English traditions

One of the most peculiar features of life in England which immediately strikes any visitor to this country is the cherishing and preserving of many traditions, sometimes very archaic as they may seem. In England traditions play a very important part in the life of the people. Englishmen are proud of their traditions and have kept them up for hundreds of years. For instance, on Sundays theatres and shops are closed, people do not get letters and newspapers. Very few trams and buses run in the streets of London on Sundays. Uniforms are not particularly characteristic of this fact. However, when one sees the warders at the Tower of London with their funny flat hats, their trousers bound at the knee, and the royal monogram on their breast, one feels carried back to the age of Queen Elisabeth I.

And should you chance to see the Lord Mayor of London riding through the streets of the city with the black robe and gold chain, his medieval carriage, and all sheriffs, councillors and other members of the suit, you have a picture of living history.

Tourists visiting London are usually eager to see Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the Queen and the King. The house was bought by George III from the Duke of Buckingham, from whom it takes the name.

Queen Victoria was the first to make the Palace the official residence of the Sovereign. The colourful ceremony of the Changing of the Quard before the Palace is of great interest for a newcomer. The Quardsmen in their red coats and bearskin caps march behind the Drum Mayor and the Band. Whenever the Irish Quards are responsible for the quard duties at Buckingham Palace an Irish wolfhound appears on regimental ceremonial parades and marches at the head of the band.

A number of other ceremonies are of a similarly formal character, such as the King’s or Queen’s receptions and the State Opening of Parliament.

There are other customs of a similar peculiar character, such as the searching of the cellars underneath the Houses of Parliament by half a dozen “Beefeaters” before the opening of Parliament, in memory of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.

English people tend to be rather conservative. The conservative attitude consists of an acceptance of things which are familiar. All the same, several symbols of conservatism are being abandoned. The metric system came into general use in 1975. The twenty-four-hour clock was at last adopted for railway timetables in the 1960s-though not for most other timetables, such as radio programs. The decimal money was introduced, but the pound sterling as the basic unit was kept, one-hundredth part of it being a new penny. Temperatures have been measured in Centigrade as well as Fahrengrade for a number of years, tend to use Fahrengrade for general purpose.

The veteran car run. There is a new tradition in England now. Every year a large number of veteran cars drive from London to Brighton. Veteran cars are those which are made before 1904. The run takes place on the first Sunday in November. In November, 1896, a law was published. It said that a man with a red flag must walk in front of every car when it moved in the streets. In those days people were afraid of the cars.

The run begins at 8 o’clock in the morning from Hyde Park. Some cars look very funny. The drivers are dressed in the clothes of those times. The oldest cars move in front. The run is not a competition but a demonstration. Some cars reach Brighton, which is about a hundred kilometers from London, only late in the evening, others don’t get there, they have to stop on the way.

The Stone of Destiny. In Westminster Abbey in London there is a large stone which has an interesting history. Many hundreds of years ago it was a seat on which the kings of Scotland sat when they were crowned. When Scotland became part of Britain, the English king brought this stone to London. A large chair was made and the Stone of Destiny was put into the seat of the chair. Since that time the English kings sit on that chair when they are crowned.

The Theatre Royal. The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane of the oldest theatres in London. It was opened in 1663. The king was present at the performance, that is why it was called the Theatre Royal. Today most people call it Drury Lane by the name of the street in which it stands. The theatre has many traditions. One of them is the Badely cake, which began in the 18 century.

Robert Badely was a pastry-cook who became an actor and joined the Theatre Royal. He was a good actor, and the plays in which he acted were always a great success with the people of London. When R. Badely was very old, he left some money to the theatre. Robert Badely asked to buy cake and offer a piece of it to each actor and actress of the theatre on Twelfth Night every year. Twelfth Night is the 6th of January, the 12th Night after Christmas.

So, after the evening performance on Twelfth Night, the actors and actresses cone down into the hall in their stage clothes and eat the Badely cake.

Races in England. In England there is a day for pancakes. It is usually in March. At homes families have pancakes for dinner. At school children and teachers have pancakes for school dinner. You know that pancakes are very good for eat, but do you know that in England people race with pancakes, fight for them?

In some villages and towns in England there is a pancake race every year. Mothers of families run these races. First they must make the pancake and then run 4 hundred meters with the pancake on the frying-pan in their hands. When they are running this race they must throw the pancake up 3 times and catch it on the frying-pan. They must not drop it. ............