British Customs and Traditions

Britain has many traditions which have been around for hundreds of years. Some of these customs and traditions are famous all over the world. There are also songs, sayings and superstitions.

It is lucky to meet a black cat. Black Cats are featured on many good luck greetings cards and birthday cards in England. It is lucky to touch wood. They touch, knock on wood, to make something come true. It is a good sign if you find a clover plant with four leaves. On the first day of the month it is lucky to say "white rabbits, white rabbits white rabbits," before saying your first word of the day.

Catch falling leaves in Autumn and you will have good luck. Every leaf means a lucky month next year. Cut your hair when the moon is waxing and you will have good luck. Putting money in the pocket of new clothes also brings good luck. For good luck the bride should wear “something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new”.

It is unlucky to walk underneath a ladder and to open an umbrella in doors. The number thirteen is unlucky. To put new shoes on the table and to pass someone on the stairs is said to be unlucky.

Animals feature a lot in British superstitions as they do in superstitions around the world. In some parts of the UK meeting two or three Ravens together is considered really bad. One very English superstition concerns the tame Ravens at the Tower of London. It is believed if they leave then the crown of England will be lost.

The British have fewer holidays than many other countries. Some of them are named Bank Holidays due to the fact that on those days the banks are closed. In England and Wales they comprise at present five bank holidays (New Year’s Day, Easter Monday, spring and late summer holidays at the end of May and August respectively, and Boxing Day. They also have two common holidays (Good Friday and Christmas Day).

New Year’s Day (January, 1) is a bank holiday though many Britons do not celebrate on New Year’s Eve. In March British people celebrate St. David's Day (the patron of Wales) and St. Patrick's Day (the patron of Ireland so people are often dressed in shamrocks). The day of the patron of England, St. George, is celebrated in April.

Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night is an annual celebration held to mark the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605, in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to destroy the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament, in London. Festivities are centred on the use of fireworks and the lighting of bonfires.

In England Christmas is the most important of all the bank holidays of the year. It is celebrated much the same way as in the United States of America. On December 26, the Boxing Day, traditionally people give each other Christmas presents, which used to come in boxes. It is a very pleasant custom indeed.

London remains one of the world’s strongholds of pageantry much of which is centered on traditional observances connected with the Royal family. They are always attracting large crowds of spectators, native Londoners as well as foreign visitors. Trooping the Colour is the ceremony which is held on the Sovereign’s official birthday in June. This is the most colourful of all London’s annual events, a pageantry of rare splendour with the Queen riding side-saddled on a highly trained horse. On Horse Guards’ Parade in Whitehall the Queen inspects the Brigade of Guards, dressed in ceremonial uniforms. Then comes the Trooping ceremony, followed by the march past of the Guards to the music of the bands.

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COMPREHENSION

Exercise 1.