Whittlesea straw bear festival.
Whittlesea straw bear Whittlesea, from when no one quite knows, it was the custom on the Tuesday following Plough Monday (the 1st Monday after Twelfth Night) to dress one of the confraternity of the plough in straw and call him a 'Straw Bear'. A newspaper of 1882 reports that "... he was then taken around the town to entertain by his frantic and clumsy gestures the good folk who had on the previous day subscribed to the rustics, a spread of beer, tobacco and beef". Street painting, painted faces, street party, Pagen tradition. Fenland, UK, England, The custom was revived in 1980 by the Whittlesea Society, and for the first time in seventy years a 'Straw Bear' was seen on the streets accompanied by his attendant keeper, musicians and dancers, about 30 in all. Various public houses were visited around the town as convenient places for the 'Bear' and dancers to perform in front of an audience - with much needed refreshment available! The Bear is constructed in a more practical way now, the straw being fixed to a suitable garment, the head supported on a metal frame on the shoulders. This arrangement allows the costume to be removable which is essential as the length of the processional route and the time taken necessitates two persons 'driving the bear'. The person donning the costume is adding something like 5 stone to his own weight. The procession now contains over 250 dancers, musicians and performers from various parts of the British Isles performing traditional 'Molly', 'Morris', 'Clog' and 'Sword. There is also American style 'Appalachian' dancing, street performances and Mummers plays. A decorated plough pulled by a local Morris side is now a established part of the procession. Recently the Straw Bear has made friends with a German Straw Bear from Walldürn near Frankfurt, a town that celebrates its own Straw Bear Festival on the Monday before Shrove Tuesday. Although the festivities begin earlier in the week.
Size: 5886px × 3916px
Location: Whittlesea Cambs
Photo credit: © Mark Pink / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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