Unusual Occasions in Great Britain
Boxing Day started as a gift giving tradition that originated in 19th Century England during the reign of Queen Victoria. It is celebrated on December 26th the day after Christmas and is a national holiday in the UK and other parts of the world.
Boxing Days original purpose was for the gentry and business people to give gifts on the day after Christmas to their servants and others who provided service to their homes or business. There were also boxes placed in churches where people would put in items to be handed out to those in need on the day after Christmas.
The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester in the Cotswolds region of England. It is traditionally by and for the people who live in the local village of Brockworth, but now people from all over the world take part. The event takes its name from the hill on which it occurs.
From the top of the hill a round of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled, and competitors race down the hill after it. The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. In theory, competitors are aiming to catch the cheese, however it has around a one second head start and can reach speeds up to 70 mph (112 km/h), enough to knock over and injure a spectator.
Accurate information is hard to come by, but the tradition is at least 200 years old. Each year the event becomes more and more popular with contestants coming from all across the world to compete or even simply to spectate.
Dirty Weekend in the bogs at LLanwrtyd Wells
First held in 1985, takes place annually every August Bank Holiday. The event was sponsored by Rowtrees Randoms and was quite a spectacle. The landscape around the bog usually has one of two weather variations -raining and raining very hard. At the end of the day the contestants were probably drier than the spectators. Several competitors thought it was actually warmer in the bog than standing around on the
Boxing Days original purpose was for the gentry and business people to give gifts on the day after Christmas to their servants and others who provided service to their homes or business. There were also boxes placed in churches where people would put in items to be handed out to those in need on the day after Christmas.
The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester in the Cotswolds region of England. It is traditionally by and for the people who live in the local village of Brockworth, but now people from all over the world take part. The event takes its name from the hill on which it occurs.
From the top of the hill a round of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled, and competitors race down the hill after it. The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. In theory, competitors are aiming to catch the cheese, however it has around a one second head start and can reach speeds up to 70 mph (112 km/h), enough to knock over and injure a spectator.
Accurate information is hard to come by, but the tradition is at least 200 years old. Each year the event becomes more and more popular with contestants coming from all across the world to compete or even simply to spectate.
Dirty Weekend in the bogs at LLanwrtyd Wells
First held in 1985, takes place annually every August Bank Holiday. The event was sponsored by Rowtrees Randoms and was quite a spectacle. The landscape around the bog usually has one of two weather variations -raining and raining very hard. At the end of the day the contestants were probably drier than the spectators. Several competitors thought it was actually warmer in the bog than standing around on the