As a proud sponsor of ‘Her Majesty The Queen The Official Platinum Jubilee Pageant Commemorative Album’ – an album produced to celebrate the longest reigning monarch in British history, we started to think about all the other things apart from the Royal Family that make us proud to be British. In this blog we explore just a few of them.
The most obvious one is our inherent traditions which are extremely wide ranging. They include all the pomp and ceremony of a royal event which can’t be surpassed for a truly spectacular occasion to Morris Dancers on village greens and constantly talking about the weather.
Commemorating Remembrance Sunday and listening to the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day are part of our yearly traditions, along with the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, fireworks on Guy Fawkes night, singing Rule Britannia at the last night of the proms, feeling hugely patriotic during any sporting event in which we’re participating and rigidly upholding a myriad of other traditional British customs throughout the year without fail.
Traditional food and drink
One tradition we’re well-known for is having a cup of tea several times a day – especially in times of crisis – and being able to dunk a biscuit makes that pleasure complete. We also enjoy visiting our beautiful local countryside pubs for a pint of traditionally brewed British beer.
When it comes to food, there are many traditional dishes that are associated with Britain. Fish and chips, scones with cream and jam, roast turkey and bread sauce at Christmas, bangers and mash with onion gravy, a full English breakfast, roast lunches on Sunday, sheperd’s pie, Lancashire hotpot, apple pie and custard and strawberries and cream during Wimbledon are just some of our favourites. Piping in the haggis on Burns Night is a well-known tradition north of the border every January.
Quirky British traditions
We’re also known for having several very eccentric traditions too. These range from chasing a huge cheese down a steep hill in Gloucestershire (with a chance of sustaining a serious injury on the way) and a world nettle eating championship in Dorset to bog diving, tar barrel rolling in Devon, dancing around the maypole, a wife carrying race, hen racing (any fighting between the hens is strictly forbidden) and Easter Egg hunts across the country. These are very different to the normal traditions associated with Britain with many becoming famous throughout the world.
Traditional British Characteristics
The British are known for our stiff upper lips and legendary, quirky sense of humour. We make a point of maintaining our dignity in public but can laugh at ourselves when things go wrong. Traditionally, we never take ourselves too seriously and enjoy the comedic aspect of any situation. Being ironic is a very British characteristic that is not always fully appreciated!
British traditions are also based on deep rooted moral values. Our sense of fairness is profound – queuing politely is fundamental and woe betide anybody trying to push in. However, we’re also known for our reticence in pointing out any transitions and are more likely to huff and puff than confront the perpetrator. Supporting the underdog is an absolute in our culture and adhering to unspoken rules is important too. Rule breaking is almost certainly frowned upon.
We believe in everyone having individual freedom, but it must be in conjunction with mutual respect, tolerance and the rule of law. It’s important that we can act and express ourselves while ensuring that we accept the opinions and rights of others at the same time. Bad behaviour is unacceptable and is not likely to be tolerated.
Other recognisable British traditions
Because the weather is so unpredictable in this country, the moment the sun comes out we traditionally get very excited. The barbeque immediately appears, sunbeds are unearthed from the garden shed and we don our shorts, vests and sunglasses to take advantage of every ray. We always take extra layers of clothes to the beach just in case the weather changes (even after we’ve checked the weather forecast before leaving home) and obsess about the state of the traffic when we’re on the way out.
That’s not all though. We’re also recognised for traditionally being overly polite and have been known to apologise profusely when we haven’t done anything wrong – as well as for carrying an umbrella even when the sun’s shining!
Whichever way you decide to commemorate Her Majety The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we hope you enjoying paying tribute to some of the iconic British traditions highlighted throughout this blog.
”Ways Catherine Jewkes //www.tts-group.co.uk/blog/2016/05/19/incorporate-british-values-everyday-play.html#q=british%2Bvalues&searchType=simple-search&start=1 How to incorporate British Values into everyday play We asked some leading Early Years practitioners to cut-through the confusion surrounding British Values and to come up with practical ways to help you demonstrate how they link to the EYFS – it’s n…” Type=”” Size=””]
