Customs and Traditions în the UK

1. INTRODUCTION

I have chosen this subject for my graduation paper because, in my opinion, the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) has got some of the most interesting customs and traditions in the world which have been around for hundreds of years.

British culture and customs are famous all over the world. Knowing and observing them is important for everyone who plans to visit this amazing country. When people think of Britain, they often think of people drinking tea, eating fish and chips and wearing bowler hats, but there is more to Britain than just those things. We do not only have English and British traditions of sport, music, food and many royal occasions but also songs, sayings and superstitions. They are all part of the British way of life. Who was Guy Fawkes- Why does the Queen have two birthdays- And what is the word “pub” short for- I have tried to cover all these questions and much more in my graduation paper.

2. FACTS ABOUT ENGLISH PEOPLE

- The English are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up. It has been the law for about three hundred years that on Sundays all theatres are closed, no letters are delivered and only a few Sunday newspapers are published.

- An English family preffers a house with a big garden in the countryside to a flat in a crowded city. It is well known that English people have the most beautiful gardens and they spend a lot of time on gardening and creating the most beautiful landscapes.

- Even though they have 54.600 churches, English people are not very religious. Only 14% of them attend church weekly.

- Englishmen are famous for their tolerance, black humour and self-discipline and they expect basic politeness such as “please”, “thank you”, “excuse me” from everyone they interact with.

- British policemen have two nicknames: “bobbies” and “peelers”, come from the founder of the “Met” Police, Sir Rober Peeler. Mounted police are employed in crowd control because of the height advantage and they are most often seen at football matches and at festivals.

- Englishmen marry more often than any other European nation and yet they are on the second place after Denmark. They appreciate family life and yet preffer to send their children to boarding schools as soon as possible and their parents to nursing homes.

- The British talk a lot about the weather because it changes very often. Wind, rain, sun, clouds – they can all happen in the same day. You will always hear things as: “Isn’t it a beautiful morning?” or “Very cold today, isn’t it?”.