traditions Archives - British Slang Dictionary

Maypole Dancing

Maypole dancing is done around a tall pole hung with ribbons. Dancers each take a ribbon and move in opposite…

The village fête is a summer afternoon fundraiser held in a field, on a green or in a school playing…

Punch and Judy is a glove-puppet show performed in a tall narrow striped booth, traditionally on a beach or at…

Well dressing is the decoration of wells, springs and water taps with large pictorial panels made entirely from natural materials.…

For five days each July, a small flotilla of traditional rowing skiffs makes its way up the Thames from Sunbury…

On the Spring Bank Holiday every May, several hundred people gather at the top of Cooper's Hill near Brockworth in…

Harvest Festival is the British thanksgiving for the gathered crop, held in churches and primary schools in late September or…

Halloween in Britain is a curious case: an ancient native festival that faded almost completely in England, was exported to…

May Day marks the beginning of summer, and it is one of the oldest surviving festivals in Britain. The Early…

A Christmas cracker is a cardboard tube wrapped in coloured paper with twisted ends. Two people take an end each,…