English customs

IP: 78.86.126.* 03.04.08, 18:40
Hi, Could you send me some ideas of English customs, that are
different or interesting or habitual for UK (its parts).
I don't mean these traditional ones - Christmas and Easter,
but something, what I will see only here.
Regards
M
    • jonathan.oakley Re: English customs 03.04.08, 21:52
      Perhaps the most famous UK wide custom is the annual Guy Fawkes
      Night (also known as Bonfire Night) on 05 November. On that day in
      1605 Guy Fawkes and his accomplices’ gunpowder plot to blow up the
      British Parliament was foiled. Celebrations involve the lighting of
      large fires where effigies of Guy Fawkes are burnt. There are
      normally firework displays too.

      Many customs/festivals tend to be regional, some examples are:

      Cheese rolling on a spring bank holiday Monday – the most famous
      course is at Coopers Hill in Gloucestershire. Competitors chase a
      round cheese down a very steep hill (often resulting in broken
      arm/legs/noses).

      In Derbyshire they have well dressing hereby elaborate, mosaic-
      decorated panels are fixed to the sides of wells.

      Then there’s the Straw Bear Fesitval (to celebrate plough Monday –
      it’s a farming thing!) in Whittlesey.. A straw bear – it’s really
      man covered in straw to look like a bear – is walked through the
      town accompanied by dancers and musicians from across Britain.

      My favourite – and easily scores ten out of ten on the eccentricity
      scale – is Maypole dancing (celebrates 01 May)…a team of Morris
      dancers dance round a wooden pole, occasionally hitting each other
      on the head with small, wooden sticks.
      • Gość: Margotb1 Re: English customs IP: 78.86.126.* 04.04.08, 11:33
        sounds great!
        anything about food?
        There is a nice custom in Spain on 1st of November they bake special
        cookies and about this time have castaniada as well.
        Food food food :)
        • jonathan.oakley Re: English customs 07.04.08, 13:17
          Check out these links for UK food festivals:
          www.visitcotswoldsandsevernvale.gov.uk/
          www.dalesfestivaloffood.org/
          www.tavistockfoodfestival.co.uk/
          www.reallywildfestival.co.uk/
          Most UK food festivals tend to be regional... the ones held in the
          countryside are well worth going to (see Dale Festival link) as the
          food is locally produced to high standards...
      • gosiash Re: English customs 04.04.08, 23:47
        I'm sorry Jonathan but your description is coursebook like. The
        reality of Guy Fawkes Night is that majority of people who celebrate
        it don't even know what they are celebrating. And it's about a month
        of fireworks that starts second half of October and ends in
        November. Then there is a short break and Divali (I'm not sure about
        the spelling) festival starts so more fireworks follow.
        • jonathan.oakley Re: English customs 05.04.08, 01:13
          No need to apologise...forums are all about opinions...isn't Divila
          a Hindu festival for kids? My description is to the point as I don't
          want to patronise people with a discourse on toffee apples and what
          fireworks look like when they pop..! UK school kids are taught about
          the Gunpowder plot as a matter of course so Im not sure on what you
          are basing your opinions..?
          • gosiash Re: English customs 05.04.08, 23:15
            My opinions are based on reality. What we read in text books is a
            lovely picture of interesting customs. Unfortunately, the reality is
            slightly different and some of them have been twisted so much that
            they're not nice anymore (the never ending fireworks for example).
            It's actually quite sad. But to cheer us up a bit, did you know that
            a common perception in Poland is that at 5 o'clock a typical
            Englishman sits down and drinks tea (usually with scones or some
            cake)? :) What's your comment on this custom? ;)
            • jonathan.oakley Re: English customs 06.04.08, 12:59
              Tea and scones at 5?! It sounds like an arresting generalisation to
              me! I prefer coffee to tea as it packs more punch and has a more
              textured taste...I tend to have blended blueberries/grain/soya
              milk/yoghurt at around 8pm rather than heavy cakes like scones..! Im
              sure some English people still fit the percieved national sterotype
              but I believe that cultural sterotyping can be reduced by direct
              contact between different cultural groups...:)
              • 10iwonka10 Re: English customs 12.04.08, 18:17
                But I quite like this afternoon tea custom. In my town there is old
                traditional hotel and they usually put out sign 'afternoon tea
                served'
                • jonathan.oakley Re: English customs 13.04.08, 21:57
                  Yes, it's all so cilivilised and calming..!London used to have Lyons
                  (they make sugar) Tea House Corner Rooms as early as the 1890s:
                  waitresses in black uniforms would serve tea and cakes often with a
                  live band playing in the back ground!
              • pani.serwusowa Re: English customs 18.04.08, 18:23
                "5’o clock tea" could be common misconception. This is a time when
                most people have their dinner and this is called "tea" for some
                reason. Most of my maids ask: what are you having/cooking for tea
                tonight?
                • 10iwonka10 Re: English customs 20.04.08, 15:22
                  I read somewhere that "tea" as evening meal is a bit common English.

                  It should be used word dinner or supper...?
                  • jonathan.oakley Re: English customs 20.04.08, 15:38
                    Supper is a light evening meal served early evening if dinner is at
                    midday or served late in the evening near bed time. :)
              • viking2 Re: English customs 05.07.08, 04:27
                jonathan.oakley napisał:
                > me! I prefer coffee to tea as it packs more punch and has a more
                > textured taste...

                Interesting. That's always has been my theory too, and for years I kept
                wondering why my mother would much rather have a cup of tea in the morning (she
                would have an espresso perhaps twice a year) - eventually, I asked her outright
                and her take on the whole thing is that most people would have weak tea or
                strong coffee. And here is where popular misconception comes from - if you go
                with quite strong tea (as opposed to strong coffee), it'll provide an
                "afterburner" type of kick...
                She never managed to convince me, though - I am as much an "espresso man" as
                they come...:):)
                • jonathan.oakley Re: English customs 05.07.08, 11:01
                  Yes...I think alot comes down to taste...some people just prefer the
                  taste of tea for eg over coffee..Apparently the average cup of tea
                  has between 15/75 mg per cup of caffeine while percolated ground
                  coffee has bewteen 97/125 mg per cup of caffeine: I normally have
                  may coffee with 2 shots of expresso..! :)
                  • Gość: greegy Re: English customs IP: *.mynow.co.uk 21.09.08, 10:20
                    You wrote:"Apparently the average cup of tea
                    has between 15/75 mg per cup of caffeine while percolated ground
                    coffee has bewteen 97/125 mg per cup of caffeine" So not an average cup of tea may contain much more, even 150 mg if doubled! Obviously it is the matter of taste, anyway!
                    • jonathan.oakley Re: English customs 21.09.08, 18:59
                      The key word being 'apparently'..! You are quite right when you say
                      that it's a matter of taste. I mean I really squeeze my tea bag to
                      bursting strength as - on the rare occasion that I drink tea - I
                      like it strong...like my women.. (joking!)
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