You will learn about unususal British traditions ( Straw Bear Day, Up Helly Aa, Cornish Hurling, Morris Dancing, Cheese Rolling, The Highland Games, Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, Worm Charming, Bog snorkelling)

1. Unusual British Traditions

2. Straw Bear Day
Date- January
Location- Whittlesea, in the Fenland area of
Cambridgeshire.
This is traditionally held on the Tuesday after ‘Plough
Day’ (Плуговой понедельник) in Whittlesea, in the
Fenland area of Cambridgeshire. A man is dressed up
in straw (солома) to look like a bear and dances from
house to house. At the end of the 19th century the
police banned (запретила) Straw Bear Day, but it was
brought back in the 1980s and is now very popular in
the area.

3. Up Helly Aa
Date- last Tuesday of January
Location- Lerwick, in the Shetland area
of Scotland
On the last Tuesday of January,
residents (жители) of Lerwick, in the
Shetland area of Scotland, celebrate
their Viking roots (корни) by dressing
up, marching through the streets and
burning a Viking ship!

4. Cornish Hurling
(Корнуолл-херлинг)
Date- on Shrove Tuesday and on the second Saturday following
Location- St Columb and St Ives, Cornwall
The ancient game of Cornish hurling still takes place in the county
every year on Shrove Tuesday.
The game is held in St Columb Major, near Newquay, and involves two
teams trying to wrestle, throw and carry a small, silver ball through
the streets.
It starts in the middle of the afternoon, with the words: "Town and
Country do your best. But in this parish (округ, приход)I must rest."
The hurling can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.
It has been played for over 500 years across Cornwall, today St Ives
and St Columb are the only places where the sport still takes place.

5. Morris Dancing
Date- May Day
Location- nationwide
One of the oldest of all English tradition is Morris
dancing. This is a dance performed outside by men
wearing white, with bells on their knees and often
flowers on their hats, holding either sticks, swords
(мечи) or handkerchiefs (платки). The earliest
records of Morris Dancing date back to the 15th
Century where “peasants” (крестьяне) would
dance the evening away.

6. Cheese Rolling
(Куперхилльская сырная
гонка)
Date- Late Spring Bank Holiday
Location- Coopers’ Hill in Gloucestershire, England
Cheese Rolling takes place once a year at Coopers’ Hill in
Gloucestershire, England usually on the annual (ежегодный)
spring bank holiday. People compete to roll a 9-lb. round
Double Gloucester cheese wheel (сырная головка) down a
hill. It’s an old tradition, although no one knows for certain
when it began. Today people from all over the world come to
take part!

7. The Highland Games
(Игры горцев)
Date- spring or summer
Location- Scotland
This is a kind of Scottish Olympics, where
people compete in traditional Scottish
sports. Most of these involve throwing
heavy objects, including Tossing the Cabre
(throwing a huge wooden pole) and
Hammer Throwing (метание молота).

8. Summer Solstice at
Stonehenge
( Летнее солнцестояние)
Date-during the summer solstice
Location- Stonehenge
Each year, during the summer solstice,
more than 40, 000 people head
(направляются) to Stonehenge to
celebrate the rising sun! This is a very
ancient ceremony held at Stonehenge,
which was built around 2000-3000 years
ago and was an important place in the
Pagan (языческий) religion of that time.

9. Worm Charming
(Заклинание червей)
Date- one of the Saturdays in June
Location- Willaston County Primary School
in Willaston, Cheshire.
This is probably the strangest tradition of
all. The event dates back to 1980. In this
‘sport’ people compete to ‘charm’ worms –
to get them to come out of the ground. You
can use tap dancing (чечетка), music,
singing or all kinds of other tactics to help
you, but you can’t dig (копать).

10. Bog snorkelling
(Сноркеллинг на болоте)
Date- summer
Location- Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales
Usually, Bog Snorkelling happens in summer. Bog
snorkelling is swimming through a bog (болото) using
a snorkel to breath. Basically participants dive
(нырять) into a bog in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, wearing
goggles (очки), a pair of flippers (ласты) and a snorkel,
they then proceed to race each other along a 120ft
trench (траншея) filled with mud (грязь). Held every
year the participants come from all over the world and
raise lots of money for charity (благотворительность).