Traditions and holidays of Great Britain

Traditions and holidays of Great Britain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                       

 

Every nation and every country has its own traditions and customs. Traditions make a nation special. Some of them are old-fashioned and many people remember them, others are part of people’s life. Some British customs and traditions are known all the world.

From Scotland to Cornwall, Britain is full of customs and traditions. A lot of them have very long histories. Some are funny and some are strange. But they are all interesting. There is the long menu of traditional British food. There are many royal occasions. There are songs, saying and superstitions. They are all part of the British way of life.

You cannot really imagine Britain without all its traditions, this integral feature of social and private life of the people living on the British Isles that has always been an important part of their life and work.

 

Introduction

 

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English traditions

 

Traditions concerning the Englishmen’s private life (child’s birth, wedding, marriage, wedding anniversary)

 

Which are connected with families incomes

 

State traditions

 

National holidays

 

Religious holidays

 

Public festivals

 

Traditional ceremonies

 

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Royal Traditions in Britain

 

 

 

There are numerous royal traditions in Britain, some are ancient, others are modern.

 

Some of them are strange, some are  funny, but all they are interesting.

 

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   Sometimes you’ll see a group of cavalrymen riding on black horses through the streets of London. They wear red uniforms, shining helmets, long black boots and long white gloves. These  men are Life Guards. Their special duty is to guard the king or the queen of Great Britain and very important guests of the country.

 

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    It seems strange but the Queen has two birthdays. She is the only person in Britain with two birthdays.

The Queen's actual birthday is celebrated on April 21st.

 

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English Queen  has an “official” birthday, too. That is on the second Saturday in June. And on the Queen’s official birthday, there is a traditional ceremony called the Trooping of the Colour. It is a big parade with brass bands and hundreds of soldiers at Horse Guard’s Parade in London. A “regiment” of the Queen’s soldiers, the Guards, march in front of her. At the front of the parade there is the regiment’s flag or “colour”. Thousands of Londoners and visitors watch in Horse Guards’ Parade. And millions of people at home watch it on television. This custom is not very old, but it is for very old people. On his or her one hundredth birthday, a British person gets a telegram with congratulations from the Queen.

 

Queen birthday

 

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The Queen’s crown

 

She only wears it for the State occasions, like The State Opening of Parliament.

 

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• Traditionally the Queen opens Parliament every autumn. At the Houses of Parliament the Queen sits on the  “throne” in the House of Lords. Then she reads the “Queen`s Speech”. At the State Opening of Parliament  the Queen wears a crown. She wears other jewels from the Crown Jewels too.

 

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Most of the parades

surround royal

occasions is the

state opening o

parliament in

September,

when the Queen

announces

 her government’s

policy for the year.

 

 

 

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SWAN UPPING TRADITION

 

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There is a very special royal tradition.On the RiverThames there are hundreds of swans A lot of thesebeautiful white birds belong, traditionally, to the king or queen. In July the young swans on the Thames are about two

months old. Then the Queen’s swan keeper goes, in a boat, from London Bridge to Henley. He looks at all the young swans and marks the royal ones. The name of this strange nut interesting custom is Swan Upping.

         
PUBLIC  
HOLIDAYS 

 

      

 

There are only six public holidays a year in Great Britain, those are days on which people need not go in to work. They are: Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Spring Bank Holiday and Late Summer Bank Holiday, Boxing Day.

 

 

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So the most popular holiday in Britain is Christmas. Christmas has been celebrated from the earliest days of recorded history, and each era and race has pasted a colourful sheet of new customs and traditions over the old.

On the Sunday before Christmas many churches hold a carol service where special hymns are sung. Sometimes carol singers can be heard in the streets as they collect money for charity. There are a lot of very popular British Christmas carols. Three famous ones are: “Good King Wenceslas”, “The Holly and The Ivy” and “We Three Kings”.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people all over the world send and receive Christmas cards. Most of people think that exchanging cards at Christmas is a very ancient custom but it is not right. In fact it is barely 100 years old.

 

Christmas

 

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A traditional feature of Christmas in Britain is the Christmas tree.

 

 

 

An older tradition is Christmas mistletoe. People put a piece of this green plant with its white berries over a door. Mistletoe brings good luck, people say. Also, at Christmas British people kiss their friends and family under the mistletoe.

Those who live away try to get back home because Christmas is a family celebration and it is the biggest holiday of the year. As Christmas comes nearer, everyone is buying presents for relatives and friends. At Christmas people try to give their children everything they want. And the children count the weeks, than the days, to Christmas. They are wondering what presents on December 24th. Father Christmas brings their presents in the night. Then they open them on the morning of the 25th.

 

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There is another name for Father Christmas in Britain – Santa Claus. That comes from the European name for him – Saint Nicholas. In the traditional story he lives at the North Pole. But now he lives in big shops in towns and cities all over Britain. Well, that’s where children see him in November and December. Then on Christmas Eve he visits every house. He climbs down the chimney and leaves lots of presents. Some people leave something for him, too. A glass of wine and some biscuits, for example.

At Christmas everyone decorates their houses with holly, ivy colourful lamps.

In Britain the most important meal on December 25th is Christmas dinner. Nearly all Christmas food is traditional, but a lot of the traditions are not very old.

 

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In Britain the most important meal on December 25th is

Christmas dinner.

Nearly all Christmas food is traditional, but a lot of the

traditions are not very old.

For example, there were no turkeys before 1800.

And even in the nineteenth century, goose was the traditional meat at Christmas.

But not now. n Britain

A twentieth-century British Christmas dinner is roast turkey with carrots, potatoes, peas,

Brussels sprouts and gravy. There are sausages and bacon, too. Then, after the turkey,

there’s Christmas pudding. Some people make this pudding months before Christmas.

A lot of families have their own Christmas pudding recipes.

                                          Some, for example, use a lot of brandy.

                                        Others put in a lot of fruit or add a silver coin for good luck.

 

 

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   Real Christmas puddings always have a piece of holly on the top. Holly bushes and trees have red berries at

Christmas time, and so people use holly to decorate their houses for Christmas. The  holly on the  pudding is part

of the decoration.

Crackers are also usual at Christmas dinner. These came to Britain from China in the nineteenth century.

Two people pull a cracker. Usually there is a small toy in the middle. Often there is a joke on a piece of paper, too.

Most of the jokes in Christmas crackers are not very good.

Boxing day

 

December 26th is Boxing Day. Traditionally boys from the shops in each town asked for money at Christmas. They went from house to house on December 26th and took boxes made of wood with them. At each house people gave them money. This was a Christmas present. So the name of December 26th doesn’t come from the sport of boxing – it comes from the boys’ wooden boxes. Now, Boxing Day is an extra holiday after Christmas Day.

Traditionally Boxing Day Hunts is a day for foxhunting. The huntsmen and huntswomen ride horses. They use dogs, too. The dogs (fox hounds) follow the smell of the fox. Then the huntsmen and huntswomen follow the hounds. Before a Boxing Day hunt, the huntsmen and huntswomen drink not wine. But the tradition of the December 26th hunt is changing. Now, some people want to stop Boxing Day Hunts (and other hunts, too). They don’t like foxhunting. For them it’s not a sport – it is cruel.

 

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New Year

 

In England people celebrate the New Year. But it is not as widely or as enthusiastically observed as Christmas. Some people ignore it completely and go to bed at the same time as usual on New Year’s Eve. Many others, however, do celebrate it in one way or another, the type of celebration varying very much according to the local custom, family tradition and personal taste.

The most common type of celebration is a New Year party, either a family party or one arranged by a group of young people. And another popular way of celebrating the New Year is to go to a New Year’s dance.

 

In Britain a lot of people make New Year Resolutions on the evening of December 31st. For example, “I’ll get up early every morning next year”, or “I’ll clean, my shoes every day”. But there is a problem. Most people forget their New Year Resolutions on January 2nd.

 

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Although the Christian religion gave the world Easter as we know it today, the celebration owes its name and many of its customs and symbols to a pagan festival called Eostre. Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of springtime and sunrise, got her name from the world east, where the sunrises. Every spring northern European peoples celebrated the festival of Easter to honour the awakening of new life in nature. Christians related the rising of the sun to the resurrection of Jesus and their own spiritual rebirth.

Many modern Easter symbols come from pagan time. The egg, for instance, was a fertility symbol long before the Christian era. The ancient Persians, Greeks and Chinese exchanged eggs at their spring festivals. In Christian times the egg took on a new meaning symbolizing the tomb from which Christ rose. The ancient custom of dyeing eggs at Easter time is still very popular.

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The Easter bunny also originated in pre-Christian fertility lore. The rabbit was the most fertile animal our ances tors knew, so they selected it as a symbol of new life. Today, children enjoy eating candy bunnies and listening to stories about the Easter bunny, who supposedly brings Easter eggs in a fancy basket.

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Also there is a spectacular parade on Easter. It is a truly spectacular Easter Parade in Battersea Park. It is sponsored by the London Tourist Board and is usually planned around a central theme related to the history and attractions of London. The great procession, or parade, begins at 3 p.m. but it is advisable to find a vantage-point well before that hour.

 

 

On October 31st British people celebrate Halloween. It is undoubtedly the most colourful and exciting holiday of the year. Though it is not a public holiday, it is very dear to those who celebrate it, especially to children and teenagers. This day was originally called All Hallow’s Eve because it fell on the eve of All Saints’ Day. The name was later shortened to Halloween. According to old beliefs, Halloween is the time, when the veil between the living and the dead is partially lifted, and witches, ghosts and other super natural beings are about. Now children celebrate Halloween in unusual costumes and masks. It is a festival of merrymaking, superstitions spells, fortunetelling, traditional games and pranks. Halloween is a time for fun.

Few holidays tell us much of the past as Halloween. Its origins dateback to a time, when people believed in devils, witches and ghosts.

 

Halloween

 

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Saint Valentine Day

 

On February 14th it’s Saint Valentine’s Day in Britain. It is not a national holiday. Banks and offices do not close, but it is a happy little festival in honour of St. Valentine. On this day, people send Valentine cards to their husbands, wives, girlfriends and boyfriends. You can also send a card to a person you do not know. But traditionally you must never write your name on it. Some British newspapers have got a page for Valentine’s Day messages on February 14th.

This lovely day is widely celebrated among people of all ages by the exchanging of “valentines”.

Saint Valentine was a martyr but this feast goes back to pagan times and the Roman feast of Lupercalia. The names of young unmarried girls were put into a vase. The young men each picked a name, and discovered the identity of their brides.

 

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Midsummer's Day

 

Midsummer’s Day, June 24th, is the longest day of the years. On that day you can see a very old custom at Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, England. Stonehenge is on of Europe’s biggest stone circles. A lot of the stones are ten or twelve metres high. It is also very old. The earliest part of Stonehenge is nearly 5,000 years old. But what was Stonehenge? A holy place? A market? Or was it a kind of calendar? Many people think that the Druids used it for a calendar. The Druids were the priests in Britain 2,000 years ago. They used the sun and the stones at Stonehenge to know the start of months and seasons. There are Druids in Britain today, too. And every June 24th a lot of them go to Stonehenge. On that morning the sun shines on one famous stone – the Heel stone. For the Druids this is a very important moment in the year. But for a lot of British people it is just a strange old custom.

 

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I have chosen the topic British customs traditions because I enjoy learning the English language and wanted to know more about British ways of life and traditions. Working on this topic I have to conclusion that British people are very conservative. They are proud pf their traditions and carefully keep them up. It was interesting to know that foreigners coming to England are stuck at once by quite a number of customs and peculiarities.

So I think of Britain as a place a lot of different types of people who observe their traditions.

 

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