Customs, Traditions and Festivals of Great Britain

Almost every nation has a reputation of some kind. The French are supposed to be amorous, gay, fond of champagne; the Germans dull, formal, fond of military uniforms and parades; the Americans energetic, dynamic and flexible.

The British are reputed to be cold, reserved, rather haughty people, who change their governments, or have revolutions, as often as they change their underclothes. They are steady, easy-going, and fond of sports. The English have many traditions, manners and customs, of which they are very proud.

“The Englishman’s Home Is His Castle”

Every Englishman is a countryman at heart. About three-quarters of all the dwelling-places in Britain are houses of four to six rooms. A typical house is built on two floors, and has neither cellars nor attics. The front door opens into a hall. Off the hall there are two medium-sized rooms: one is the dining-room; the other may be called the lounge, the drawing-room, the sitting-room or the living-room, according to the choice of the people who live in the house. Upstairs, there are three bedrooms, a bathroom and a lavatory. As for the kitchen it is not a great room. Most of the houses have tiny kitchens in which women find it difficult to do all their work. But the kitchen has probably one advantage - it is the warmest place in the house.

But no matter where the family lives- in a modern flat or in a small cottage - there must be a fireplace in an English home. The fireplace has always been the natural centre of activity in any house.

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 them 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.

Members of the family - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins - keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. Christmas is the traditional season for reunions.

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.

British meals mean different things at different times to different people.

Early morning	Breakfast (an Englishman’s idea of a good breakfast is the following: porridge with milk and sugar, bacon and eggs or fish, hot buttered toast with jam, and a cup of coffee or strong tea with milk. However, many people do not eat anything at breakfast).
Midday (12.00-2.00 p.m.)	Lunch (hotels, restaurants, middle-class homes). Dinner (working class).
Mid-afternoon (4.00-5.00 p.m.)	Afternoon tea (hotels, teashops, middle-class homes).
Evening (5.30-6.30 p.m.)	Tea – main evening meal of working classes, and of some middle-class people.
(7.00-9.00 p.m.)	Dinner- the ordinary evening meal for some middle-class people. Others call it supper.
(9.00-10.00 p.m.)	Supper – light snack (many working and middle class people).

Britons drink a quarter of all the tea in the world each year. They are the world’s greatest tea drinkers. Many of them drink it on at least eight different occasions during the day. They drink it between meals and at meals. Some early-morning tea drinkers have automatic tea-making machines connected to their alarm-clocks. You must not refuse tea under the following circumstances: if it is hot; if it is cold; if you are tired; if you are nervous; if

you are happy; before you go out; if you are out; if you have just returned home; if you have had no tea for some time; if you have just had a cup. The English always drink tea out of cups, never out of glasses.