How weird are the British?! by https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks A closer look at some wacky UK traditions en-us 2022-04-25 02:44:04 UTC 2025-10-23 01:42:40 UTC hello@padlet.com Cheese Rolling! rebeccahebert https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157626210 - A 9lb wheel of cheese is rolled down a hill... and people run down after it.  The fastest to the bottom wins the cheese.

- It is an annual event, which has supposedly been happening for over 200 years.

- It takes place at Coopers Hill near Gloucestershire on the last Monday in May (Spring Bank Holiday)

- Anyone can take part - there are 3 races for men and 1 for women!]]> 2022-04-26 01:33:48 UTC https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157626210 Morris dance-Ivy Cui 2859862624 https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157775580
Morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords, and handkerchiefs may also be wielded by the dancers.

The earliest known and surviving English written mention of Morris dance is dated to 1448, and records the payment of seven shillings to Morris dancers by the Goldsmiths’ Company in London. Further mentions of Morris dancing occur in the late 15th century, and there are also early records such as visiting bishops‘ “Visitation Articles” mention sword dancing, guising and other dancing activities, as well as mumming plays.
]]> 2022-04-26 03:34:17 UTC https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157775580 Bonfire night-Gloria Qian qianyuting https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157782531 Bonfire is an English folk festival. It is held on November 5th every year. Bonfire Day, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, started in the early 17th century. At the height of Elizabeth I's reign, the Church of England broke away from the Vatican, but the Queen struck a moderate balance that pleased both Catholics and Protestants in the country.

After the queen's death, James I, son of Mary of Scots, succeeded to the throne. When he came to England, he adopted a repressive policy, which caused dissatisfaction among Catholics. A very small group of extremists plotted to blow up Parliament when it was opened by the King on November 5, 1605. They spent a year digging an underground tunnel to parliament, with the plan that Guy Fawkes would ignite the explosives placed underneath. The story unravelled and Guy Fawkes was arrested on November 4 and executed along with his accomplices. In order to commemorate this event, the United Kingdom every November 5 will hold some activities, gradually formed a festival.]]> 2022-04-26 03:41:17 UTC https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157782531 Pancake Day- Jessica s_zhiyueding https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157783068 Traditional day for eating pancakes.

Shroving: a custom in which children sang  poetry in exchange for food or money. 

Lent Crocking: customs of the day when children would pass from house to house asking for pancakes and if receiving none, threw broken pottery at the door]]> 2022-04-26 03:41:50 UTC https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157783068 Nettle eating contest-Yuki qianyuting https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157783234 The competition began in 1997 when two local farmers bet on who could grow the longest stinging nettle. The loser had to eat the entire plant. Later, the strange game continued. Three-time champion Phil Throme holds the record at 104 feet
Contestants are placed in front of a 2ft pile of stinging nettles and given an hour to eat as many as they can until they can't feel their mouths. Luckily, participants can drink beer during the race to relieve the tingling in their mouths.
The 23rd Annual Nettle Eating Championship was held recently at a pub in Marshwood, Dorset. The men's category was won by Tony Jeyes, who ate 29 stinging nettles totaling 58 feet. Lindy Rogers, 67, a retired teacher, won the women's category by eating a 46-foot-long stinging nettle.]]> 2022-04-26 03:42:00 UTC https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157783234 sunny tar barl festival s_zhaoyanghua https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157783507 celebrated in the Saint Mary’s Ottery in Devon on the 5th of November
also known as the Parliament Day or Guy Fawkes Night in the UK.
The locals carry huge barrels filled with tar and parade across the streets of the village while hundreds of people gather to witness this supremacy of tar barrel.
Flaming alleys with the massive crowd gathered all around, shouting in chaos and hue, large barrels flaunting across the ground with blaze rising from them, the place was completely set to fire. As more barrels rolled, the fire raged. River Otter flew calmly beside the burning sight and the two looked like parallel lines moving together but failing to meet. The moon litten water droplets contrasted beautifully with the flashing neon in the background and the dark night lit with flames. There was a sea of humans all around, some swaying from the windows above, looking like human minarets


]]> 2022-04-26 03:42:19 UTC https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157783507 winter fire festival 3292778518 https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157784626 1. Scotland has the best winter fire festivals in the UK.

2.The initial purpose of this festival is the ancient idea that fire purifies and chases away evil spirits 

3. There's a torchlight parade, pipers and drummers and an annual ritual with the town's oldest resident lighting the fire.

4.this huge bonfire is lit in the middle of the town's high street, surrounded by homes and shops.]]> 2022-04-26 03:43:26 UTC https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157784626 Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival 319259053 https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157786002 Straw bears are probably derived from medieval carnival images of wildlings. They were also interpreted by early folklorists as the personification of winter, and their appearance in late winter or early spring was seen as a ritual to drive winter out of society while others thought they were simply meant to represent true "dancing" bears that had been taken to various places for entertainment.

The Straw Bear is a very old fenland icon which goes back well into the nineteenth century at the very least. Straw Bear parades took place on Plough Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany or Twelfth Night; the day when local farm workers were supposed to return to their work, ploughing the land.

Annual celebration - January. The Whittlesea Straw Bear is maintaining the folklore tradition of parading a man dressed in straw around the streets near to Plough Monday. The Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival takes place every January.]]> 2022-04-26 03:44:59 UTC https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157786002 wife carrying s_xue_li https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157791046 The North American "wife carrying" championship is an international entertainment event. The contestants must be a man and a woman. Although it is called the "wife carrying" competition, it does not require the contestants to be husband and wife, or even not lovers, but the female contestants must weigh 108 pounds. Male contestants must carry their female  partners across hills, wooden obstacles, sharp turns, muddy ponds and sand piles. The total length of the race is about 256 meters.
The winner received a beer that weighed the same as the female contestant's weight and a cash award of five times her weight, equivalent to $530. But most of the contestants didn't compete for money, but for fun. Miettinin and hapanin decided to share their winning beer with the 2nd and 3rd teams.


]]> 2022-04-26 03:50:16 UTC https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157791046 Jack tar barl festival s_haichaozhang https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157795871 Has many of the shows, one of the most important is, pat, parades, festivals, children's pat, white tower, tambourine, turks, open d le (horse), mace (the devil waving a stick a rod and a whip), Guyana, dragon (hybrid), eagle, bulk dwarf, 8 (fire demons), and marches, dressed as the giant Arab one by one through the streets, They perform different acrobatics and let off fireworks and perform music to a happy audience. All the figures join in the final dance called "terabha".]]> 2022-04-26 03:55:11 UTC https://padlet.com/rebeccahebert/Bookmarks/wish/2157795871