To think everyone loves traditions/culture unless it is our own? (UK)

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This week has made me wonder about the above. I find so many people appreciate and enjoy tradition and culture when they are travelling overseas, but back in the UK will declare it outdated and embarrassing.

Things such as religion and places of worship are almost romanticised when abroad in certain countries, but back here are considered ridiculous by many. And I can’t help but think if we were watching from afar at a country who had just lost their Queen, the same people who are moaning this week would find it quite beautiful that people were wearing black and events were cancelled.

Is it just me who finds that culture and tradition are appreciated until they are on our doorstep?

@RocketPanda Conas a déirí leat? Lots of kids here will be carving pumpkins too . And ould turnip isn't good enough anymore!

They'll be around saying Trick or Treat ! Whereas we used to say ' Apples or Nuts'. I'd imagine the English had Halloween traditions fadó but they were replaced by Guy Fawkes night , probably?

At least the Wren Boys on St Stephens Day have not been Disneyfied yet.

You are right op. Whilst travelling in Nepal as a teen, i wondered at traditions like the Kumari ( child goddess) but would hate that to be a tradition here. I'm a bit less naive now.

They were hardier people than I am to be carving turnips, jaysus the arms would fall off you.
DH was a wren boy years ago and we have been known for an aul sing song.

Oh God, OP, you're not wrong.

Always worked in education in one way or another, mainly in museums and galleries, so at the sharp end of every trend in ideology as you can imagine.

Incidents that stick in my mind:

Colleague saying with sinister intonation and narrowed eyes, after mention of children's traditional stories: "Hmm...and what do they mean by traditional, I wonder?" as if there was a risk the kids were going to be indoctrinated with Hitler Youth propaganda. God help us! I think Goldilocks and Cinderella was what she was referring to. (Yes, I know these tales were collected by German folklorists, the Grimms, but they have become part of British culture too.)

When in a training session about dance in primary schools, we saw videos of Indian, Irish, Scottish, Greek and other national dances. All good, and well-received by the trainees. The tutor concluded by saying 'That's some just of the possibilities, but you could also use English traditional dances such as May-pole dancing or Morris dances." Cue scornful snorting from a competitively right-on woman behind me, who couldn't believe this was a serious suggestion and said 'Isn't all that stuff really corny and outmoded?" Well...it might be, but I'm willing to bet that all the dances we'd just watched so earnestly from other cultures might well be their equivalent of Morris dancing!!! Had any trainees come from India or the other featured cultures, they might well have had a bit of a titter!!! But that's OK, because we only sneer at British stuff.

So very tiresome and silly. British culture is just as interesting as any other and I think we're pretty alone in dissing our own stuff in the way we do. Can't imagine the French doing that!

We didn't bother with the Jack o Lanterns tbh. Happy enough with the brack.

The Wren is making a comeback in some parts. Good to see.

I agree, we’re a very self-critical country and I do think we’ve taken self-deprecation too far. Leaving religion aside, there are traditions like folk dance that are viewed as embarrassing and outdated in the UK, but we happily watch other countries’ traditional dance and don’t criticise it.

It never did. Totally made up. All schools did and still do nativity plays .

Our society is pretty much dominated by the liberal-left. They dominate the BBC, publishing and academia. And they hate their own country. George Orwell was writing about this nearly 100 years ago - the way the British left hate Britain, and especially England. People then absorb/internalise that self-hatred.

For me, it’s not so much the royals I’m proud of. I respected the queen, and I kind of like Charles, but in general the royals embarrass me. We should be most proud of our intellectual and cultural achievements, especially our literature. To me, being British is bound up with Chaucer and Shakespeare and Dickens and Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf. I’m proud to live on a small island that contains not one but two of the oldest and greatest universities in the world - universities that produced Newton and Darwin, where DNA was discovered and the atom was first understood.

But we’re never encouraged to take pride in any of this. On the contrary, every time I go in Waterstones, all I see under ‘new books’ are titles like ‘How to De-Colonise Your Bookshelves,’ or ‘Evil Empire: A History of British Colonialism,’ and so on. Or take Radio 4. Last time I bothered with it, there was a programme on about Jane Austen. Within five minutes they were linking her to slavery and colonialism, and that was all they spent the half hour discussing. Is it any wonder the young are ashamed of their own identity? Every young person I know seems proud that their grandmother is Italian, or that their dad is Greek, etc. But their British identity means nothing to them.

But we’re never encouraged to take pride in any of this

What never?
No never...

..Well hardly ever....

Our society is pretty much dominated by the liberal-left. They dominate the BBC, publishing and academia. And they hate their own country. George Orwell was writing about this nearly 100 years ago - the way the British left hate Britain, and especially England. People then absorb/internalise that self-hatred

This country is not bad. It does a lot of things well.

There are also things that it's not so good at - but if people dare to mention this, then they get shouted down and demonised for not having pride in Britain or even hating it.

I have travelled a lot. Seen a lot of things. I know what we are good at and what we could do better. But any criticism of Britain and you get called a 'hater, a Remoaner' and told to go and leave the UK.

It's like some people don't like being told that Britain is not perfect.

There are plenty of things to be proud of about this country. Plenty of good traditions. Plenty of things our ancestors have achieved.

And there are things that could be improved.

I suppose where we live has an impact on our opinions. Personally the town I live in has lots of traditions of its own (carnival, Christmas festival etc) which do get the people of the town out and embracing those traditions.
Religion I don't think is a particularly good example. The people I know of round here who claim to be religious may do the going to church on Sunday, but don't tend to do anything else Christian until the next Sunday service. I don't think that is necessarily behaviour to swoon over.
Things like flags, I think unless they are on a public building are crass here and abroad.
I do see where you are coming from in a way. Abroad a fleeting meet with someone may make people decide they are living a wholesome life because they live off the land, or make their own clothes, or have many generations living in one house. But here society thinks to have a great life you should have a big house, a range rover and a high flying career which keeps you from your family.

@cakeorwine massive round of applause from me. A country and its people ought to be able to accept that there are always things that can be done better. The British are actually a bit thin skinned in this area, or at least a subset of them are.

There are plenty of wonderful British traditions and cultures, some of which are rooted in religion, most of which are not. You only have to visit cities such as York, Bath, Stratford, the major London museums, or any of the old English Heritage monuments, to see as much. The UK has a rich enough cultural and artistic heritage to rival any nation on earth. Our sporting and popular culture is pretty formidable, too.

The problem arises when some people seem to believe 'Britishness' begins and ends with the Mountbatten-Windsor family. It doesn't. It's also disappointing to see Britain (and its national anthem) reduced to the brouhaha over one tiny group of obscenely over-privileged but fairly unremarkable people. Some might say this was selling our country extremely short.

As for traditions playing out, pity about the Lionesses' victory parade and all ...