British Customs and

Traditions
Some British customs and traditions are famous all over the
world .Bowler hats and taking about wheatear ,for example. But what
about the others? Who was Guy Fawkes? Why does the Queen have two
birthdays? And what is the word “pub” short for? You can find the
answers here in the next pages.
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’re all interesting and they are all part of the British
way of life.

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 1st.

Midsummer´s Day is on June 24th. 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. The Druids,( priests in Britain 2 000
years ago) 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, 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 before "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 Halloween. But now in Britain it’s a time for fun.
There are always a lot of parties on October 31st . At these parties
people wear masks and they dress as ghosts and witches, or as Dracula
or Frankenstein’s monster. Some peoples make special Halloween
lamps from pumpkins.

November 5th 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 5th, 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.

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 24th, 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 25th. 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 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.
 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 and this was their 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.

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.

Royal Traditions

The trooping of the colour: The Queen is the only person in Britain
with two birthdays. Her real birthday is on April 21st , 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.

Superstitions

Do you believe in good luck and in bad luck ?people in the world have
some superstitions. These are a few British superstitions with long
traditions.
GOOD LUCK
• Black cats are lucky
• Clover is a small plant .Usually it has three leaves, but a few have
four .A clover with four leaves brings good luck.
• A horseshoe aver the door of a new home brings good luck .But
the horseshoe must be the right way up. The luck runs out of a
horseshoe if it’s upside down.
• On the first day of the month it’s lucky to say” White rabbits”.
• It’s good luck to see two magpies(large black and white birds)
• Catch falling leaves in autumn and you’ll have good luck .Every
leaf means a lucky month in the next year .
BAD LUCK
• Never open an umbrella in the house. That’s a very bad luck .
• Never break a mirror .That means seven year’s bad luck .
• Don’t walk under a ladder .
• Don’t walk past somebody on the stairs
• The number thirteen is very unlucky.

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.

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 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.

Legends, Myths, and Stories of Britain

England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are countries which are rich in
ancient legends, myths and stories. The origin of these stories and
legends is often not known but these tales have been around for many
centuries often passed down through the generations by the spoken
word alone.

In this section we have tried to cover some of the more well-known

or interesting legends, and also included details of where in Britain
these mysterious stories originated.

King’s Arthur Legend

Arthur was the first born son of King Uther Pendragon and heir to the
throne. However these were very troubled times and Merlin, a wise
magician, advised that the baby Arthur should be raised in a secret
place and that none should know his true identity.
 As Merlin feared, when King Uther died there was great conflict over
who should be the next king. Merlin used his magic to set a sword in a
stone. Written on the sword, in letters of gold, were these words:
"Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone is the rightwise born king of
all England." Of course all the contenders for the throne took their turn
at trying to draw the sword, but none could succeed. Arthur, quite by
chance, withdrew the sword for another to use in a tournament.
Following this he became King.
He gathered Knights around him and fought back against the Saxons
who, since the Romans left Britain, were slowly but surely taking the
country over. After many great battles and a huge victory at Mount
Badon the Saxons' advance was halted.
Arthur's base was at a place called Camelot. Here he built a strong
castle. His knights met at a Round Table. They carried out acts of
chivalry such as rescuing damsels in distress and fought against
strange beasts. They also searched for a lost treasure, which they
believed would cure all ills - this was the 'Quest for the Holy Grail'.
Under the guidance of Merlin, Arthur had obtained a magical sword
from The Lady Of The Lake. This sword was called 'Excalibur" and with
this weapon he vanquished many foes.
Queen Guinevere, Arthur's beautiful wife brought romance to the
story while his equally beautiful half sister Morgan le Fay added a dark
side.
Unfortunately, as peace settled over the country things turned sour
within the court of Camelot and civil war broke out. In the final battle at
Camlan both Arthur and Mordred, Arthur's traitorous nephew, were
mortally wounded. Arthur was set upon a boat and floated down river to
the isle of Avalon. Here his wounds were treated by three mysterious
maidens. His body was never found and many say that he rests under a
hill with all his knights - ready to ride forth and save the country again.

The Beasts and Monster Dogs of Britain

There are many stories and have been many sightings over many
years of mysterious beasts, big panther-like cats and monster black
dogs living in and around the south west of England. These strange
creatures are even now supposed to inhabit the wilder moorland areas
of the counties of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall - savagely gored pet
cats and dogs, sheep and other farm animals, and strange howls in the
middle of the night have all been reported in the last ten or so years on
the Quantock Hills, Exmoor, Dartmoor, and Bodmin Moor. These and
many other stories about wild beasts have been around for many years
and have inspired writers like Arthur Conan Doyle to create famous
tales like the Sherlock Holmes story 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'.
Some legends tell of fiery-eyed black dogs, which if seen or heard spell
an early death to the person or a member of his family; and church yard
dwelling monster black dogs, which protect the dead from the Devil and
evil spirits.

The Cerne Giant, Cerne Abbas

The 'Cerne Giant' just outside the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset is
one of many giant hill figures cut into the underlying chalk of southern
England. The Cerne giant is believed to date from the second century
AD and is generally considered to represent the God Helith. Many
legends surround the 60 m high figure. Local legend says that a real
giant was killed on the hill and that local people drew around the figure
and marked him out on the hillside. For obvious reasons many legends
concern the Cerne giant's fertility powers. One such legend has it that
childless couples who made love on a certain part of the figure would
soon be blessed with children. While young women wishing to keep
their lovers faithful would walk around the hill figure three times. In
recent years a fence has been erected around the figure in an attempt
to lessen the number of people indulging in these practices!

Glastonbury

In the middle of the Somerset Levels, an area of once-flooded

marshland, there lies Glastonbury Tor - a strangely shaped and steep
hill with a ruined church at the summit. Some say this is the ancient Isle
of Avalon, in Celtic folklore the island of enchantment. The hill is said to
contain a secret magical passage to the underworld, and be the place
where King Arthur is sleeping, but, will awake in England's hour of need
and come to her rescue! Indeed, the whole area around the small
Somerset town of Glastonbury is believed to have been where King
Arthur's Camelot was located and is said my some to be the most
mystical place in the world! Among the many legends that exist the
major one is that Glastonbury is supposed to be the place that Joseph of
Arimethaea brought the Holy Grail in the early first century. Another
tells that King Arthur and Guinevere were buried in the local abbey.

Robin Hood

According to legend and tradition Robin Hood was a lovable outlaw

who as an expert archer was adept at poaching the king's deer from his
hideout in the forest of Sherwood. Stories relate how wealthy travelers
through Sherwood forest were robbed and their belongings given to the
poor by Robin Hood and his band of "Merry Men" (and women). Stories
also tell of how Robin tricked and outwitted the evil Sheriff of
Nottingham and his henchman Sir Guy of Gisbourne, and dealt with
corrupt churchmen and officials who abused their power over an
oppressed peasantry.

The Loch Ness Monster

Nessie was first spotted by the Vikings - Celtic and Norse folklore
has stories of water horses seen in the lochs. The first written account
of a meeting with Nessie seems to be that of Adamnan in 565 A.D. He
describes St. Columba's sighting of a very large monster in Loch Ness.
Legend tells of how St. Columba heard about the monster's murder of a
man and how he rowed out to the centre of the loch to order the beast
to desist from such attacks in the future. Ever since that time, Nessie
has never been known to have repeated its misdemeanor. The monster
was also seen last century but the poor man who sighted the beast was
so shocked he did not speak much about the incident. Throughout this
century so many people have seen Nessie who seem to have no
identifiable gain from telling of their sightings that it seems likely that a
great unexplained mystery does exist.