• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Are You Going To The Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival?

Cavynaut

Cavynaut

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Apr 10, 2003
Messages
2,306
A mate of mine has recently joined the Pig Dyke Molly Dancers, who are, apparently, regular performers at the Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival. Now, I love these kinds of traditions, but I've never heard of the Straw Bear before. I've found this,

http://www.strawbear.org.uk/

...but just wondered if anyone else knew anything more about it.

Such as....how old is the tradition? And why a bear? Surely, given that bears must've died out in the fens a long long time ago, doesn't that mean the Straw Bear tradition is quite old? Or maybe it has its roots in folk memory of dancing bears? Anyway, all comments welcome. :)
 
Wow, what a great time you'll have. I'm really envious. 8)
We'll need lots of photos!
 
Well, it's a small world - I have a friend who used to be a member of the Pig Dyke Molly Dancers. She has stayed in touch with some of the long-term members.
 
escargot1 said:
Wow, what a great time you'll have. I'm really envious. 8)
We'll need lots of photos!
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to get there (no transport), but I'm sure that my mate will send me plenty of pics.

If you go to www.pigdyke.co.uk , there are links to various You Tube videos. Looks like a lot of fun!
 
Good on him

Firstly, good on yer mate for joining up! And secondly, I don't live a million miles away from Whittlesea and for the past few years have been meaning to get to the straw bear festival.

I often wondered if the straw bear has anything to do with the old medieval (and later) traditions of Dancing bears.

Mr P
 
Mrpoultice is endorsed by Ronald Hutton who, in his study of British folk customs The Stations of the Sun (OUP 1996), writes in his chapter on Plough Monday celebrations:

"Eastward in the Fenland, comedy was used to elicit sympathy [for the begging plough boys] instead. Either on Plough Monday or on the following day, the 'Plough Witches' would lead in one of their number on a chain, covered in straw and pretending to be a bear, growling and capering. Sir James Frazer thought that this costume was probably a remnant of an ancient pagan rite and represented a corn spirit. This is still possible, but the custom was confined to a small area of the Huntingdonshire fens, from Ramsey to Whittlesey, is not recorded before the late nineteenth century, and may well represent an outgrowth of the earlier local custom of wearing straw costume when going around with the plough, inspired by the popular entertainment of the dancing bear.

". . . In the 1970s the 'straw bear' reappeared at Whittlesey . . . and has remained there ever since on the day after Plough Monday."

Elsewhere Hutton explains that the diverse Plough Monday period ceremonies and customs mark the beginning of the post-Christmas ploughing season, can be traced back in written records as far as the thirteenth century, and before the Reformation were often associated with raising money for 'plough lights' - candles burned in church to evoke blessings on ploughs, sometimes communally owned and sometimes brought into church for this purpose. Post-Reformation the customs continued but any money collected might be retained to supplement the poor celebrants' incomes, and or spent on a communal feast.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Well, it's a small world - I have a friend who used to be a member of the Pig Dyke Molly Dancers. She has stayed in touch with some of the long-term members.
Click to expand...
Small world indeed! I'm not friends with any of them ;) but I've seen them perform several times.
 
Ooooh, thanks for the reminder. I think I'll be over that neck of the woods that weekend, so will try to at least get to the burning on the Sunday :D
 
Strange, drove through Whittlesea and saw the Staw Bear Festival advertised, wondering what it was all about and hey presto today I see this thread.
We will go and take some pictures of the event. Must say that some of the photos of the bear on the website are quite scary...
 
Great! Will you both put pics up on here? :D
 
I'll do my best :D Might even try to get some video footage, if I can figure out how to work my camcorder :lol:
 
Heads up number 2.

The Straw Bear is on the 16th/17th January. My mate is collecting for the PDM Dancers, so if a large, elderly bloke with long hair and a beard asks you for a donation, tell him that Cavynaut told you of the festival. John will probably laugh and mention guinea pigs. :D Mention steam engines to him and he'll probably be your friend for life!

Oh, and John says that if any of you have kids with you he might have some badges to dish out. He's a smashing bloke, so give plenty!
 
I did go on the Sunday, and had a brief chat with Cavynaut's friend - I think he was a little taken aback when I first accosted him! He gave me and my sister a badge each, which made my sister happy.

Here's a couple of photos of the straw bear before and during the burning:








All the musicians from the various groups play a tune as they walk out to the bear, and gradually play slower as the bear burns. At the end, the banner is lowered and everyone shouts "Happy New Year" :D
 
Nope, didn't make it this year, instead we went to Bury St Edunds, which was much more photogenic...
Maybe next year.
 
There certainly wasn't anyone inside the bear when I saw it on the Sunday. I'm a bit sad that we didn't see the procession, but I guess the sight of an ambling haystack will just have to wait for another time
 
It did indeed wait for another time :D I went to Whittlesey on the Saturday this year. The town was swarming with morris, molly, clog and assorted other types of dancers, and the Bear was indeed parading around (complete with baby Straw Bear too!)


Whittlesea Straw Bear festival by sleepymyf, on Flickr


Whittlesea Straw Bear festival by sleepymyf, on Flickr


Whittlesea Straw Bear festival by sleepymyf, on Flickr


Whittlesea Straw Bear festival by sleepymyf, on Flickr

There are some more of my photos on Flickr if anyone wants to have a look. Looking back through this thread, I find that I never posted my couple of videos from last year. One was of Pig Dyke Molly doing one of their dances (and a jolly old thing it is too), and one was the bear burning. Must get round to finishing editing them, plus one of some clogs dancers this year. When I'm done I'll post links to them here
 
Going to the Straw-bear festival in Whittlesey

I am too stupid to find the thread, which exists.
Living close but never been.

http://www.strawbear.org.uk/

Also I am planning to take photos and may add them to said thread if anyone is interested [and if they are worth it ;)]
 
Thread is on p.7 of the "Urban Legends / Folklore" sub-forum.

Am intrigued by this post: for a decade-plus in my youth, I lived in Peterborough, a few miles from Whittlesey / Whittlesea, which I passed through plenty of times -- never went to the Straw-bear festival, though.

I liked the cautions in the link, re approaching the town -- the B1040 road coming in from the north, very liable to be flooded at this time of year, and indeed flooded at this present time. A fun journey, climatic conditions permitting, through almost habitation-less dead flat farm-scape, to the Dog In A Doublet pub on the north bank of the river Nene, where a very minor road from Peterborough joins the B road -- thence south into Whittlesey.

Concerning these parts, I always feel a bit sad about Whittlesey Mere; which was the largest lake in lowland Britain -- south of Whittlesey, measuring several miles in either direction, and a wildlife-and-aquatic-life paradise, until the damned spoilsports drained it around the middle of the 19th century, to turn it into farmland.
 
Concerning these parts, I always feel a bit sad about Whittlesey Mere; which was the largest lake in lowland Britain -- south of Whittlesey, measuring several miles in either direction, and a wildlife-and-aquatic-life paradise, until the damned spoilsports drained it around the middle of the 19th century, to turn it into farmland.
Click to expand...

Bloody farmers.
 
I lived in Peterborough too, for 10 years...
 
ramonmercado said:
Concerning these parts, I always feel a bit sad about Whittlesey Mere; which was the largest lake in lowland Britain -- south of Whittlesey, measuring several miles in either direction, and a wildlife-and-aquatic-life paradise, until the damned spoilsports drained it around the middle of the 19th century, to turn it into farmland.
Click to expand...

Bloody farmers.
Click to expand...

rm -- I do get the impression that those in that line of work, are not your favourite category of people in the whole world !
 
amyasleigh said:
ramonmercado said:
Concerning these parts, I always feel a bit sad about Whittlesey Mere; which was the largest lake in lowland Britain -- south of Whittlesey, measuring several miles in either direction, and a wildlife-and-aquatic-life paradise, until the damned spoilsports drained it around the middle of the 19th century, to turn it into farmland.
Click to expand...

Bloody farmers.
Click to expand...

rm -- I do get the impression that those in that line of work, are not your favourite category of people in the whole world !
Click to expand...

Indeed. If the Lake was still there they would probably drown badgers in it.
 
Feeling a little under the weather today but will deliver the pictures asap. However I can give a quick overview already:

As they won't let me copy and paste, here are the origins in short:
http://www.strawbear.org.uk/history-whi ... tival.html


There are always two days of this. On the first day there is a parade with people [one guy] dressed up as the straw bear and on the second day is the burning of the bear [without the guy inside].

Sounds good? Well I was interested to find out more about the custom but had not much luck for selfish reasons [couldn't be bothered to keep asking people].
The whole thing took place on the grounds of a school and inside of it.
We watched what I think was an explanatory play that included Santa, old man frost a devil and Cromwell. But we came in at the end and it was very hot inside so we left to get to the beer stall.

There were also stalls with little gifts and stuff but nothing that actually explained the whole ritual. There were t-shirts though.
I would have loved to be handed a flyer that outlined the custom a little, but hey.

So eventually we tried to find the 'Bear', nearly stepped over it, had it not been for the double orange plastic safety netting around it, which somehow spoiled the whole medieval - wicker man feel I hoped to get.

The bear was about my size made out of straw and I was joking that it will light up and collapse within 10 seconds I wasn't wrong].

Eventually everyone came outside and I was still hoping for the onlookers to suddenly change their friendly demeanors and bring out the sacrificial virgin but nothing happened.

They did have one 'real' policeman attending, which was something.

We started to gather around the fencing and eventually the 'band' came marching onto the grounds and collected in the circle around the bear. That is when it was lit.
What happened next is best described in one word:

"Whoof!" then it collapsed.

It burned for about 2 min and that was the end of it.

I know what the website described but would have loved it to have more of a 'feel' to it. However the setting [modern school] was disappointing and even though they had a band playing old tunes relevant to the times, the school's modern interior was working against it.

From speaking with some 'natives' [lol] we found out that maybe the first day would have been better [but I am not so sure], maybe next year.

HOWEVER. The way the costume looks is quite unnerving and I managed to photograph a homemade woolen doll on a pram [you'll see], which looked quite eerie.

All in all I think they should keep it up as it is an interesting little custom but next time I might stay in the pub we sat before it all started.

Hope that sheds more light on this.
 
Dingo667 said:
We watched what I think was an explanatory play that included Santa, old man frost a devil and Cromwell.
Click to expand...
Could I ask -- in the play, did Cromwell seem to feature as a baddie or a goodie? In that part of the world, I'd be inclined to expect the latter: he came from Huntingdon, "not a million miles away"; and the Puritan / Parliamentarian tendency has been strong in the east of England in those times, and since.
 
amyasleigh said:
Dingo667 said:
We watched what I think was an explanatory play that included Santa, old man frost a devil and Cromwell.
Click to expand...
Could I ask -- in the play, did Cromwell seem to feature as a baddie or a goodie? In that part of the world, I'd be inclined to expect the latter: he came from Huntingdon, "not a million miles away"; and the Puritan / Parliamentarian tendency has been strong in the east of England in those times, and since.
Click to expand...


We only came in at the end, but from what I saw he [played by a woman ;)] was quite nasty. They boo'd him, shame that I didn't hear the lot.

Anyway, after a lot of kerfaffel, here are the pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38283211@N06/
 
Dingo667 said:
We only came in at the end, but from what I saw he [played by a woman ;)] was quite nasty. They boo'd him, shame that I didn't hear the lot.

Anyway, after a lot of kerfaffel, here are the pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38283211@N06/
Click to expand...
Thank you for the pics. Played by a woman ! -- well, we're famously weird that way in England -- what with pantomime gender-bending...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top