everyone I’m Gina the Notting Hill
Carnival happens every year in August in
the Notting Hill area of London it is
the colorful celebration and the biggest
carnival in Europe in this lesson you’re
going to learn about what happens during
the carnival and the history behind it
food is a big feature of the festival do
you know what the most popular foods are
we’ll show you the answer at the end of
this video the carnival in its current
form was first held in 1966 and runs
over three days the August Bank Holiday
Monday and the two days preceding it
over 1 million people attend the
festival and the main event a colorful
parade winds through 20 miles of London
streets the carnival began as a
small-scale local festival arranged by
the West Indian community from those
humble beginnings it has evolved into a
full-blooded Caribbean carnival
highlights of the weekend include a kids
day with a costume contest and the
parade where floats and thousands of
people walk through the streets one of
the key features of the carnival is
music steel bands line the streets and
play and their music can be heard for
miles
there are also displays of other types
of music such as Calypso and soccer and
in recent years professional and
international artists have begun to play
the carnival in increasing numbers
when the carnival first started it was
without approval from the authorities
it wasn’t until 1987 that the police
began to take a conciliatory approach
with the carnival instead of simply
trying to shut it down and now I’ll give
you the answer to the earlier quiz food
is a big feature of the festival do you
know what the most popular foods are
stalls at the festival so many types of
Caribbean food the most popular and
famous dishes are jerk chicken curried
goat and rice and peas how was this
lesson did you learn something
interesting
are there any festivals celebrating a
foreign culture in your country leave us
a comment at English class 101.com
and we’ll see you in the next lesson