Britain is stuck in the past (and why America should follow)

One of the things I love about living in the UK is how often I run into its past in ordinary life. I don’t just mean going to a castle or looking at Roman ruins. I mean the traditions that turn up at markets, community events and even in a conversation before a yoga class.

In my 2023 discussion about Britain being “stuck in the past”, I meant that affectionately. As a Canadian who’d lived here for years, I appreciated the work people put into keeping those things going. There was so much to learn, and some of it appeared when I hadn’t gone looking for history at all.

A royal proclamation I hadn’t expected

After the Queen died, I stumbled into a local proclamation about King Charles becoming king. I didn’t know what it was at first. A mayor was reading the proclamation, there were very serious-looking proceedings and formal clothes, and people sang “God Save the King”. I’d never seen anything like it.

I later found a historical photograph from the Queen’s accession, and the ceremony I’d seen looked remarkably similar to me, apart from being in colour. I have mixed feelings about the royal family, and I know other people do too, but I could still appreciate the historical traditions being kept alive. I was the person who took every history class I was allowed to take at school, so this part interested me.

Dancing kept appearing in my life

Every few months, I seemed to encounter Morris dancing, whether I meant to or not. At the events where I’d seen it, there was usually a small group doing a choreographed folk dance, sometimes with bells, sticks or handkerchiefs. I often saw older men dancing, but that was my experience of the groups I’d come across.

The thing I really appreciated was the effort. People still took the time to learn the dances and perform them at festivals, markets and summer community events. I could go somewhere for a day out and find that someone was helping to keep an old tradition going there.

Then a woman in my yoga class told me about her hobby. She did a traditional historical dance and was going to a festival, I believe in Bath, where people dressed in clothes appropriate to the period and performed it. We were waiting for the lesson to start when she mentioned it. I couldn’t believe that this was what she did in her spare time, and I wished I’d asked more questions.

Town criers were another example I talked about. That sort of public announcement belonged to things I’d learned about in a textbook, yet it was still part of British events. I respected people trying to keep it going, even when it wasn’t something most towns used every day.

The festivals I’d found in Kent

My own experience was in Kent. At Rochester’s Sweeps Festival, I’d seen music, dancing and people dressing up, with the old trade of chimney sweeping behind the celebration. It felt very Charles Dickens to me. I love Rochester, and the festival was another part of the town that I’d enjoyed.

I also talked about Whitstable’s oyster festival and the blessing of the waters. That was a tradition I found interesting, although the oysters themselves were a different matter. I’d tried them, but I couldn’t swallow them. Appreciating the celebration didn’t mean I had to enjoy eating everything involved.

Faversham’s market gave me a quieter version of the same feeling. I’d been there to film a market-day visit. On some days, it could look quite modest and cute, then I would learn more about the history behind it. I loved that an ordinary-looking market had those connections to the past.

When I compared this with the forward-looking technology I associated with America, I knew I benefited from that too. I was editing on an Apple laptop and posting to YouTube. I didn’t think constantly looking backwards was the way to move forwards, but I did think keeping traditions and remembering where you’d come from mattered. As a foreigner in the UK, I loved discovering these festivals, markets and quirks.

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