5. The patron saints of england, wales, scotland and ireland

ST. PATRICK is the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that he was enslaved by Irish pirates who raided his home, probably in South Wales. He managed to escape from the pirates and began to be trained as a priest for priesthood, but he never completed his training. Still he was determined to return to Ireland and to evangelize its people. He is said to have landed again in Ireland in the 5^th century and his work was a vital factor in the spread of Christian influence there. His symbols are snakes and shamrocks. His feast-day is 17 March. This church festival is regarded as a national day in Ireland. Shamrock was used by St. Patrick to illustrate the doctrine of Trinity. It is adopted as the national emblem of Ireland.

ST. GEORGE is the patron saint of England. He was martyred at Lydda in Palestine: he was shod in red-hot shoes, broken on a spiked wheel and immersed in quicklime. The legend of his having slain a dragon was very popular: he rescued a king’s daughter from becoming the dragon’s tribute and so managed to covert her people. Richard I (the Lionheart) was said to have had a vision of him and was able to restore the saint’s tomb at Lydda. Saint George was proclaimed chief patron of England when English soldiers under Henry V won the battle of Agincourt. His feast-day is 23 April. On this day some patriotic Englishmen wear a rose pinned to their jackets.

ST. ANDREW is the patron saint of Scotland. He was a New Testament apostle who was martyred on an X-shaped cross (St. Andrew’s Cross). He was said to have given the Pictish army a vision of this cross at the battle of Athenstoneford between King Angus of the Picts and King Athelstan of the Angles. St. Andrew was foisted upon Scotland as its patron when the old Celtic and Culdee centres were superseded by the new bishopric of St. Andrew’s. His feast-day is 30 November. On this day some Scotsmen wear a thistle in the buttonhole.

ST. DAVID is the patron saint of Wales. According to the legend he was the son of a Prince of Cardiganshire and uncle of King Arthur. He was a Christian abbot and bishop and founded twelve monasteries from Croyland to Pembrokeshire. In these monasteries the regime was very austere. He was nicknamed “Aquaticus” after his habit of drinking only water. His feast-day is 1 March. This day is regarded as the national holiday of Wales (although it is not an official bank holiday). On this day many Welshmen wear either a daffodil or a leek pinned to their jackets. These plants are traditionally regarded as national emblems of Wales.

National characteristics. National stereotype (part 2)

Plan

1. Population

2. Languages

3. Britons, Who Are They?

4. Family life.

5. Meals.

1. POPULATION. With 58 million people, the United Kingdom ranks sixteenth in the world in terms of population, with the English (46 million) – the most populous part (followed by the Scots – 5 million, the Welsh – 2.8 million and the Irish – 1.5 million). The population is increasing very slowly and in 1976-78 and 1982 actually fell. The estimated age distribution in 1985 was 21% - younger than 16, 64% - 16-64 years, 15% - older than 64.

Among other nationalities inhabiting the UK there are Gaels, Jews, Poles, Germans, French people and Italians as well as migrants from India, Pakistan and African countries.

The growth of population was most rapid from the middle of the 18^th century to the end of the 19^th. In the last decades of the 19^th century the growth of the population was diminished. It was only during the first years after World War II that the growth of British population temporarily increased.

The current pattern of population distribution emerged during the past century. Urbanization is the most prominent feature of this pattern. Population shifts and movements are governed by economic opportunities. Since the 1970’s, both migration and natural increase have slowed down. Of the four countries (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland), the natural increase has been lowest in Wales. England influences the national population patterns more than the other three countries do. In the 1960’s England experienced a substantial gain in population as a result of immigration from new Commonwealth countries.

For the much of its history, the United Kingdom was an exporter of population. Since the 1600’s it has helped to people of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and South Africa. At the same time immigration was only nominal. The United Kingdom’s accession to the EC meant removing all restrictions on movement among member countries.

Native-born United Kingdomers constitute over 92% of the population. Among the ethnic minority population the largest group is Indian, followed by West Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi.

2. LANGUAGES. English is the official and national language in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is the second most widely spoken language in the world, next to Mandarin Chinese. English is an official language in over 60 countries. It has acquired the unofficial status of lingua franca of the modern world.

In the Highlands of Scotland and in the Uplands of Wales a remnant of Celtic speech still survives. The Scottish form of Gaelic is spoken in parts of Scotland while a few people in Northern Ireland speak the Irish form of Gaelic. Welsh, which is a form of British Celtic, is the first language in most parts of Wales. About 19% of the Welsh people speak Welsh. The Welsh name of the country is Cymru. Legal measures adopted since 1960 have helped to revive the language. Welsh may be used along with English in courts and schools and in the media in Wales.

The Manx variety of Celtic is still used in the Isle of Man but on rare occasions and only for certain official pronouncements. That is why it cannot be considered any longer as an effectively living language.

In the Channel Islands some people still speak a Norman French dialect.

French remains the language of Jersey for official ceremonies.

The existence of this variety of languages is easily to understand. The people who now inhabit Britain are descended from many various early people such as pre-Celts, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons and the Norsemen, including Danes. Some of them inhabited the Isles many centuries ago; others came there later as invaders from Scandinavia and the continent of Europe. It is certain that Celtic culture survived in Highland Britain for a long time, resisting with success the Roman, Saxon, Scandinavian and Norman invasions.

3. BRITONS, WHO ARE THEY? Great Britain is an island on the outer edge of the European continent, and its geographical situation has produced a certain insular spirit among its inhabitants, who tend, a little more perhaps than other people, to regard their own community as the centre of the world. The insularity produces a certain particularism among the numerous groups of whom the whole community is composed. The British look on foreigners in general with contempt and think that nothing is as well done elsewhere as in their own country. The British people have also been known as superior, snobbish, aloof, hypocritical and unsociable.

These characteristics have been noted by people from all over the world, but are they typical of all the Britons? The ordinary Briton was seen to be friendly and sociable. There are indeed two nations, with basically different outlooks and characters, in Britain. The two nations are defined simply as the rich and the poor. The traditional opinion about the British, or the English in earlier centuries, was based on the habits of those Britons who could afford to travel, the diplomats and merchants. English vanity and arrogance grew as England fought off the competition from other European countries and became the world’s leading trading nation, going on to industrialize rapidly.

Englishmen tend to be rather conservative, they love familiar things. They are hostile, or at least bored, when they hear any suggestion that some modification of their habits, or the introduction of something new and unknown into their lives, might be to their advantage. This conservatism, on a national scale, may be illustrated by reference to the public attitude to the monarchy, an institution that is held in affection and reverence by nearly all English people.

Britain is supposed to be the land of law and order. Part of the British sense for law and orderliness is a love of precedent. For an Englishman, the best of all reasons for doing something in a certain way is that it has always been done in that way.

The Britons are practical and realistic; they are infatuated with common sense. They are not misled by romantic delusions.

The English sense and feeling for privacy is notorious. England is the land of brick fences and stone walls (often with glass embedded along the top), of hedges, of thick draperies at all the windows, and reluctant introductions, but nothing is stable now. English people rarely shake hands except when being introduced to someone for the first time. They hardly ever shake hands with their friends except seeing them after a long interval or saying good-bye before a long journey.

Snobbery is not common in England today as it was at the beginning of the 19^th century. It still exists, and advertisers know how to use it in order to sell their goods. The advertisers are very clever in their use of snobbery. Motorcar manufactures, for example, advertise the colour of their cars as “Embassy Black” or “Balmoral Stone”. Embassy black is plain, ordinary black, but the name suggests diplomats and all the social importance that surrounds them, and this is what the snobs need.

The British people are prudent and careful about almost everything. The lawns are closely cropped, their flower beds primly cultivated, and their trees neatly pruned. Everything is orderly. Drinks are carefully measured, seats in a cinema are carefully assigned (even if the theatre is empty you are required to sit in the seat assigned to you), closing hours rigorously observed.

A tradition that is rooted not only in their own soul, but also in the minds of the rest world is the devotion of the English to animals. Animals are protected by law. If, for instance, any one leaves a cat to starve in an empty house while he goes for his holiday, he can be sent to prison. There are special dogs’ cemeteries. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was founded half a century before its counterpart for the prevention of cruelty to children.

Most people in Britain work a five-day week, from Monday to Friday; schools, colleges and universities are also closed on Saturdays and Sundays. As Friday comes along, as people leave work they say to each other, “Have a nice weekend.” Then on Monday morning they ask, “Did you have a nice weekend?”

On Sunday mid-mornings most British people indulge in some fairly light activities such as gardening, washing the car, shelling peas or chopping mint for Sunday lunch, or taking their dog for a walk. Another most popular pre-lunch activity consists of a visit to a “pub”- either a walk to the “local”, or often nowadays a drive to a more pleasant “country pub” if one lives in a built-up area. The national drink in England is beer, and the “pub”, where Englishmen go to drink to, is a peculiarly English institution.

Much leisure time is spent in individualistic pursuits, of which the most popular is gardening. Most English people love gardens, their own above all, and this is probably one reason why so many people prefer to live in houses rather than flats.

The British people are the world’s greatest tea drinkers. They drink a quarter of all the tea grown in the world each year. Many of them drink tea on at least eight different occasions during the day.

The working people of Britain have had a long tradition of democracy, not so much in the sense of creating formal institutions, but in the active sense of popular cooperation to uphold the will of the people.

4. FAMILY LIFE. The English are a nation of stay-at-home. “There is no place like home”, they say. And when the man is not working he is at home in the company of his wife and children and busies himself with the affairs of the home. “The Englishman’s home is his castle”, is a saying known all over the world. And it is true.

A “typical” British family used to consist of mother, father and two children, but in recent years there have been many changes in family life. Some of these have been caused by new laws and others are the result of changes in society. For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact one marriage in every three now ends in divorce. This means that there are a lot of one-parent families. Society is now more tolerant than it used to be of unmarried people, unmarried couples and single parents.

Another change has been caused by the fact that the people are living longer nowadays, and many old people live alone following the death of their parents. As a result of these changes in the pattern of people’s life, there are many households, which consist of only one person or one person and children.

You might think that marriage and the family are not so popular as they once were. However, the majority of divorced people marry again, and they sometimes take responsibility for a second family.

Members of the family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins – keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from their home town to work, and so the family becomes scattered. Christmas is the traditional season for reunions. Although the family group is smaller nowadays than it used to be, relatives often travel many miles in order to spend the holiday together.

In general, each generation is keen to become independent of parents in establishing its own family unit, and this fact can lead to social as well as geographical differences within the larger family group.

Relationships within the family are different now. Parents treat their children more as equals than they used to, and children have more freedom to make their own decisions. The father is more involved with bringing up children, often because the mother goes out to work. Increased leisure facilities and more money mean that there are greater opportunities outside the home. Although the family holiday is still an important part of family life (usually taken in August, and often abroad) many children have holidays away from their parents, often with a school party or other organized group.

Who looks after the older generation? There are about 10 million old-age pensioners in Britain, of whom about 750,000 cannot live entirely independently. The government gives financial help in the form of a pension but in the future it will be more and more difficult for the nation economy to support the increasing number of elderly. At the present time, more than half of all old people are looked after at home. Many others live in Old People’s Homes, which may be private or state owned.

5. MEALS IN BRITAIN. Meals and mealtimes in England are not the same in all families.

Breakfast is the first meal of the day. But it is often a rather hurried and informal meal. Most people do not have a full breakfast, and some have no breakfast at all apart from a hot drink. People who do have a full breakfast say that it is quite good. That is why the writer Somerset Maugham once gave the following advice: «If you want to eat well in England, eat three breakfasts daily.”

At one o’clock comes a meal, which is dinner to some people, lunch for others. More than half the population has a hot dinner (sometimes called lunch) in the middle of the day, and a cool meal in the evening. Others have a light lunch at one, and a hot dinner in the evening. Many men work too far away from their homes to be able to go home for a hot meal in the middle of the day, and many schoolchildren, too, have their lunch in schools. But on Sundays the family sits down together. Sometimes the mother puts the food on the plates in the kitchen, carrying them into the dining-room afterwards; sometimes it is served from large dishes in the dining-room itself.

The next meal is tea, with slices of bread and butter, cakes, and of course, cups of tea. Mother and children may have their tea together at five o’clock in the afternoon, or they may wait a little for father to come in after work.

As it was said above, in the evening some people have a cool meal, which they usually call high tea (or supper). Others have a main meal in the evening, called dinner.