Culture and traditions of Great Britain

(The Sergeant-at-Arms is responsible for seeing that strangers do not misconduct themselves in the House, and for arresting members as directed by the Speaker).

On arrival at the Chamber, the Mace is set on the Table, players are read by the Chaplain, and provided a quorum of forty members is present, the Speaker takes the Chair, the Chaplains withdraw, and the business of the day is taken.

Except on Friday the first hour in the House of Commons is set aside for questions, the Speaker calling in turn the Members whose names appear in the notice paper.

After question time new Members, if any, are introduced, and then the Speaker directs the Clerk at the Table to read the Order of the Day, and the regular business is begun. This may entail debating a particular stage of a Public Bill*, going into Committee to discuss the business of supply, considering Lord's amendments to a Bill, or any other item of business.

No Member may speak in a debate unless he has received permission from the Speaker and this he obtains by what is known as «catching the Speaker's eye». In effect what happens is that those members desirous of speaking rise to their feet and the Speaker calls upon one of them whereupon the remainder resume their seats.

Speeches are addressed to the Speaker and may not be read, this however is a rule that has lately been subjected to exceptions.

There is another curious in the Parliament. In front of the Members' benches in the House of Commons you will see a strip of carpet. When a Member speaking in the House puts his foot beyond that strip there is a shout «Order». This dates back to the time when the Members had swords on them and during a heated discussion might want to start fighting. The word «order» remind the hotheads that no fighting was allowed in the House. The carpet became the limit, a sort of a frontier.

The day in the Parliament ends with the Speaker leaving the Chamber through the door behind his Chair to the cries of «Who goes home?» and «Usual time tomorrow». These cries are relict of the days when the streets were unsafe and the members went together for safety and when there were no fixed hours for meetings.

In the House of Commons there are only 437 seats for 625 Members. The admittance of the sittings is not obligatory. And if more than 437 Members turn up for some important debate they to stand.

When the Members of Parliament vote, they «divide», those voting «yes» file out to the lobby on the Speaker's right; and «no's» go through to the lobby to his left. In each lobby they are counted by 2 Members called «tellers»*.

 

The Chamber of the House of Lords

 

At the end of the Chamber stands the Throne. In front of it is the Woolsack* where the Lord Chancellor wearing a full – bottomed wig, court dress and a grown, sits as Speaker of the House of Lords.

The Woolsack is traditionally held to have been placed in the House in the reign of Edward the Third. Records of the House of Lords how that «the Judges shall sit on woolsack» – emblematic of England's one time the woolsack came to be stuffed with hair. But in 1938 it was restuffed with wool. It is a big square divan with a kind of back in the middle, upholstered in red leather.

 

 

Cambridge

 

Cambridge is situated at a distance of 70 miles from London; the greater part of the town lies on the left bank of the river Cam crossed by several bridges.

Cambridge is one of the loveliest towns of England. It is very green presenting to a visitor a series of beautiful groupings of architecture, trees, gardens, lawns and bridges. The main building material is stone having a pinkish color which adds life and warms to the picture at all seasons of the year.

The dominating factor in Cambridge is University, a center of education and learning. Newton, Byron, Darwin, Rutherford and many other scientists and writers were educated at Cambridge. In Cambridge everything centers on the university and its Colleges, the eldest of which was founded in 1284. They are 27 in number. The college is a group of buildings forming a square with a green lawn in the center. An old tradition does not allow the students to walk on the grass, this is the privilege of professors and head-students only. There is another tradition which the students are to follow: after sunset they are not allowed to go out without wearing a black cap and a black cloak.

The University trains about 7. 000 students. They study for 4 years, 3 teams a year. The long vacation lasts 3 months. They are trained by a tutor; each tutor has 10-12 students reading under his guidance. There is a close connection between the University and colleges, through they era separate in theory and practice.

A college is a place where you live no matter what profession you are trained for; so that students studying literature and those trained for physics belong to one and the same college. However the fact is that you are to be a member of a college in order to be a member of the University.

The students eat their meals in the college dining-hall. At some colleges there is a curious custom known as «sooncing». If a should come late to dinner or not be correctly dressed or if he should break one of the little unwritten laws of behaviour, then the senior student present may order him to be «soonced». The Butler brings in a large silver cup, known as «sconce cup», filled with offender, who must drink it in one attempt without taking the cup from his lips. (It holds two and half pints). If he succeeds then the senior student pays for it, if not, the cup is passed round the table at the expense of the student who has been «sconced». Now the origin of this custom.

Until 1954, undergraduates (students studying for the first degree) had to wear cloaks, called gowns, after dark, but now they are only obliged to wear them for dinner and some lectures. This tradition is disappearing, but one which is still upheld is that of punting on the Cam. It is a favourite summer pastime for students to take food, drink, guitars (or, alas, transistor radios) and girl friends on to a punt (a long, slim boat, rather like a gandola) and sail down the rive, trying very hard to forget about exams. Many students feel that they have not been christened into the University until they have fallen into the River Cam. This has almost become a tourist attraction.

Students also have an official excuse to «let themselves loose» once a year (usually in November) on Rag Day.

On this day, hundreds of different schemes are thought up to collect money for charity, and it is not unusual to see students in the streets playing guitars, pianos, violins, singing, dancing, eating fire, fishing in drains for money, or even just lying in beds suspended over the street swinging a bucket for money to be thrown into.

 

 

In conclusion, I would like to say, that Great Britain has a lot of interesting and original traditions. People respect their customs and try observe them, although traditions are in very big number.

The aim of my work was helpful people, who prepare to make journey to Great Britain; helpful acquaint with customs, manners of behaviour, habits of the people. Studying them help us to understand better the English way of life.

 

 

1. Кощеева Н. Е. English Reader. Part II. English National Traditions. – М., 1972.

2. Пинягин Ю. Н. Великобритания: история, культура, образ жизни. – Пермь: Изд-во Перм. Ун-та, 1996.

3. Сатинова В. М. Читаем и говорим о Британии и британцах. М. : Выcш. шк., 1997.

4. Традиции, обычаи и привычки. М. : ИНФРА-М, 2001.

5. Feasts in March. English, 1998, № 15

6. Pubs in Great Britain. English, 1997, № 41.