Топик на тему English customs and traditions

Topic: English customs and traditions

At all times the Englishmen were considered to be the most conservative nation in everything what they do and what they have. That is why they treat their traditions with respect and continue to save them during many years. We can see the striking example of the English traditions in their politics, especially The Queen of England with whom a lot of English traditions are connected.

Englishmen save all of their traditions faithfully over the centuries and consider following them as a duty. Let’s talk about them in details.

It is impossible to find the usual English traditions in any other countries. For example their liquid measures are pints (the half of the liter), quarts, and gallons. Also they do not use the international measure of distance like kilometers and kilograms instead of them they use traditional mile, ounce, pound, stones and etc. which are used only in Britain. Even the meal time or tea time has the certain tradition peculiarities like the worldwide known five o’clock tea. It is the time when friends, family or colleagues gather to take a cup of tea with milk at the certain time. Also there is no secret that the traditional breakfast of Englishmen is oatmeal porridge.

The very old tradition is The Marble Championship, when the British champion is crowned and gets the silver cup which is dedicated to the folk dance called Morris Dancing. This is a traditional dance of bright dressed people with the different sizes of the kerchiefs in their hands.

As for the holidays Englishmen celebrate New Year, Christmas and Easter also as everywhere in the world following the common traditions but the other holidays mostly turn out on Mondays.

New Year Eve is the family holiday and the especial English tradition happens when the clock starts to strike the last minutes of the year, the head of the family opens the entrance door for letting the Old Year go out and the New Year coming in.

After Christmas on December 26th Boxing Day is celebrated when everybody gives the gifts to each other. And then on December 27th Englishmen celebrate Christmas Bank Holiday. Not all the British men follow the usual Christmas traditions for example in Scotland this holiday is not national and a day of the rest. But New Year and its holiday are days off in Scotland.

Easter is not only a traditional holiday but also the time when many different fests take place. The annual Boat race between two famous universities Oxford and Cambridge is among them. This event takes place on the Easter Sunday on the river Thames

At the end of spring it is possible to see the striking examples of the English national traditions. One of them is Flower-show where the best gardeners of England compose the best bouquets and it is finished by the performance of all the people with the joyful dances, festivals, competitions and carnival procession. This holiday is called May Day which is celebrated on the first Monday of May. And then on the last Monday of May  the other traditional holiday is celebrated there – Spring Bank Holiday when the streets are decorated with garlands and flowers. Here Englishmen like to eat traditional roast beef cooked in the best English traditions. Also in May the fest of the chimney-sweep takes place.

Even such event as summer solstice day (24th of June) and autumn equinox (22nd of the September) cannot pass by the Englishmen which have recreated the Druid’s Order in honor of pagan religion of Celts and celebrate these holidays at the place of the famous Stonehenge.

One more traditional English holiday is Bonfire Night which is celebrated every year on the 5th of November. On that day children make the figures from the sackcloth material and the hay and in the evening burn them in the fireplace and spark the bonfires. This tradition came from the 17th century when some Guy Fawkes planned to blow up the Parliament Building where King James I was, but he was caught and hung.

Englishmen love all these traditions and customs. They are proud of their traditions and of course very carefully keep them up for centuries.