What parts of our traditions and culture makes you feel like you belong in Britain

[Lionsandtigersandbears7]

Inspired by another thread ,it got me thinking I don't really have a strong sense of my identity being British..
I'm born in UK ,but moved around a lot ,so don't have an area I feel is home either ,or a strong sense of being British.
There's Christian festivals.christmas and Easter ..is that classed as our culture ?or is that religion?..I suppose there were mods and rockers and teddy boys ,that would of given people a sense of identity..then skinheads and skar ..moving in to music , different types like rock and indie gives people an identity...I missed all that though..
On postcards you get beaches and the seaside towns .. Blackpool was part of my childhood holidays,does that make up part of my identity then ?..
What makes me British other than just being born here ..I feel like culture and identity has passed me by .
I get what it would mean to be Scottish or Irish..I can see an identity with that ..but all I can think of for British is morris dancing.

LOVE THIS!

I could support that chant...😀

Go to another country and see things done differently - I think that's the way to see that what you see as 'normal' is the British you are looking for. Of course it varies by geography and by class etc, but it's there. I'm sure if I spent Christmas even in somewhere as culturally close to us as America or France it would strike me.

Totally!

The Victorian prudery and love of 'respectablity' was very new - the previous eras, and particulartly the Georgians, had been very liberal in sexual matters compared to the their successors. We know that Shakespeare and Chaucer weren't restricted by prudishness!

I read an interesting theory about this change. Firstly, the Industrial Revolution brought the bourgeoisie to dominate things much more than the aristocracy and their sober, hard-working and respectable values came to the fore. Also, the French Revolution had terrified the living daylights out of the British government and there was a reaction against the frivolity in public life which was characteristic of the Ancien Regime. So, people at the top of society were no longer supposed to be sexually transgressive - they had to keep their mistresses and lovers private etc, and there was a change to monochrome clothes and sober suits for men, who a few years earlier would have been in silks and lace of every colour of the rainbow.

I don’t think we had it particularly tough.
we were working class too, my mum worked all the hours god sent as a home care assistant and my dad was a labourer until his body was too knackered and then he drove taxis. Hardly saw either of them.
we were probably better dressed and fed than most of the kids I grew up around.
my brother joined the army and sacrificed his youth and his mental health for social mobility and I emigrated and found it much easier to build a ‘professional’ life abroad- more economic freedom and less social stigma for my origins.

i think the globally recognised British culture is mostly based on misty eyed childhood memories of the middle classes and myths of a time since past.

my parents both agree not much difference between Britain in the last ten years and the 70s other than the obvious tech and consumerism elements.

im just glad I’ve been able to give them a different life in retirement. Sunshine, access to decent healthcare (ironically still funded by the NHS) and more birds than rats.

You know that moment when Sherlock/Cumberbatch or James Bond/Daniel Craig return home, and they stand somewhere over the London and look down on the city, and feel they are home again? That's the feeling.
A cup of tea whenever I need it.
Long walks with my dogs.
Countryside.
Rain.
History. Oh my God, the history that goes so deep and wide, and you can still see it in buildings and everywhere else.
"You can't park there, mate" kind of jokes.
Lambswool knitwear.
Literature and art. Absolutely this.

The backs of houses and the suburban gardens as you pass them in the train: they don't look like those of any other country. It's the first sensation I get when emerging from the channel tunnel on the homeward journey.

Beach huts! And U.K. seaside holidays in general.

I think the sense of humour in this country is pretty special and unique . Irony, sarcasm and wit are all alive and well in the UK. Not so much in other European countries

I think the weather is actually a real plus. It's never boring and never extreme for too long.

I think the landscape is pretty special and very varied for such a small Island

Whilst I know things are changing for the worse, it is still one of the least racist, misogynistic and macho cultures I have experienced.That is not admittedly saying much but it is something. Of course class culture and prejudice is what we (or used to have) instead

I used to get really upset when people moaned about this country and about how terriible it is as I thought it was a great country and could not imagine living anywhere else when I was young. I have Italian heritage and despite liking to visit , I never ever wanted to live in Italy full time even as a child

Admittedly things are getting worse ( as they are everywhere) and I unfortunately agree things are not looking good at the moment but in general I am still glad I lve here