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Customs and traditions in Britain

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Customs and Traditions in Britain

Some British customs and traditions are famous all over the world and a lot of them have very long histories. First I will tell you about British customs during the year.

In January, there is a festival, called Up-Helly-Aa. In the ninth century, men from Norway came to the Shetlands. The Shetlands are islands near Scotland. These men were the Vikings. They came to Britain in ships and carried away animals, gold, and sometimes women and children, too. Now, 1 000 years later, people in the Shetlands remember the Vikings with a festival. They call the festival "Up-Helly-Aa". Every winter the people of Lerwick, this is a town in the Shetlands, make a model of a ship. It´s a Viking "longship", with the head of a dragon at the front. Then, on Up-Helly-Aa night in January, the Shetlanders dress in Viking clothes, carry the ship through the town to the sea and there they burn it. They do this because the Vikings put their dead men in the ship and burned them. It goes without saying that there aren´t any men in the modern ships. Now the festival is a party for the people of the Shetland Islands.

Like our traditions there is also in Britain St Valentine´s Day in February and April Fool´s Day on April 1^st.

In May there is also a tradition with a long history. May 1^st was an important day in the Middle Ages. In the very early morning, young girls went to the fields and washed their faces with dew. They belived this made them very beautiful for a year after that. Also on May Day the young men of each village tried to win prizes with their bows and arrows, and people danced around the maypole. Many English villages still have a maypole, and on May 1^st, the villagers dance round it.

Midsummer´s Day is on June 24^th. This is the longest day of the year. On that day you can see a very old custom at Stonehenge in Wiltshire. Stonehenge is one of Europe´s biggest stone circles, a lot of the stones are ten or twelve metres high. It´s also very old, the earliest part of Stonehenge is nearly 5 000 years old. The Druids, they were the priests in Britain 2 000 years ago, used it for a calendar. 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 24^th a lot of them go to Stonehenge, because 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.

In October is Halloween. Halloween is an old word for "Hallows Evening", the night bevor "All Saints´ Day". On that one night of the year, ghosts and witches are free. A long time ago people were afraid and stayed at home on Hallowe´en. But now in Britain it´s a time for fun. There are always a lot of parties on October 31^st . At these parties people wear masks and they dress as ghosts and witches, or as Dracula or Frankenstein´s monster. And some peoples make special Halloween lamps from pumpkins.

November 5^th is Guy Fawkes´ Day in Britain. All over the country people build wood fires or "bonefires", in their gardens. On top of each bonfire is a guy. That´s a figure of Guy Fawkes. People make guys with straw, old clothes and newspapers. The British remember Guy Fawkes on November 5^th, because on this day in the year 1605, he tried to kill King James I. He and a group of friends put a bomb under the Houses of Parliament in London. But the King´s men found the bomb and found Guy Fawkes, too. They took him to the Tower of London and there the King´s men cut off his head.

In December there are lots of Christmas and New Year traditions in Britain.

Before Christmas, groups of singers go from house to house. They collect money and sing traditional Christmas songs or carols. 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".

On Christmas Eve that´s on December 24^th, British children don´t open their presents. Father Christmas brings their presents in the night and then they open them on the morning of the 25^th. In Britain the most important meal on December 25^th 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 in Britain before 1800. And even in the nineteenth century, goose was the traditional meat at Christmas, but not now. A twentieth- century British Christmas dinner is roast turkey with carrots, potatoes, peas, Brussels sprouts and gravy, but there are sausages and bacon, too. Then, after the turkey, there is Christmas pudding. Crackers are also usual at Christmas dinner. These came to Britain from China in the nineteenth century. Two people pull a cracker and usually there´s a small toy in the middle and often there´s a joke on a piece of paper, too.

December 26^th is Boxing Day. Traditionally boys from the shops in each town asked for money at Christmas. They went from house to house on December 26^th and took boxes made of wood with them. At each house people gave them money and this was their Christmas present. So the name of December 26^th doesn´t come frome the sport of boxing, it comes from the boys´ wooden boxes. Now, Boxing Day is an extra holiday after Christmas Day.

In Scotland there is a tradition, called First Footing. The name for New Year´s Eve in Scotland is Hogmanay. After midnight people visit their friends and they take a piece of coal as a present, because traditionally the first visitor of the year must carry coal into the house. This is first footing and it brings good luck. It also helps to make fire in the middle of winter.

In Britain there are many Royal Traditions.

For example the trooping of the colour:

The Queen is the only person in Britain with two birthdays. Her real birthday is on April 21^st , but she has an "official" birthday on the second Saturday in June, too. And on the Queen´s official birthday, there is a traditional ceremony called the Trooping of the Colour. It´s a big parade with brass bands and hundreds of soldiers at Horse Guards´ Parade in London. A "regiment" of the Queen´s soldiers, the Guards, march in front of her and at the front of the parade is the regiment´s flag or "colour", which the guards are trooping. Thousands of Londoners and visitors watch in Horse Guards´ Parade and millions of people at home watch it on television.

The changing of the guard is an another royal tradition:

This happens every day at Buckingham Palace, the Queen´s home in London. Soldiers stand in front of the palace. Each morning these soldiers (the "guard") change. One group leaves and another arrives. In summer and winter tourists stand outside the palace at 11.30 every morning and watch the Changing of the Guard.

Maundy Money:

Maundy Thursday is the day before Good Friday, at Easter. On that day the Queen gives Maundy money to a group of old people. This tradition is over 1,000 years old. At one time the king or queen washed the feet of poor, old people on Maundy Thursday, but that stopped in 1754.

Swan Upping:

Here´s a very different royal tradition. On the River Thames there are hundred´s of swans and a lot of these beautiful white birds belong, traditionally, to the king of 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 but interesting custom is Swan Upping.

The Queen´s Telegramm:

This custom is not very old, but it´s for very old people. On his or her one hundreth birthday, a British person gets a telegram from the Queen.

The Birthday Honours list and the new year´s honours list:

Twice a year at Buckingham Palace, the Queen gives titles or "honours", once in January and once in June. There are a lot of different honours. Here are a few:

C.B.E. - Companion of the British Empire

O.B.E. - Order of the British Empire

M.B.E. - Member of the British Empire

These honours began in the nineteenth century, because then Britain had an empire.

Knighthood - a knight has "Sir" before his name. A new knight kneels in front of the Queen. She touches first his right shoulder, then his left shoulder with a sword. Then she says "Arise, Sir...and his first name, and the knight stands.

Peerage - a peer is a lord. Peers sit in the House of Lords, which is one part of the Houses of Parliament. The other part is the House of Commons.

Dame/Baroness - these are two of the highest honours for a woman.

The State opening of Parliament:

The parliament, not the Royal Familiy, controls modern Britain.

But traditionally the Queen opens Parliament every autumn. She travels from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament in a gold carriage - the Irish State Coach. At the Houses of Parliament the Queen sits on a "throne" in the House of Lords. Then she reads the "Queen´s Speech". At the State Opening of Parliament the Queen wears a crown and she wears other jewels from the Crown Jewels, too.

The Order of the Garter Ceremony:

The order of the Garter ceremony has a long history. King Edward III started the Order in the fourteenth century. At that time, the people in the Order were the twenty-four bravest knights in England. Now the knights of the Order aren´t all soldiers. They´re members of the House of Lords, church leaders or politicans and there are some foreign knights, too. For example, the King of Norway, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and the Emperor of Japan. They´re called Extra Knights of the Garter.The Queen is the Sovereign of the Order of the Garter. But she isn´t the only royal person in the Order. Prince Charles and Prince Philip are Royal Knights, and the Queen Mother is a Lady of the Garter.In June the Order has a trditional ceremony at Windsor Castle. This is the Queen´s favourite castle and it´s also the home of the Order of the Garter. All the knights walk from the castle to St George´s Chapel, the royal church at Windsor. They wear the traditional clothes or "robes" of the Order. These robes are very heavy. In fact King Edward VIII once called them "ridiculous". But they´re an important part of one of Britain´s oldest traditions.

The Queen´s Christmas Speech:

Now here´s a modern royal custom. On Christmas Day at 3.00 in the afternoon, the Queen makes a speech on radio and TV. It´s ten minutes long and in it she talks to the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is a large group of countries. In the past they were all in the British Empire. Australia, India, Canada and New Zealand are among the 49 members.

The B.B.C. (the British Broadcasting Corporation) sends the Queen´s speech to every Commonwealth

Country. In her speech the Queen talks about the past year. Traditionally in speeches, kings or queens say "we", not "I". Queen Elizabeth II doesn´t do this. She says "My husband and I", or just "I".

British Food and Drink:

First, the English Breakfast:

In a real English breakfast you have fried eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato and mushrooms. Then there´s toast and marmalade.

Pancakes:

British people eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday in February or March. For pancakes you need flour, eggs and milk, then you eat them with sugar and lemon. In some parts of Britain there are pancake races on Shrove Tuesday. People race with a frying pan in one hand. They have to toss the pancake, throw it in the air and catch it again in the frying pan.

Haggis:

Haggis is a traditional food from Scotland. You make it with meat, onions, flour, salt and pepper. Then you boil it in the skin from a sheep´s stomach. In Scotland, people eat haggis on Burns Night. Robert Burns was a Scottish poet in the eighteen century, so every year Scots people all over the world remember him and read his poem.

Tea:

Tea is Britain´s favourite drink and it´s also a meal in the afternoon. You can drink tea at home or in hotel. Tea at the Ritz hotel in London is very good. You can drink Indian or China tea.

English Pubs:

Pubs are an important part of British life. People talk, eat, drink, meet their friends and relax there. The peoples don´t go in pubs to drink a lot, but rather just to meet their friends. They are open at lunchtime and again in the evening, but they close at 11 o´clock. The word pub is short for public house. There are are thousands in Britain, and they all sell pub lunches. One of these is a Ploughman´s Lunch, a very simple meal of bread and cheese. Pubs also sell beer. The traditional kind is called "real ale". That´s a very strong beer from an old recipe. In the pubs in south-west England there´s another traditional drink, which is called scrumpy. You make this drink with apples, but it´s not a simple fruit juice. It´s very strong. Pub names often have a long tradition. Some come from the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Every pub has a name and has a sign above its door. The sign shows a picture of the pub´s name.

Andrea Lehner