Lecture 14 of Culture study

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day started over two thousand years ago, as a winter festival, on 15 February.

On that day, pagans asked their gods to give them good fruit and vegetables, and strong animals.

When the Christians came to Britain, they came with a story about a man called Saint Valentine. The story is that Valentine was a Christian who lived in the third century.

The Roman Emperor at the time, Claudius II, was not a Christian.

Claudius decided that his soldiers must not marry, because married soldiers do not make good soldiers.

Valentine worked for the church, and one day he helped a soldier to get married. The Emperor said that Valentine had to die because he did wrong.

In prison Valentine started to love the daughter of a man who worked in the prison.

The day he died, he sent a note to this girl, and at the end of the note, he said: ‘Your Valentine.’

He died on 14 February, so the date of the festival changed from 15 to 14 February, and the name changed to Saint Valentine’s Day.

In the early nineteenth century, when the post office started in Britain, people started to send Valentine’s cards to the person they loved on 14 February.

The cards had pictures of flowers and birds on, and words inside like:

Roses are red, my love,

Violets are blue,

Sugar is sweet, my love,

But not as sweet as you.

People still send each other Valentine’s

cards, but often they do not write their names

inside: they just write ‘Be my Valentine,’ or

‘From your Valentine’. It is a kind of game.

Some children give their friends or teachers

cards or chocolates. A man will perhaps give

his girlfriend or wife red roses.

A lot of people go out to restaurants for the

evening and have dinner for two, with candles

and soft music.

Guy Fawkes Day

In 1604, the King of England was James I and a Protestant. Many people did not like him because they were Catholics and wanted a Catholic king.

A Catholic called Guy Fawkes, and his friends, had a plot (a kind of plan) to kill King James, and his government, when he opened Parliament in London on 5 November 1605.

They put thirty six boxes of gunpowder in a room underneath the Houses of Parliament. They wanted to kill everyone at the same time.

But the plan did not work. One of Guy Fawkes’ friends wrote a note to someone about it. At about midnight on 4 November, the King’s soldiers found Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder.

They sent him to prison but he did not want to give the names of his friends. They did terrible things to him for eight days until he said all their names.

Parliament decided that Guy Fawkes and the other plotters had to die. In January 1606, when people heard the news that the plotters were dead, they made many fires in the streets to celebrate. King James was alive and well!

Every year on 5 November, in most parts of

Britain, people build a big fire outside, with all

the dead leaves and old pieces of wood they do

not want. The fire is called a bonfire.

They made a dummy (called a ‘guy’) of

Guy Fawkes, from old clothes.

Sometimes children carry the guy around

the streets to show people.

They say: ‘Penny for the guy’, and ask

people for money for fireworks.

Some people have a bonfire with fireworks in their garden, but fireworks are expensive, so often people get together and have one big party in a park or a field.

It is usually very cold in November, so they have hot food and drinks to keep warm.

Many children learn these old words about Guy Fawkes’ Day:

Remember, remember,

The fifth of November,

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

Thanksgiving

In September 1620, a group of English people

called the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from Plymouth,

England across the Atlantic Ocean, in a ship called

The Mayflower. to Cape Cod in North America.

They went away from England because of

their religion, and because they wanted land for

their families. They wanted to grow food for

themselves – not for other people.

The pilgrims sailed – for sixty-six

dangerous days – across the Atlantic Ocean.

When they arrived, they called their new

home New England, but they were not the first

people to live there.

The Indians were there first.

Sometimes the Pilgrims fought with the Indians but they also learned a lot from them.

The Indians showed them how to live from their new land, for example, and how to grow and cook new kinds of fruit and vegetables.

The first winter was difficult. Many of the Pilgrims died because it was very cold and they had little food.

In the spring they started to grow food, helped by some friendly Indians, and in the autumn of 1621 they celebrated their first harvest.

The pilgrims wanted to give thanks, not

only for the harvest, but for their new home,

new life and new friends.

A pantomime

Pantomimes, also called pantos, are traditionally

put on in theatres throughout Britain for several

weeks before and after Christmas.

Most are intended for children.

They are a British tradition which has developed over several centuries. A pantomime combines a fairly tale with comedy, music and singing, acrobatics and verse.

Among the most popular stories are Aladdin, Babes in the Wood, Cinderella, Dick Whittington and, Jack and Beanstalk.

The audience usually takes an active part in a performance: characters on stage speak to the audience directly and they shout back their answer.

Pantomimes often also include several animal characters played by actors in animal costume.

Many of the most successful pantomimes performed in professional theatres have well-known television or sports personalities playing leading roles. Hundreds of amateur pantomimes are also put on each year.

Pantomimes of this kind do not exist in the US where the word pantomime means a play or entertainment performed without words.

Religion in Britain

The various Christian denominations in

Britain are the result of various schisms that

divided the Church.

It is possible to make a very general

distinction on a geographical basis between

England, which is Anglican; Scotland, which

is Presbyterian; Wales, which is Calvinistic

Methodist; and Northern Ireland, which is

Protestant.

Obviously, there are also large Jewish

communities, while immigrants from India,

Pakistan and the Middle East have also

introduced Eastern religious.

Indeed, it is now estimated that there are

more practicing Muslims than members of any

Christian faith in Britain.

Food & Drink in Britain

The first meal of the day is breakfast.

The traditional full English breakfast served in

many British hotels may include fruit juice,

cereal, bacon and eggs, often with sausages and

tomatoes, toast and marmalade, and tea or

coffee.

Few people have time to prepare a cooked

breakfast at home and most have only cereal or

toast with tea or coffee.

Others buy coffee and a pastry on their way

to work. Lunch, which is eaten any time after

midday, is the main meal of the day for some

British people, though people out at work may

have only sandwiches.

English Breakfast

Most people around the world seem to

think a typical English breakfast consists of

eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, mushrooms

and baked beans all washed down with a cup of

coffee.

Now-a-days, however, a typical English

breakfast is more likely to be a bowl of

cereals, a slice of toast, orange juice and a

cup of coffee.

Many people, especially children, in

England will eat a bowl of cereal.

They are made with different grains such as

corn, wheat, oats etc. In the winter many

people will eat "porridge" or boiled oats.

The traditional English breakfast

consists of eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread,

baked beans and mushrooms.

Even though not many people will eat this

for breakfast today, it is always served in hotels

and guest houses around Britain.

The traditional English breakfast is called

the 'Full English' and sometimes referred to as

'The Full English Fry-up'.

Some people also refer to the midday meal as dinner. Most workers are allowed about an hour off work for it, called the lunch hour, and many also go shopping.

Many schools offer a cooked lunch (school lunch or school dinner), though some students take a packed lunch of sandwiches, fruit, etc.

Lunch

Many children at school and adults at work will have a 'packed lunch'.

This typically consists of a sandwich, a packet of crisps, a piece of fruit and a drink. The 'packed lunch' is kept in a plastic container.

Sandwiches are also known as a 'butty' or 'sarnie' in some parts of the UK.

My favourite sandwich is prawn and mayonnaise. I also love tuna and mayonnaise and ham and pickle sandwiches.

Dinner

The evening meal is usually called 'tea', 'dinner' or 'supper'.

A typical British meal for dinner is "meat and two veg". We put hot brown gravy, (traditionally made from the juices of the roast meat, but more often today from a packet!) on the meat and usually the vegetables.

One of the vegetables is almost always potatoes.

The traditional meal is rarely eaten

nowadays, apart from on Sundays. A recent

survey found that most people in Britain eat

curry! Rice or pasta dishes are now favoured as

the 'British Dinner'.

Vegetables grown in England, like

potatoes, carrots, peas, cabbages and onions,

are still very popular. The Sunday Roast

Dinner- lunch time is a typical time to eat the

traditional Sunday Roast.

Traditionally it consists of roast meat, (cooked

in the oven for about two hours), two different

kinds of vegetables and potatoes with a Yorkshire

pudding. The most common joints are beef, lamb

or pork; chicken is also popular.