Cue Card # 24: A festival that is important in your country

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 24

Describe a festival that is important in your country.

You should say:

• when the festival occurs
• what you did during it
• what you like or dislike about it

and explain why this festival is important.

[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:

Whether we celebrate during a particular time of the year or year long, we just love to celebrate any festivals, religious or otherwise. One such yearly festival is “Eid-ul-Fitr” which we celebrate in our country at the end of an Islamic month called “the holy month of Ramadan” (month of fasting) after fasting every day from dawn to dusk for the entire month.

Since the exact date of this festival is dependent on a combination of several factors such as the new moon sighting, geographic locations and astronomical calculations, there always is a growing sense of anticipation and pure excitement in the period of leading up to the Eid-ul-Fitr. And when the observance of the “much-awaited” religious festival actually begins, we all families and friends gather together to enjoy our time by exchanging gifts and pleasantries among ourselves after offering our prayers in a mass. Eid-ul-Fitr is literally translated as “festival of the breaking fast”, marking the end of the month, which means, we can eat our most favourite foods all we want the whole day! Another great thing about this festival, which I really like, is that we can adorn ourselves with new attires as well as smell nice with “Attar” (natural perfume oil derived from botanical sources/flowers)!

I usually wake up early on this day and eat special food prepared by my mother. Then I go to attend the prayers in a mass and afterwards, I meet my friends and relatives. Last time, I went to a friend’s house where a few other friends already gathered and spent more than two hours talking to them. The day before the Eid, I bought a few gifts for my family and was excited to see them admire the presents.

Anyway, Eid-ul-Fitr is a time of great festivity and importance as it teaches us to forget our differences and animosities among ourselves while wishing the best for the entire human race. This festival is also a perfect opportunity to extend our hands of generosity towards the less-privileged section of our societies so that they can also share joys and happiness with their friends and families. Finally, the chances are that many among us don’t get to meet or visit many of our friends and relatives for a long period of time despite our best intentions due to busy schedules, but we can certainly take this opportunity to do just that in order to rid us of our guilt.