Life in the UK test 2009

I can't find this listed in the archives.

1. British people have a custom of waiting until 12 days after Christmas before they take down their decorations.

True or False?

2. British people have a custom of letting the old year out by going out the door at the rear of the house and then let the New Year in by entering the front door.

True or False?

1.  Yes.  Decorations go down on 6th January, the Epiphany, and also the 12th Day of Christmas

2.  Indeed.  Though the first person to cross the threshold should be a dark haired man carrying a lump of coal.

We really are a bizarre people!  Happy New Year!


Vicky

2.  Indeed.  Though the first person to cross the threshold should be a dark haired man carrying a lump of coal.

I've never heard the lump of coal part of that! We just go along with the dark haired man bit.

What do you do if you are all blond(e)??

You have bad luck for the whole year 

Vicky

What do you do if you are all blond(e)??

Doesn't have to be a family member. The first person might be a neighbour, friend, delivery-person, etc.

We call it 'first footing' in Scotland.
And blonde is definitely bad! (goes back to the days of the Vikings, when a blonde stranger at your door was a bad thing indeed!)
In the old days, good luck was a dark-haired male bringing coal, salt or black bun.
Nowadays, it's still a dark-haired male, but he normally brings whisky or maybe shortbread.

Never heard the bit about going out the back door, though... 

Nowadays, it's still a dark-haired male, but he normally brings whisky or maybe shortbread.

Mmmmm..... tall, dark and handsome AND bearing whisky and shortbread!! That's definitely good luck! 

Never heard the bit about going out the back door, though... 

DH used to do this for his gran.  A couple of minutes before the bells he and his brother would go out the back door and run around to the front door. They'd have to wait until after the bells to knock.

He had to have money in his pocket, coal and whiskey.

the door thing wouldn't work for us as we don't have a front door!

Believe it or not, British New Year traditions were included in the first edition of the citizenship test. I thought these were hilarious and charming quirks to include. Unfortunately  they were removed when the test was revised in 2007, but not before the media had a bit of fun with it - Graham Norton in particular newcomer link: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4d0mfg9ea4E [nonactive]

1. British people have a custom of waiting until 12 days after Christmas before they take down their decorations.

True or False?

True - You'll get bad luck if you don't take them down by "Twelfth Night", as it is called.

2. British people have a custom of letting the old year out by going out the door at the rear of the house and then let the New Year in by entering the front door.

True or False?

Well, I have heard of it, but I always thought it (a) was mainly Scottish (b) had more or less died out, so maybe "True" would be the safer choice. I wonder how they compile these tests? 

Contrex,
I should have qualified the questions as something that I brought up and I was wondering about. Sorry if I misled you.

Sorry if I misled you.

No worries! Got any more?

We are supposed to eat pork and sauerkraut on News Years at home and place a new coin on an outside windowsill to bring money into the house.