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British/local traditions

(97 Posts)
grandMattie Tue 15-Sep-20 06:36:29

My DS teaches English for the International Baccalaureate in an international school.
One of the warm up topics for his students who come from up to 50 countries - Botswana to Finland; Brazil to Mongolia - is talking about traditions in their countries.
We’ve come up with bonfire night; “proper” Halloween; Morris dancing ... but can’t think of many for Britain.
Help! Any further ideas?

kittylester Tue 15-Sep-20 06:47:24

Boxing Day, Guy Fawkes, Cheese rolling, bottle kicking, Shrovetide Football in Ashbourne. Pancake races.

kittylester Tue 15-Sep-20 06:48:56

Village fetes, street fairs, in Leicestershire we have a Bluebell service in the woods.

Riverwalk Tue 15-Sep-20 06:49:36

May Pole dancing, Harvest Festival.

pollyperkins Tue 15-Sep-20 06:52:51

Conkers! There’s an annual world Conker championship every year in Northamptonshire.
Pantomime. Pretty much unknown elsewhere except among ex pats.
Also Christmas crackers are not really known elsewhere.

vegansrock Tue 15-Sep-20 06:58:24

Grouse shooting, fox hunting, binge drinking.....
why no Scottish traditions? bagpipes, tartan, dancing, caber tossing.

Marydoll Tue 15-Sep-20 07:02:12

Highland games the big Hogmanay celebrations in Glasgow and Edinburgh and the First foot tradition^ at New Year.

Charleygirl5 Tue 15-Sep-20 07:11:55

Marydoll I have a feeling that those of us of a certain age will remember the real first foots-I had to work for my sweets by dancing which luckily I was good at. Singing would have emptied the house.

Grandmabatty Tue 15-Sep-20 07:13:47

Up hellya(misspelt, sorry) in Shetland, the Burry man in East Lothian, I think. First foot at new year. Hogmanay. Burns suppers.

MellowYellow Tue 15-Sep-20 07:17:01

Some Cornish Traditions....
Helston Flora Dance.
Penzance May Horns.
St. Piran's Day.
Stargazy pie.
Feast Week.
Cornish Hurling.
Padstow 'Obby 'Oss.
Cornish Cream Tea.
The World Pasty Championships.
Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival.
Christmas Day Dip.

Plus singing the Cornish National Anthem at every opportunity!

Marydoll Tue 15-Sep-20 07:18:27

I know ^*Charleygirl*! I've been to some amazing parties and only in the last couple of years have stopped the Hogmanay celebrations. My neighbours and I have been taking turns for nearly thirty years to host, with everyone bring a dish. It has been a veritable feast.
At the millennium, we here given an era, and had to dress appropriately. What fun we had.

I have never been allowed to first foot, due to my red hair. Dark haired DH is always first in the door with the whisky and lump of coal!

M0nica Tue 15-Sep-20 07:24:49

The hunt: red jackets and stirrup cups, even though animals are not chased anymore.

Kalu Tue 15-Sep-20 07:29:54

Burns Night
Tossing the Caber
Scottish country dancing, Highland Fling
Auld Lang Syne

Kalu Tue 15-Sep-20 07:32:27

Curling
Don’t forget the hounds M0nica ?

Pantglas2 Tue 15-Sep-20 07:33:23

In Wales we have Eisteddfods - singing, recitation festivals
and our New Year tradition is being allowed to ask grandparents for money - called Calennig!

BlueBelle Tue 15-Sep-20 07:39:38

kittylester thanks so much for having a service for me but
I m not dead yet*
Not olden day traditions but ones we will pass on ....

Christmas Day swim
Park run
School fetes
Jumble sales
Car boot sales
Pudsey and all other charity raising do s

These have become traditions and will be handed down and looked on in future generations as ‘oh really s’

kittylester Tue 15-Sep-20 08:24:22

Bluebelle, it is a service to welcome the beautiful Bluebells. The woods really are a picture with the ground completely covered with your relatives!

Ellianne Tue 15-Sep-20 08:31:24

No MellowYellow, you're wrong, it's Devon cream tea! grin

travelsafar Tue 15-Sep-20 08:43:08

Dont forget the Boat race between Oxford and Cambridge and the London Marathon.

JackyB Tue 15-Sep-20 08:49:55

Nowhere else in the world do they have egg and spoon races - well, not as far as I know. Car boot sales,however, are (were) a thing in many countries. Nowadays people get rid of their unwanted stuff via local websites.

The 'bumps' on birthdays and Maypole dancing are typically English, I think. The Scots have enough dances of their own. Not sure how far North the bumps were practised.

Just stopping to have a cup of tea. The observations in Asterix are not all overexaggerated stereotypes.

Tea ladies in offices. Probably a rarety these days, but surely worth their pay when I remember how many man-(woman)hours were spent making tea and coffee, washing cups, buying sugar and milk all the years I worked in offices where there was no tealady.

The Women's Institute. Most countries have an equivalent but they are nowhere near such an institution.

The Last Night of the Proms.

ayse Tue 15-Sep-20 09:08:24

Well dressing

Bagpipes in Northumberland

Rapper sword dancing (Gateshead)

Stool ball (Sussex)

Game/Country fairs

Sheepdog trials

Lewis bonfire parade. Intermittent until the 1820s when it became an annual affair

Shetland (Up Helle AA)

Blaydon Races since Victorian era

Clog dancing (Lancashire) and elsewhere

The Sealed Knot - Cavaliers and Roundhead re-enactment

fiorentina51 Tue 15-Sep-20 09:19:23

Wassailing. To ensure a good apple /fruit crop.

www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Wassailing/

hicaz46 Tue 15-Sep-20 09:44:37

Well dressing, mainly in Derbyshire.
Trooping the colour
Pancake races.

Froglady Tue 15-Sep-20 09:51:29

Welly wanging, Mischief Night, Up Helly in the Shetland Isles, scarecrow festivals.

Neilspurgeon0 Tue 15-Sep-20 09:51:44

Horn dancing, sword dancing, well dressing, sweeps festival [Rochester], conkers, May poles