I think they do matter as they are part of our history, but I do hate the fact that they have mainly been reduced to commercialism. As a child we were very poor, but each of the occasions was looked upon with real excitement, not just because you wanted new toys or loads of Easter eggs. They always signified something, even though we were never religious. Easter was exciting as you would usually get a new frock or some sort of clothing and it meant that summer was just round the corner. You got to paint eggs and take them to roll down the nearest hill. I honestly don’t remember getting any chocolate Easter eggs, but am sure we did. May was the maypole dancing. Guy Fawkes nice was a chance to go out ‘begging’ for a penny for the guy then a bonfire if you were lucky with hot dogs and cups of hot soup. We never really had fireworks, although the boys always seemed to manage to get hold of a few bangers or Chinese crackers to scare us all with. Halloween wasn’t really celebrated then. Christmas was when you got tangerines, the smell,of them warmed your heart. We would all get one ‘big’ present, I remember getting a big tin of paints and colouring pencils, I was so happy. But the big thing was we all sat down for a Xmas dinner. We could only afford a big chicken, it wasn’t considered an everyday meat then and you had to have a homemade Xmas pudding with a three penny coin hidden in it. New Years Eve was more for the grown ups. But the beauty of all these ‘customs’ were, they were never spoken about until a couple of weeks or so before the occasion so the excitement had a little time to build up. I feel so sorry for kids today, especially at Xmas time. They start seeing things in the shops by Aug/Sept, Santa appears before November sometimes and the wait to get their pressies must feel like forever. And don’t even start me on the amount of stuff they get, and you can bet, within a few days they will be bored! So, yes, I am saddened that we no longer celebrate our customs and traditions as we once did.