Cross Cultural Management

Country Festival Presentation

United Kingdom

Group #8 Sangeeta Patel | Bharathi Priyaa T | Mahesh Kumar K | Karthik B

The U.K

May Day
First day of the month of May Celebrated as May Day

ENGLAND

Origin: The Roman festival of Flora, goddess of fruit and flowers People celebrate the coming of summer with lots of different customs Time of year when warmer weather begins, flowers & trees start to blossom Traditional May Day celebrations include Morris Dancing, crowning a May queen, dancing around a May pole It is declared a Bank holiday day off school and work Roads are closed off to traffic from 10 am 4pm The local Pipe Band march around the town playing May Day in the Past - Decorating houses : People go out before sunrise to collect flowers to decorate their houses - Washing in the early morning dew : Girls wash their faces in the dew of early morning - Crowning of the May Queen, the human replica of Flora & young girls make garlands - May Day lifting : Gang of young men lifted a pretty girl in a flower bedecked chair on May day. Then the girl would choose a boy on May 2nd

May Day Today

ENGLAND

It starts with a special May-day song followed by a procession to the church. Everyone wears white and carries garlands of flowers. The girls wear straw bands and ribbons in their hair.

People cut down young trees and stick them in the village ground to mark the arrival of summer and dance around the pole Schools would practice skipping round the pole for weeks before the final show on the village greens The end result Beautiful plaited pattern of ribbons or a tangled cats cradle

Traditional English form of folk dancing, performed by groups of men or women Origins Believed to have come from Moors of North Africa Dancing is lively ; Accompanied by an accordion player, a melodeon or fiddle player or a noisy band with a drum Different type of costumes depending on area

Samhain (sow-en)
Celtic New year
Celebrate on the October 31st . Mark the end of summer, and belief was that sun would be Winters prisoner for 6 months during which time, they would ask the sun to return safely in the summer. Huge sacred bonfire was lit on the hillside. Here they pray for the sun would shine brightly after winter was over.

IRELAND

The Pagan influence-Day of the Dead

The night of Samhain was between one year and the next, between summer and winter and because of that, Irish ancestors regarded it as outside of ordinary time. The usual rules did not apply, and spirits and the souls of the dead could return to this world along with fairies, demons, witches.

The Halloween Connection

All-Saints day - > All Hallows day was set as Nov 1st . The wearing of costumes, and roaming from door to door demanding treats can be traced to the Celtic period. The customs of bobbing for apples and carving vegetables, as well as the fruits, nuts, and spices cider are also associated with the original harvest holiday of Samhain.

Samhain (sow-en)

IRELAND

Hogmanay
Festival

SCOTLAND

Celebrated on New Year's Eve in Scotland (31st Dec) World's biggest New Year bash; Edinburgh is called as World's Festival City More important festival in Scotland than Christmas Statutory holiday on 2nd January as well as 1st January

Origin
Inherited from Vikings (Scandinavians) Kirk (Scottish Church) portrayed Christmas as a Catholic Festival Christmas was virtually banned for 400 years (End of 17th Century to 1950s) Many Scots used to work over Christmas ; normal working day until 1958

Customs
Redding the House cleaning the house ; especially kitchen Uncleaned house is considered as bad luck Rowan tree is placed above the door to bring luck Debts should be paid by New Year's Eve; else ill luck Burning of juniper was believed to ward off any evil spirits

Hogmanay

SCOTLAND

Celebrations

First stroke of the chimes at New Year - The Bells; on hearing people would sing - Auld Lang Syne First Footing Visiting friends/relatives place with the gifts shortly after 'the bells' A tall, dark and handsome man is considered as lucky; a woman or some one with red hair is considered as unlucky Bonfires and Fire Festivals - Use of fire to purify and drive away evil spirits

Cuisine

Haggis - Scotland's national dish - made up of chopped heart, liver and lungs of a sheep; served with turnips and mashed potatoes Stovies - Ttraditional Scottish dish contains potatoes, usually onions and often leftover roast beef, corned beef, mince or other meat Whisky - Scotland's most famous export; outside Scotland it is commonly abbreviated as "Scotch"

Business

Offers fantastic opportunities for all business - Transport, shopping, food & drink Tourism - Half of the crowd participating are tourists- good business opportunity for hotels Special offers Buy 2 get 1 free tickets for encouraging sales

Eisteddfod

WALES

Eisteddfod Festival of literature & Music

Land of Song Tradition dates back to 12th century

Pinnacle of Welsh cultural calendar

International and national Eisteddfod Compelling mixture of music and poetry A chair at the Lord's table awarded to the best poet and A musician

Eisteddfod - Festival of literature & Music

WALES

Largest medieval festival in Wales Bodelwyddan Castle Park - 260 acres

A packed programme of displays and demonstrations

Story telling, dance, juggling, falconry, archery, sword fighting. Explore the living history A wonderful family day out

Business Impact

Dos & Don'ts

Punctuality when meeting for business or pleasure is expected by most people. Although the English tend to dress casually out of work, men will be expected to wear a jacket and tie for more formal occasions. If you are invited to someone's house for dinner, it is the norm to take a small gift, often a bottle of wine or flowers. In the pub with friends, you will be expected to take your turn in buying a round of drinks.

People tend to keep about an 2-3 feet between them while speaking Women have the same rights as men both in the home and at the workplace Punctuality is generally valued and trains run reasonably on time Dress - It depends on the working culture of the company One should show up on time to meeting

Meeting : Irish businesspeople are generally less formal and more outwardly friendly than in many
European countries. Once the conversation gets down to business it is best to be direct and to the point and expect the same in return.

Negotiations: Decisions are usually made by group consensus with the leader having final say, so they may
take awhile.

Gift Giving:Gifts are not usually brought to business meetings.

Meetings: When doing business direct questions often receive evasive responses.
While negotiating, Avoid hard selling and any sort of conflict or confrontation. Gifts are not usually exchanged at a first meeting.

THANK YOU