How to celebrate the New Year in London: traditions, photos, reviews of tourists

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

New Year in the UK flows smoothly from the Christmas parties and continues the fun until January 2-3. In most cities and towns in the United Kingdom, the New Year's Eve goes unnoticed. That is, the population, of course, celebrates it, but quietly, at home.

The exceptions are major tourist cities like Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester or Glasgow. They celebrate the New Year noisily, brightly, provocatively. Most of the merry fellows are, of course, tourists. But the tourists are not of any separate state, but a “gathering of all peoples”, the revival of Babylon.

London stands apart from all this New Year's hype.

Celebration in the English capital

New Year in the capital of Great Britain is, of course, an extraordinary event that will sink into the soul for a long time. Locals, along with tourists, begin to prepare for it in advance. In two or three months.

If you miss the moment, then for a tourist the cost of the opportunity to celebrate the New Year in London will increase significantly! This must be remembered when applying for a visa at the lastmoment.

Clothes for the season

Winter in England is rainy. Very reminiscent of Russian November. Cloudy, wet, windy. The temperature ranges from +5 to +10 degrees Celsius. It's a miracle if it snows even for a day or two.

But this weather does not upset the locals at all. They can wear sandals and uggs even in July, even in December. With an evening dress or a sheepskin coat - also does not play a role. Therefore, the picture, where a lady in a mink coat and flip flops in the rain, should not cause confusion. For the islanders, this is normal. But it is better for tourists to dress in accordance with their thermal preferences, because to catch a cold and meet a holiday date with a temperature is not a pleasant pleasure and is completely useless.

How they celebrate the New Year in London

Let's find out. Celebration of the New Year in London is not much different from the New Year's Eve in other parts of the world. The islanders also enjoy spending time with family, meeting friends, going to clubs and parties and of course attending fairs!

Traditional Christmas and New Year's fairs are an amazing sight! In addition to the fact that at such events you can find unusual and interesting gizmos made by the hands of craftsmen, they also serve traditional English dishes: Yorkshire pudding, a closed pie with beef stewed in beer or red wine inside, as well as countless sweets and drinks. Vendors are usually dressed in Victorian era costumes at this time of year, which, coupled with colorful illuminations and a cheerful noisy crowd, creates a feeling offairy tales!

Those who are interested in how London celebrates the New Year can find the answer in the city's busiest and most famous shopping street - Oxford Street, where holiday sales take place. On New Year's Eve, discounts on branded items can reach 80%!

The British themselves love not so much to receive as to give gifts. Therefore, during the New Year holidays, literally everything that can be presented as a present is swept off the shelves! As the New Year is celebrated in London, empty and devastated store shelves are well demonstrated. Hot goods are, of course, bags, cosmetics, mugs and other small things. However, they can present a TV and even upholstered furniture. And yet most of the gifts come at Christmas. The New Year is rather an exchange of courtesies in the form of symbolic gifts and trifles.

Where New Year's Eve is celebrated in London

London is a modern metropolis, so it has a myriad of places to celebrate the New Year for every taste, whether it's a themed party or a banquet with classical music. Despite the conservatism of the British and their adherence to traditions, all the most unusual and modern can be found in London.

Clubs, bars, restaurants

A bar or pub is a traditional meeting place for subjects of the crown. No one meets at home in the kitchen. A pub and only a pub! Tables in it are booked in advance, starting from September. The best places with the most delicious menu, less cost and proximityto the center diverge first. So if you're thinking about booking a table in December, the best you can expect is sky-high prices, if not no seats at all.

Places available to visit

On New Year's Eve, London opens the doors of all kinds of museums, exhibitions and parks. They are divided into paid ones and those in which, having stood in a long queue, you can enter without paying a pen alty.

If everyone chooses the first option according to their taste, then the second seems attractive to absolutely everyone.

Here's just a short list of where you can have fun for free while celebrating the New Year in London:

• Natural History Museum, located in the heart of London. The huge, incredibly beautiful building of the times of Queen Victoria is filled with many rare exhibits. To fully examine them and not miss anything interesting, you will need 5 hours, or even more.
• British Museum. One of the most famous museums in London. However, he tells not about the city and not about the country, as one might assume from its name, but about the history of ancient peoples and civilizations.
• The Horniman Museum is set in a beautifully landscaped garden on Forest Hill (south of London). This is a traditional museum specializing in anthropology, natural history and musical instruments.
• Science has always fascinated children. That's why the Science Museum is always a great option to keep your kids entertained and get them to learn a lot. In a family style, it presents objects related to topics such as astronomy, physics, chemistry, time, light,technological and medical advances. There is no doubt that a couple of hours in this museum is the perfect way to have a great time with your family in London on New Year's Eve.
• Hyde Park, The Winter's Tale is a place of fun and entertainment, especially for children. There are many attractions here, such as a giant Ferris wheel, Santa's house, a circus show, and ice skating. There is also a wide range of original restaurants, such as the Ice Bar, the Swiss Chalet, or even the Fire Pit Bar, where you can roast marshmallows over a wood fire. It's also a Christmas market with over 200 wooden stalls selling all sorts of wonderful things for the holiday season.

Christmas traditions

As a separate theme of New Year's traditions in England does not exist. The meeting of the New Year flows smoothly from the celebration of Christmas. Therefore, the islanders combine these two holidays together.

Postcards

Perhaps, the first and main tradition, which originates in the distant London year 1843, is the mailing of postcards with the wishes of a happy New Year and Christmas. Such postcards should be sent to all relatives, friends and work colleagues. Otherwise, your disregard for the old tradition will be considered a personal insult. Not answering a postcard is also considered bad manners. Exceptions are made only for foreigners celebrating the New Year in London. Traditions oblige to take part in this fun entertainment, because at times the number of postcards can be measured not in pieces, but in kilograms.

Since all garbage in the UK is sorted and disposed of separately, for Christmas cards, after the end of the holidays, bins are installed next to large stores for the disposal of this good.

Christmas tree

Christmas tree fashion was introduced by Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, one of the brightest figures in British history.

In 1841, a Christmas tree appeared at Windsor Castle to please his beloved wife and children. All subsequent years, the spruce wandered from the castle to the garden and back, until it reached such a size that it no longer fit under the vaults of the ceiling. After that, it was decided to leave her in the garden, where she lives to this day.

Christmas trees on Christmas Eve are in almost all homes. Special fans of the holiday set up a Christmas tree in every room.

Fireplace

The heart of the house is its hearth. The decoration of the fireplace is approached with the same seriousness as when choosing a Christmas tree. The traditional gift sock, Santa's glass of wine and Rudolf's carrot take their place by the fireplace on Christmas night. It is believed that Santa enters the house through the chimney and leaves gifts in socks for obedient children. For spoilers, he puts black, smearing embers.

Illumination

Garlands and lanterns are a good demonstration of how the New Year is celebrated in London. The traditions of decorating your home encourage every owner, whether he has a house or an apartment, even if a small piece of land two squares strewn with lights. From herenot only parks and alleys look fabulous, but also small alleys and dead ends. Everyone strives to do better than their neighbor, a kind of unspoken competition for the title of the most fabulous and Christmas house.

Christmas wreaths

A variety of wreaths can be seen on each door. Traditional wreaths are made from holly, but following the fashion, more original and bright wreaths made of glass, Christmas decorations, metal, etc.

Songs

Traditional Christmas songs about Jesus Christ and the time of his birth are currently heard mostly in churches. On the streets, more and more secular songs can be heard. One of them, unnoticed in 1858, became the anthem of the New Year and Christmas. Of course, these are Jingle Bells in many versions. Another hit of 1984, creating an atmosphere of celebration and expectation of a miracle, is Last Christmas by the British duo Wham.

Candles

Traditional table wreaths with candles have a special meaning. The wreath is usually made of juniper and contains four candles. Three purple and one pink. They start burning early. The first purple candle is lit four weeks before Christmas. Each subsequent Sunday, one more candle. Purple candles symbolize the liturgical color of Advent. The pink candle that lights up on the third Sunday of Advent symbolizes the joyful expectation of the coming of Christ into this world.

On Christmas itself, a fifth candle is placed in the center of the wreath. It can be white or red. She lights upat Christmas and symbolizes Jesus Christ – “the light of the world.”

Christmas log

Long before the Christmas tree, the islanders used a Yule or Christmas log.

In England, they began to be puzzled by its preparation a year before Christmas. In the forest, the largest tree was selected, cut down and left to lie. For the holiday, only the father of the family had the right to bring a log from this tree into the house. All households treated the log as a living being. He was poured with honey, wine, sprinkled with grain.

Then the log was placed in a fireplace or stove and set on fire. It was supposed to burn for twelve days and nights.

It is believed that the ashes from the burnt Christmas log could heal from diseases and protect from evil spirits. Therefore, people wore it in a bag around their neck and scattered it around the house, trying to protect it from evil spirits.

Today, few people in the UK use the Christmas log, most resort to its counterpart - a thick Christmas candle.

Santa Claus

In the UK, this grandfather in a red sheepskin coat with a white beard and a reindeer team is called "Father Christmas". He travels through the sky and gives gifts to children.

A month before the holiday, large stores and entertainment centers arrange meetings with Santa. From the very morning, a line of children and their parents line up in his mobile house, who want to be photographed, receive a sweet present or gift, and personally tell Santa their wish for Christmas. Usually such meetings are free and cause a storm of emotions. In addition, Santa gives each child a certificate that he was good and deserved what he asks for.

Fireworks

Many residents and guests of London are waiting for New Year's Eve for the sake of one significant event - this is a traditional fireworks show near Waterloo and Westminster. Every year, thousands of people gather to watch the fireworks in London on New Year's Eve in these areas.

It has become so popular that the best meeting places of 2018 have been divided into sectors. Only ticket holders celebrating the New Year in London received access to them. Reviews of tourists on various forums and social networks vividly indicate that the show was incredibly spectacular and grandiose in its performance. Many plan to celebrate the next New Year in the UK capital.

Photos of London on New Year's Eve, left after the trip, will forever remain a warm memory not only in the photo album, but also in the heart.