Abbot's Bromley Horn Dance

Abbot's Bromley is a small village in Staffordshire which has held an annual Horn Dance since 1226. Twelve dancers, including six Deermen (from the Bentley family up until 1914, from the related Fowell family up to the present day) are accompanied by a hobby horse, a bow man, a Maid Marian (a bloke in drag) a Fool, a boy with a triangle and a man with an accordion. The ensemble perform their rites at various stops on a prescribed route. After a twenty mile round trip, they go to the pub.

The antlers used in the dance were carbon dated in the seventies, and found to be from circa 1065 ad. They are Reindeer antlers, which must have been imported from Scandinavia (even in 1065, Reindeers had been extinct in Britain for about 8,000 years). As ever with these ancient rituals there is an ongoing debate about just how ancient it is, with some experts suggesting that the dance may have originated much later in the 16th century, making it a mere 500 years old. Either way, it's the oldest traditional dance we have in this country.

Since 1660, it has been celebrated on Wakes Monday, which is today, so you'd better get your skates on if you want to see it.

Castleton Garland Day

It's May 29th, Oak Apple Day, the public holiday held between 1660 and 1859 which celebrated the restoration of King Charles II. Castleton Garland Day is a Derbyshire custom which combines 'modern' elements of Oak Apple Day with much older May Day 'Jack in The Green' Paganism.

'The King' is put on a horse then festooned in a heavy garland of flowers topped with a smaller wreath. Thus 'crowned', he goes from pub to pub with great pomp and circumstance, with a Queen, a band, and most of the village following behind him. Music is played, songs are sung, ale is imbibed and, eventually (much to the relief of 'The King', no doubt) the larger garland of flowers is taken from him and put on top of the tower of the church, and the smaller wreath placed on the War Memorial (i.e. where the Maypole would have once been).

Castleton is generally a very interesting place: it has a ruined castle and four impressive show caverns which used to serve as Lead and Blue John mines. It's one of my favourite places, although it can get very touristy - that said, I don't live there, so I suppose I'm part of the problem.

Happy Flora Faddy Furry Dance Day

On Flora Day (today!) in Helston in Cornwall, the whole town take to the streets from seven am to seven pm and hold a series of mass dances to a melody called 'John the Bone' performed by local brass and silver bands (the tune was incorporated into the more famous Floral Dance and taken into the charts by Terry Wogan).

A wearying, hypnotic, ancient tradition its origins are, of course, mysterious, but the dance serves a dual purpose: a Pagan celebration of Beltane (the triumph of light over darkness, life over death, i.e. the end of Winter) and a Christian festival for Saint George, who reputedly saved the town from Satan, and the archangel Michael, the patron saint of Cornwall.