English culture and traditions

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English culture and traditions

• Katerina Kusá

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Outline

• English festivals
• English food
• Sports
• Media
• Traditional clothes and costumes
• Transport
• Religion

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English festivals (1) - Christmas

• The most important festival
• of the year
• A carol service
• Houses are decorated
• Christmas tree
• Giving presents
• Father Christmas and
• a long sock at the end of the bed
• Christmas Day 25th December

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English festivals (2)

• Boxing Day 26th December, a public holiday
• New Years Eve celebrating of coming of the
  year at midnight on 31st December
• St. Valentines Day 14th February, sending
  cards, flowers and chocolates to someone you love
• Ash Wednesday the day in February, the
  Christian period of Lent begins
• Pancake Tuesday the day before Ash Wednesday,
  people eats lots of pancakes

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English festivals (3)

• Easter Easter Sunday - chocolate eggs,
• a new birth, Good Friday hot cross-buns,
• Easter Monday a holiday
• April Fools Day a day of fun and jokes
• St. Georges Day 23rd April is a national day
  in England, St. George is a patron of England,
  people do not celebrate it much
• May Day 1st May, celebration of the end of the
  winter, connected with dancing
• Ascension Day a christian holiday, it is the
  40th day after Easter Sunday

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English festivals (4)

• Pentecost (Whitsunday) 10 days after Ascension
  Day, the coming of holly spirit
• Harvest festival - Thanksgiving ceremonies and
  celebrations for a successful harvest, usually in
  September
• Halloween 31st October holly evening,
  connected with witches and ghosts, strange
  costumes, pumpkin latern
• All Saints Day 1st November
• All Souls Day 2nd November
• Bonfire Night 5th November, the anniversary of
  the Gunpowder plot, huge fireworks, burning an
  effigy

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English food (1)

• traditionally based on beef, lamb, pork, chicken
  and fish
• generally served with potatoes and one other
  vegetable
• no national food, but the most common and typical
  foods include fish and chips, sandwiches, pies
  and puddings
• a selection of Indian, Italian, Chinese and Greek
  restaurants
• take-away meals

Fish and chips
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English food (3)

• Three main meals a day breakfast, lunch and
  dinner (sometimes called supper)
• Dinner is usually the main meal of the day
• A typical English breakfast - a bowl of cereals,
  a slice of toast, orange juice and a cup of
  coffee
• A 'packed lunch - this typically consists of a
  sandwich, a packet of crisps, a piece of fruit
  and a drink
• A typical British meal for dinner is meat and
  usually the vegetables (one of the vegetables is
  almost always potatoes)

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English food (3) Christmas dinner

• the main Christmas meal
• eaten at mid-day or early afternoon
• roast turkey, Brussels sprouts, roast potatoes,
  cranberry sauce, rich nutty stuffing, tiny
  sausages wrapped in bacon and lashings of hot
  gravy
• a rich, fruity pudding which you douse in flaming
  brandy said to ward off evil spirits.

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Pictures of Christmas Dinner
Roast turkey
Brussel Sprouts and chestnuts
Stuffing
Roast potatoes
Parsnips and Swede
The Christmas pudding
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English food (4) Food at Easter

• On Good Friday - warm 'hot cross buns'
• with their combination of spicy, sweet
• and fruity flavours have long been an
• Easter tradition, it is also traditional
• to eat fish instead of meat
• Easter day - roast lamb is the traditional meat
  for the main meal, served with mint sauce and
  vegetables, the traditional puddings are custard
  tarts sprinkled with currants and flat Easter
  biscuits, Simnel cake is baked for tea, chicken
  has long been a modern favourite for Easter
  Sunday dinner mainly due to the baby (spring)
  chicken being associated with birth and new life

Hot cross bun
Simnel cake
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Sports

• An important part in the life of Englishmen
• A popular leisure activity
• Many of the worlds famous sports began
• in England, including cricket, football,
• lawn tennis and rugby
• Englands national sport is cricket
• To many people football (soccer) is seen
• as their national sport
• Rugby is similar to football but
• played with an oval ball
• The worlds famous tennis tournament
• is Wimbledon
• Horse racing, the sport of Kings,
• is a very popular sport (The Grand
  National)
• Polo is played by men on horses.
• Table tennis (ping pong) was invented
• in England in 1880
• Fishing (angling) is also one of the most
• popular sports in England

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Media

• Three public bodies are responsible for
  television
• and radio throughout England
• The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• The Independent Television Commission (ITC)
• The Radio Authority
• People in Britain watch TV on average 25 hours of
  every week
• Television viewing is Britain's most popular
  leisure pastime
• There are five main channels in Britain (BBC1,
  BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel 5)
• The BBC has been providing regular television
  broadcasts since 1936
• There are about 130 daily and Sunday newspapers
• British newspapers include the following
• The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The
  Financial Times,
• The Guardian, The Independent, The Times,
  Western Mail
• and Echo, The Sun, The Mirror, The Herald,
  Written by Rachel.

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Traditional costumes and clothes

• England has no national dress
• Some people think men
• in England wear suits and
• bowler hat but it isnt true
• English customs and traditions
• involve a variety of costumes
• Beefeaters (the nearest thing
• to English national costume)

Typical Englishman
Beefeater
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Transport

• Most people in England travel by car
• Goods are transported by lorries
• The red double decker buses
• in London
• In London, taxis are black
• The name of Londons underground
• system is The Tube
• In England there are also Euro trains
• There are 470 airports in England

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Religion

• The main religion is Christianity
• Most Christians belong to the Church of England
• there are also Roman Catholics, Hindu, Jewish and
  Muslim communities
• The Queen is head of Church of England.