Christmas flier for York – key and notes
Christmas flier for York – key and notes
Plenty of seasonal cheer to be found amidst York’s cobbled streets and craft markets!
York is transformed with image and light through the dark days of autumn, when internationally acclaimed projection artist Ross Ashton illuminates this beautiful, historic city. The Yorkshire-born artist lights up York in an exhilarating nightly show.
Elsewhere, local artists and special commissions transform a handful of atmospheric old churches in the city centre, while lighting design adds drama to youth theatre performances in York Minster.
All this amidst the city’s seasonal cheer of roasting chestnuts, flickering candles in cosy bistros along medieval cobbled streets and spooky ghost walks after dark. It promises to be a magical build-up to the annual festive frolic that is "a York Christmas".
Clifford’s Tower by day and by night! 
Follow signs for open-air ice-skating beneath the ruins of Clifford’s Tower, followed by elaborate ice sculptures in the lovely old town, plus music and carols galore. Yorkshire produce, from cheeses and pork pies to mulled wine and fruitcakes, is on open-air stalls and at food and craft markets, and if that’s not enough to make you merry, there are different themed Christmas markets every weekend until after New Year.
Notes
Spellings: acclaimed design exhilarating (did you put in an ‘h‘? It’s silent) commissions handful atmospheric elaborate sculptures galore
Words added for a sense of festivity: Plenty of seasonal cheer; ‘All this and…...’ (We sometimes say All this and more!); roasting chestnuts; flickering candles; festive frolic; music and carols galore; mulled wine; fruitcake; merry
Words added for a sense of warmth and glow: seasonal cheer, flickering candles, cosy bistros, mulled wine; fruitcake
Words linked with light: illuminates light up flickering candles
Words added to make the occasion sound traditional: cobbled streets; historic; amidst – we would use ‘among‘ now; merry
Advertising language: Notice ‘plenty of‘ at the beginning to give a sense of generosity, and excess; galore; And if that’s not enough to make you merry (= there is all of this for you to enjoy – and there is even more not mentioned yet…)
Vocabulary
seasonal cheer – happiness associated with the season. We use the word ‘seasonal‘ of any season – ‘seasonal summer clothing‘, for instance, but we only use the collocation seasonal cheer in connection with Christmas, or at most of autumn and winter when it is cold and we need some ‘cheering up‘.
cheer up – phrasal verb – start to feel happier
eg He was tired and miserable, so I gave him a nice meal to cheer him up.
to be found = can be found
amid / amidst – formal preposition – in the middle of or surrounded by; among
acclaimed – given public approval and praise
a projection artist – person who creates light shows
Yorkshire-born – born in Yorkshire
exhilarating – making you feel animated or very happy
a commission – piece of work specially ordered and made
spooky – informal adj – sinister, ghostly
a build-up – noun – 1) a gradual accumulation or increase 2) a period of excitement and preparation before a significant event
open-air ice-skating – ice-skating out of doors / in the open air
frolic – rather old-fashioned – happy, playful behaviour
galore – adj after the noun – old-fashioned informal – in great amounts or numbers – there was food galore = there was loads of food
produce – singular noun – food(s)
mulled – heated with sugar and spices such as cinnamon. We have mulled wine, beer and cider over the ‘festive season’ but only then. It is a winter drink
a fruitcake – a cake containing dried fruit and maybe nuts, eaten all year round, but especially in the winter and around Christmas time. 2) a fruitcake – informal – an eccentric, or crazy / mad person eg "Sally’s great fun – a bit of a fruitcake, ‘though!"
merry – old-fashioned adjective – happy or showing enjoyment. Merriment – noun – is similarly rather olde worlde – informal adjective meaning old in a very noticeable or artificial way, or made to look old in a way that seems false
A word not used here, but quite common and used only for Christmas is Yule, a literary term for Christmas which is archaic i.e. very old-fashioned. It is a word which dates back hundreds of years to Old Norse!! People who burn logs at Christmas sometimes call the logs ‘yule logs‘, from the large logs traditionally burnt on Christmas Eve. A yule log of a different kind is a chocolate cake in the shape of a log! Sometimes people call the Christmas tree a ‘Yule tree‘.You may hear ‘Yuletide‘ – i.e. the season of Christmas – people might send you ‘Yuletide Greetings‘ or "Happy Yuletide!" or invite you for a Yuletide drink. Usually there is an element of affectation in this sort of invitation – we know it is very old-fashioned, but say it to be amusing. On the other hand, the advertising industry makes regular use of it to convey old-fashioned good wintry fun and happiness.
Some listening, perhaps?
or some grammar?
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