From ancient ceremonies involving flames and costumes, to traditional sports that have been battled over for hundreds of years, the PA news agency photographers have captured some of the more unusual aspects of British culture in 2022.
Rossendale in Lancashire hosted a slippery gravy wrestling championship, while the River Windrush in Gloucester became a watery pitch for an annual football match.
In Scotland, the students of St Andrews University had some good clean fun with their Raisin Monday foam fight, while in Wales the Waen Rhydd peat bog in Llanwrtyd Wells provided the murky waters for the popular bog snorkelling competition.
Footballers from Bourton Rovers create a splash as they fight for the ball during the annual River Windrush football match, which has been taking place for more than 100 years in the Cotswolds village of Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire (Ben Birchall/PA)The World Gravy Wrestling Championships at the Rose ‘N’ Bowl in Rossendale, Lancashire, where contestants wrestle in the beefy goo for two minutes with points scored for fancy dress, comedy effect and wrestling ability. The event raises money for East Lancashire Hospice (Danny Lawson/PA)Chelsea pensioner John Riley, 92, used his years of experience during the annual World Conker Championships at the Shuckburgh Arms in Southwick, Peterborough (Joe Giddens/PA)Whitby was the scene of a Krampus Run, which celebrates the Krampus, a horned creature from European folklore who accompanies Saint Nicholas on his rounds every December (Danny Lawson/PA)Men dressed in Panama hats, white shirts and clogs pull a 16ft-high thatched rush cart carrying a woman on top, during the Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival in West Yorkshire (Danny Lawson/PA)Participants in full armour brace during a charge at the annual jousting tournament at Linlithgow Palace in West Lothian (Jane Barlow/PA)Players battle for possession during the Atherstone Ball Game in Warwickshire, which honours a match played between Leicestershire and Warwickshire in 1199, when teams used a bag of gold as a ball (Joe Giddens/PA)Shetland Vikings light up the Celtic Connections opening weekend as they welcome audiences to Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with flaming torches, cheers and songs celebrating Up Helly Aa (Jane Barlow/PA)Silurian Morris Men at Westons Cider Mill in Ledbury during a wassail ceremony to bless trees in the hope of promoting a good harvest for the next cider and perry season, and warding off bad spirits from the orchard (Jacob King/PA)It was a family affair for those taking part in the UK Wife Carrying Race at The Nower in Dorking, Surrey (Steve Parsons/PA)Players pass the ‘bottle’, an old field barrel holding about a gallon of beer, during the traditional game of bottle-kicking, held on Easter Monday between the neighbouring villages of Hallaton and Medbourne in Leicestershire (Joe Giddens/PA)Members of the Pentacle Drummers perform in front of a burning wicker man during the Beltain Festival at Butser Ancient Farm in Waterlooville, Hampshire, in April (Andrew Matthews/PA)Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator’s Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife (Lesley Martin/PA)Louise Wild is greeted by her dog after taking part in the Rude Health World Bog Snorkelling Championships at Waen Rhydd peat bog in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales (Joe Giddens/PA)
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