Rochester

Source: www.speakup.com.br
Language level: Basic
Standard: British accent


Rochester Celebrates Dickens

Charles Dickens’ spirit still walks the streets of Rochester in Kent, a few Miles south of London. Every December Dickens and the characters from his books can be seen around the old town: there’s old Scrooge from a Christmas Carol, and there goes young Oliver Twist disappearing down a side street. What’s happening? Is this madness? No. It’s Rochester’s Dickensian Christmas Festival.

VICTORIAN DRESS

Men in top hats accompany women in bonnets and full-length dresses in they promenade the streets; snowflakes fall as they pass chimney sweeps and homeless boys, or stop to admire the shops with their festive decorations. This is the midday parade which signals the start of the festival each day. The streets are full of noise and music, street entertainers act out Dickens’ stories, while children visit father Christmas in Rochester Castle’s gardens. Around five o’clock, a candle-lit parade takes everyone to Boley Hill for a carol concert outside Rochester Cathedral. The atmosphere is guaranteed as the local council closes the town to traffic and supplies artificial snow.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

So why does Rochester celebrate Dickens at Christmas? Well, poverty was common in Victorian England, and Christmas wasn’t a holiday for many people. The great success of Dickens’ novel A Christmas Carol changed everything: the miserly Scrooge learns that happiness only comes when you care for others. So he gives his employees Bob Cratchit the day off, more money and gifts for his family. Scrooge learns the value of charity. Many companies and institutions followed his example and gave their workers a Christmas holiday, and conditions started to improve. Dickens also helped create many Christmas traditions. Families came together on Christmas Day to share presents, play games and enjoy a dinner of roast turkey and Christmas pudding.

Dickens & Rochester (no audio)

Charles Dickens (1812-70) was born in Portsmouth, where his father was a clerk at the Navy Office. The family moved to Chatham, another navy town, when Charles was five. This was near Rochester and young Charles would often visit. Once, on a walk just outside the town, he stood admiring a fine house called Gads Hill. His father told him that one day, if he worked hard, the house could e his. When Dickens later became rich through his writing, he bought gads hill.