New Summer Rituals

Urban beach going, sneezing and tombstoning are part of new summer rituals developing in Britain, the BBC reports in a slightly quirky article. They say that alongside the time-honored traditions are emerging trends that say much about Britain in the 21st Century. Summer pursuits include:

* Mega Maize Mazes

In a maize maze, visitors wind through paths carved between corn stalks, as high as 9ft (2.75m), which form a design covering several acres. Think interactive crop circle.

* Tombstoning:

“Tombstoning is quite a new term that has been attached to the practice of jumping from a height into the water,” says Jo Stagg, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. The basic technique is to jump, feet first, into a body of water from some high point, like a cliff.

* Urban Beach Going:

As British cities have regenerated their centres, the urban beach has come to be seen as marketing device – helping draw shoppers and tourists, many of whom are staying home rather than venturing abroad because of financial pressures. Over the past year, the number of UK residents travelling abroad has decreased 8%, according to the Office for National Statistics.

* Battle Re-Enactment:

Historical re-enactment has been gaining popularity over the past few years, says Mark Griffin, a full-time re-enactor. “As a hobby, it’s growing and growing,” he says. He estimates that 20,000 people currently participate.

Sneezing, while not exactly a ritual, looks set to become a summer staple in coming years and the culprit is not swine flu, but hayfever. Ten years ago, one in six people in the UK had hayfever – today the figure is one in four. And the change reflects a trend that some reports suggest could lead to a rate greater than one in two by 2060.

BBC: “New rituals for the British summer”