English Traditions
Gurning is one of the most bizarre English Traditions to be exported around the world. Gurners take part in contests, usually at village fairs, or other similar events. After placing a horse’s collar around their face, akin to a picture frame, they proceed to pull the most grotesque facial expression possible.
They do this by pulling their lower jaw upwards, until it eventually covers their nose. Surprisingly, this is physically possible for many competitors, especially the elderly, many of them who have no teeth. In fact, some serious competitors have taken the extreme measure of removing their own healthy teeth, in order to put in their best tournament performance.
Egremont Crab Fair is the home of world gurning and other weird English Traditions. The fair has been held for the best part of 800 years and has been royally approved. The other strange English Traditions that can be experienced at the fair include ‘climbing the greasy pole’ and pipe smoking, where the fastest smoker wins the prize.
The hardgurningnrg.co.uk website is an excellent source of information on gurning and other English Traditions. As well as this, the Egremont Crab Fair organisers also maintain their own website. A huge amount of information on the fair’s contests and events can be found here.
Gurning is one of the stranger English Traditions. Many of these traditions, such as morris dancing, also centre on the village fair. However, England is also known for more conventional exports, such as fish and chips, tea drinking, as well as some of the world’s most popular sports.