For me, Saturday’s events mostly provided insight on the culture of Stratford-upon-Avon and the importance of Shakespeare’s influence on this community. I realized pretty quickly how invested the town is in the tradition of celebrating Shakespeare’s birthday and how much Stratford values his legacy. All of the local businesses gave out free cupcakes, made by culinary students in Stratford, to celebrate. The primary schools marched in the parade and the King Edward VI School participates in a tradition where the Head Boy receives the quill from a Shakespeare re-enactor. I heard a citizen explaining to his two year old son that his grandfather participated in this parade when he was in school. Stratford-upon-Avon transformed yesterday and I realized how much this town embraces Shakespeare’s legacy and traditions. I felt a greater cultural connection to Shakespeare and his hometown when I saw the parade and the celebratory events on Saturday.
The Three Witches (Macbeth)
After walking around the parade and several of the events, Yejean and I went to tea at “The Fourteas”, a 40s themed tea shop and had a wonderful experience in English culture. We were a little nervous when we walked in, because we just weren’t sure how the process works and the culture of teashops like this one. When we sat down, the waitress informed us that we were supposed to get menus at the door and bring them to the table (this blog can serve as a PSA for the rest of the group who may go to The Fourteas). Luckily, a woman at the table next to us was kind enough to donate her menu to the dazed and confused American tourists. While we were looking at the menu, Yejean decided to eat one of the sugar cubes that were on the table for the tea because she was really hungry. I thought it was pretty funny, but I was too nervous to eat one because I did not want to get caught. Meanwhile, Yejean ate a few more sugar cubes before we ordered and I embraced my tourist status and took several pictures. Of course, as soon as the waitress left I thought the coast was clear and immediately popped a sugar cube in my mouth and Yejean followed suit. About thirty seconds later, the waitress returned to our table to ask us what type of bread we wanted our sandwich on. I panicked, trying not to laugh, frozen with embarrassment, and just stared at Yejean with the look on my face “I’m not doing it, you’re going to have to”. She bravely muttered something like “um, wheat please” muffled by the sugar with her mouth pretty much completely closed. The waitress definitely gave us a weird look, but after she left we were laughing so hard we were almost crying. Other than Yejean almost breaking her teacup when she dropped her phone on it, the rest of the afternoon went smoothly. Although we definitely stuck out as American tourists, we sat and talked for two hours and thoroughly enjoyed the tea, sandwich, and the scone (despite our unnaturally high cream-to-scone ratio). This was definitely an experience for the books in exposure to English culture.
The Fourteas house blend, brie and bacon sandwich, and a scone
