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.