A HANBOOK FOR BRITISH AND AMERICAN STUDIES

Britain is a country governed by routine. It has fewer public holidays than most
other countries in Europe. Even New Year’s Day was not an official public
holiday (except in Scotland) until 1974, bur so many people gave themselves a
holiday anyway that It was thought it might as well become official! There are
almost no semi-official holidays either. Most official holidays occur either just
before or just after a weekend, so that the practice of making a ‘bridge’ between
the holiday and the weekend is almost unknown. Moreover, there are no
traditional extra holidays in particular localities. Although the origin of the word
‘holiday’ is choly day’, not all public holidays during the year (usually known as

Photo 10: Traditional holiday resorts in England

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‘bank holidays’) are connected with religious celebrations.

The British also seem to do comparatively badly with regard to annual holidays.
These are not as long as they are in many other countries. Although the average
employee gets about four weeks’ paid holiday a year, in no town or city in the
country would a visitor ever get the impression that the place had ‘shut down’ for
the summer break.

1. Traditional seaside holidays

The British upper class started the fashion for seaside holidays in the late
eighteenth century. The middle classes soon followed them and when, around the
beginning of the twentieth century, they were given the opportunity, so did the
working classes. It soon became normal for families to spend a week or two every
year at one of the seaside resort towns which sprang up to cater for this new mass
market. The most well-known of these are near to the bigger towns and cities.
These resorts quickly developed certain characteristics that are now regarded as
typical of the ‘traditional’ English holiday. They have some hotels where richer
people stay, but most families stay at boarding houses. These are small family
businesses, offering either ‘bed and breakfast’ or, more rarely, ‘full board’ (all
meals). Some streets in seaside resorts are full of nothing but boarding houses.
The food in these, and in local restaurants, is cheap and conventional with an
emphasis on traditional British food.
Stereotypically, daytime entertainment in sunny weather centres around the
beach, where the children can sometimes go for donkey rides, make sandcastles,
buy ice-creams, and swim in the sea. Older adults often do not bother to go
swimming. They are happy just to sit in their deck chairs and occasionally go for
a paddle with their skirts or trouser-legs hitched up. The water is always cold, and
despite efforts to clean it up, sometimes very dirty. But for adults who swim, some
resorts still have wooden huts on or near the beach, known as ‘beach huts’,
‘bathing huts’, or ‘beach cabins’, in which people can change into swimming
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costumes. Swimming and sunbathing without any clothing is rare. All resorts have
various other kinds of attraction, including more-or-less permanent funfairs.
For the evenings, and when it is raining, there are amusement arcades, bingo halls,
discos, theatres, bowling alleys, and so on, many of these situated on the pier. This
distinctively British architectural structure is a platform extending out into the sea.
The large resorts have lighted decorations which are switched on at night. The
Blackpool illuminations’, for example, are famous.
Another type of holiday that was very popular m the 1950s and 1960s is the
holiday camp, where visitors stayed in chalets in self-contained villages with all
their food and entertainment organized for them. Butlin’s and Pontm’s, the
companies which owned most of these, are well-known names in Britain. The
enforced iron humor, strict meal times and events such as ‘knobby knees'
competitions and beauty contests that were characteristic of these camps have now
been replaced by a more relaxed atmosphere.

2. Modern holidays
Both of these traditional types of holiday have become less popular in the last
quarter of the twentieth century. The increase in car ownership has encouraged
many people to take caravan holidays. But the greatest cause in the decline of the
traditional holiday is foreign tourism. Before the 1960s, only rich people took
holidays abroad. By 1972, the British were taking seven million foreign holidays
per year and by 1987, 20 million. In 2006, the figure was 45 million.
Most foreign holidays are package holidays, in which flights and accommodation
are booked and paid for through a travel agent. These holidays are often booked
a long time in advance. In midwinter, the television companies run programmes
which give information about the packages being offered. People need cheering
up at this time of the year! In many British homes, it has become traditional to get
the brochures out and start talking about where to go in the summer on Boxing
Day. Spain is by far the most popular destination for this kind of holiday. In fact,
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more than a quarter of all kinds of holiday taken abroad by British people in 2006
were to Spain. Hundreds of thousands of British people now own (or part- own)
villas in Spain and, because flights are so cheap, they go there more than once a
year. In fact, the availability of cheap flights has allowed some people to go to
distant European cities just for long weekends. The possible effects that this is
having on the climate, however, mean that this habit may not last much longer.
The next most popular destination for British tourists is France, where they can
travel by taking their cars across the channel.
Half of all the holidays taken within Britain are now for three days or less. Every
bank holiday weekend, the television carries news of long traffic jams along the
routes to the most popular holiday areas. The traditional seaside resorts have
survived by adjusting themselves to this trend. (Only the rich have second houses
or cottages in the countryside to which they can escape at weekends.) But there
are also many other types of holiday. Hiking in the country and sleeping at youth
hostels has long been popular. There are also a wide range of ‘activity’ holidays
offered, giving full expression no British individualism. You can, for example,
take part in a ‘murder mystery weekend’, and find yourself living out the plot of
a detective story.
Some people go on 'working’ holidays, during which they help to repair an ancient
stone wall or take part in an archaeological dig. This is an echo of another
traditional type of holiday - fruit picking. It used to be the habit of poor people
from the east end of London, for example, to go down to Kent and help with the
hop harvest (hops are used for making beer).

3. Christmas
Christmas is the one occasion in modern Britain when a large number of customs
are enthusiastically observed by most ordinary people at family level. The slow
decrease in participation in organized religion, and the fact that Christmas in
modern times is as much a secular celebration as a religious one, has had little
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effect on these traditions. Even people who consider themselves to be anti-

religious quite happily wish each other a ‘Happy Christmas’ or a ‘Merry
Christmas’. They do not (as in some other countries) self-consciously wish each
other a ‘Happy New Year’ instead.
Indeed, the ‘commercialization’ of Christmas has itself become part of tradition.
Every November in Oxford Street (one of the main shopping streets in the centre
of London), a famous personality ceremoniously switches on the ‘Christmas
lights’ (decorations), thus ‘officially’ marking the start of the period of frantic
Christmas shopping. And it certainly is frantic. Between that time and the middle
of January, most shops do nearly half of their total business for the year. (As soon
as the Christmas rush finishes, on Boxing Day, the shops begin their winter sales.)
Most people buy presents for the other members of their household and also for
other relatives, especially children. Some people also buy presents for their close
friends. And to a wider circle of friends and relatives, and sometimes also to
working associates and neighbours, they send Christmas cards. Some even send
such greetings to people who they have not seen for many years, often using the
excuse of this tradition to include a letter passing on the year’s news.
People also buy Christmas trees (a tradition imported from Germany in the late
nineteenth century). Most households have a tree and decorate it themselves (in
many cases, with colored lights). Most people also put up other decorations
around the house. Exactly what these are varies a great deal, but certain symbols
of Christmas, such as bits of the holly and mistletoe plants, are very common, and
the Christmas cards which the household has received are usually displayed. A
few people go even further and put up decorations outside their house. These most
commonly consist of lights arranged in the shape of seasonal motifs. A few
households also have a ‘crib’, a model depicting the birth of Christ.
Another feature of December is the singing of carols (usually, but not always,
with a religious theme). These are sung in churches and schools, often at special

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concerts, and also, though less often than in the past, by groups of people who go
from house to house raising money for charitable causes.
An indication of the importance attached to Christmas in British people’s minds
is that many people who do not go to church during the rest of the year do so at
this time, and churches find attendance swelling by three times its normal amount.
A 2005 poll found that 43% of the adult population expected to attend a church
service over the Christmas period.
Customs concerning the role of Father Christmas (Santa Claus) in the giving of
gifts vary from family to family. Most households continue the traditional child’s
concept that Father Christmas comes down the chimney on the night of Christmas
Eve, even though most houses no longer have a working chimney! Many children
lay out a Christmas stocking at the foot of their beds, which they expect to see
filled when they wake up on Christmas morning. Most families lay out presents,
wrapped, around or on the Christmas tree, and these are opened at some time on
Christmas Day.
Other activities in which many families engage on Christmas Day are the eating
of Christmas dinner and listening to the Queen’s Christmas message. This ten-
minute television broadcast is normally the only time in the year when the
monarch speaks directly to ‘her’ people on television. (But if people don’t like
this idea, there is an ‘alternative’, sometimes controversial Christmas message on
Channel 4, delivered by a different person each year.) There is a general feeling
that Christmas is a time for families.
Many of the gatherings in houses on Christmas Day and Boxing Day consist of
extended families (more than just parents and children). In many families,
Christmas is the only time that such gatherings occur.

4. New Year
All that celebrating is very tiring and many employers now give their employees
the whole of the time between Christmas and New Year off. In contrast to the
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family emphasis on Christmas, parties at New Year’s Eve are regarded more as a
time for friends. Most people attend a gathering at this time and 'see in’ the new
year together, often drinking a large amount of alcohol as they do so. Some people
in the London region go to the traditional celebrations at Trafalgar Square (where
there is an enormous Christmas tree - an annual gift from the people of Norway).
In Scotland, where Calvinist tradition was not happy about parties and
celebrations connected with religious occasions (such as Christmas), New Year,
called Hogmanay, is given particular importance - so much importance that, in
Scotland only, 2 January (as well as New Year’s Day) is also a public holiday, so
people have two days to recover from their New Year’s Eve parties instead of just
one! The crowd at the Hogmanay street party in Edinburgh is actually much larger
than that in Trafalgar Square. Some British New Year customs, such as the singing
of the song Auld Lang Syne, originated in Scotland. Another, less common, one
is the custom of ‘first footing’, in which the first person to visit a house in the new
year is supposed to arrive with tokens of certain important items for survival (such
as a lump of coal for the fire).
As a well-known Christmas carol reminds people, there are twelve days of
Christmas. In fact, most people go back to work and school soon after New Year.
Nobody pays much attention to the feast of the epiphany on 6 January (the twelfth
day of Christmas), except that this is traditionally the day on which Christmas
decorations are taken down. Some people say it is bad luck to keep them up after
this date.

5. Other notable annual occasions

Easter is far less important than Christmas in Britain. Although it involves a four-
day weekend, there are very few customs and habits associated generally with it,
other than the mountains of chocolate.

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Photo 11: Calendar of special occasions

Calendar of special occasions

Calendar of special occasions

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None of the other days of the year to which traditional customs are attached is a
holiday, and not everybody takes part in these customs.
In fact, many people in Britain live through occasions such as Shrove Tuesday
and April Fools5 Day without even knowing they have happened.
There are two other days which, although many people do not do anything special
on them, are very difficult to ignore. One of these is Halloween, the day before
All Saints' Day in the Christian calendar. It has long been associated with the
supernatural (witches, ghosts, etc.). Some people hold Halloween parties, which
are fancy-dress. Traditionally, this day was observed much more energetically in
America than in Britain. But recently, the American custom of ‘trick or treat’ (in
which groups of children call at houses and challenge the person who answers the
door to give them something nice to eat or be prepared to have a trick played on
them) has been imported.
Shrove Tuesday
This day is also known as Pancake Day. In past
centuries, lent was a time of fasting. Both meat and eggs
were forbidden throughout the six weeks. The tradition
was to eat up all your meat on the Monday before it
started, and all your eggs on the Tuesday - in pancakes.
Nowadays, the fasting has gone and only the eating
remains.
Two events are associated with Shrove Tuesday. One of
them is the pancake tossing contest (to see how many
pancakes you can throw into the air, rotate and catch within a certain time). The other is
the pancake race. These are still held in many places all over Britain. You have to run
while continuously tossing a pancake - if you drop it when it comes down, you’re out.
The other day is only five days later. This is the day which celebrates a famous
event in British history - the gunpowder plot. It is called Guy Fawkes Day - or,
more commonly, Guy Fawkes Night. At the beginning of the seventeenth century,
a group of Catholics planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament while the king

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was in there. Before they could achieve this, one of them, Guy Fawkes, was caught
in the cellars under Parliament with the gunpowder. He and his fellow
conspirators were all brought to trial and then killed. At the time, the failure of the
gunpowder plot was celebrated as a victory for British Protestantism over rebel
Catholicism. In modern times, it has lost its religious and patriotic connotations.
In most parts of Britain, Catholic children celebrate it just as enthusiastically as
Protestant children - or, for that matter, children brought up in any other religious
faith (as with Christmas, most of the customs associated with this day are mainly
for the benefit of children). Some children make a ‘Guy’ out of old clothes stuffed
with newspaper several weeks beforehand. They then place this somewhere on
the street and ask passers-by for ‘a penny for the Guy’. What they are actually
asking for is money to buy fireworks.
On Guy Fawkes Night itself, there are bonfire parties throughout the country, at
which the ‘Guy’ is burnt. Some people cook food in the embers of the bonfire,
especially chestnuts or potatoes. So many fireworks are set off that, by the end of
the evening, the air in all British cities smells strongly of sulphur. Every year,
accidents with the fireworks injure or even kill several people. In an effort to make
things safer, some local authorities arrange public firework displays and bonfires.
St. Valentine’s Day and Gretna Green
Despite the unromantic reputation of the British, on
or just before this day every year millions of pounds
worth of flowers are delivered, tens of millions of
chocolates are sold and greetings-card
manufacturers get very rich.
Every St. Valentine’s Day, thousands of people
travel to a tiny village on Scotland’s border with
England. Many of them go to get married, and many
more couples go through mock wedding
ceremonies. The village is Gretna Green. Its
romantic reputation began in 1754. In England in

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that year, marriage for people under the age of 21 without permission from parents was
banned. In Scotland, however, this permission was not required, and Gretna Green was
the first stop across the border. The laws that brought fame to Gretna Green no longer
apply.
But its reputation is secure. In this small place, more than ten people get married, on
average, every day of the year. On St. Valentine’s Day, the number is around 40.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Why have traditional British holidays become less popular in the last 50 years? Is the
modern pattern of British holidaymaking the same as it is for people in your country?

2. What aspects of Christmas in Britain, and the customs associated with it, are different
from those in your country?

3. In Britain, you are generally considered to be unfortunate if your birthday is in the

second half of December. Why?

4. There is a science fiction story in which beings from outer space fly over Britain one
night and conclude that planet earth is full of barbaric, cruel people. Which night was it?

EXERCISE 1
Match 1-15 with a-o.
1. Boxing Day a. Auld Lang Syne
2. bank holiday weekends b. Brussel sprouts
3. Christmas dinner c. eggs
4. Christmas lights d. fireworks
5. Christmas stockings e. hot cross buns
6. Easter f. marriage
7. April the first g. Oxford Street
8. Good Friday h. pancakes
9. Gretna Green i. poppies

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10. Guy Fawkes j. principal boy

11. Halloween k. Santa Claus
12. New Year l. traffic jams
13. Pantomime m. jokes
14. Remembrance Sunday n. trick or treat
15. Shrove Tuesday o. winter sales

EXERCISE 2
Find the word or phrase in Unit 6 of Education which is used to mean or
describe:
1. an event with merry-go-rounds and other rides and amusements, mainly for
children
2. a fold-out chair made of wood and canvas, associated mainly with beaches
3. a long platform extending out into the sea on which are placed various leisure
facilities
4. walking for pleasure in the countryside, often in mountains
5. religious songs with a Christmas theme

EXERCISE 3
Fill in the gaps in the text with the words from the list below.
patronizing nativity offended grottos
concatenation intercession ploy
For about eight weeks starting around the middle of November, town centres in
Britain adorn themselves with festive decorations. There are lights, illuminated
Christmas trees, (1) ……… scenes, and so on. The only negative reactions to
these come from people who see them as a (2) ……… to get us into the shops and
part with our money. This (3) ……… of Christian symbols and the goals of
commerce is most obviously seen in the presence of Santa’s (4) ……… in the
department stores.
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In recent years, however, many of these signs have been disappearing. Many local
councils have taken the view that displays of specifically Christian symbols are
offensive to followers of other religions in their multicultural town. So, for
example, the Christmas lights are renamed the ‘winter lights’, nativity scenes are
removed, and written messages of goodwill omit the word ‘Christmas’. These
local councils are well-meaning, but their actions are insulting. To assume that
members of other faiths are (5) …….… by signs of Christianity is (6) …….… It
also betrays ignorance. Jesus Christ, for example, is one of the most revered
figures in Islam. It was heartening, therefore, when in 2005 the town of
Wolverhampton moved the other way. For the previous few years, the lights in
the town center had spelled out the plain message ‘Welcome’, but following the
(7) ……… of a local Muslim councilor, ‘Happy Christmas’ was reinstated.

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