Locals claim the Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival is the most bizarre festival in Britain, and as they dress up in a giant straw costume and dance through the street, they might have a point.
The festival is one of the oldest going and originally involved dressing someone up in this “straw bear” costume with them dancing around the streets house to house collecting either food or alcohol, although exactly what the purpose of this was has been lost in time.
During the 20th Century the festival tailed off, but in the 1980s it was brought back although today they just dance through the streets and then the straw bear costume is burned the next day in some kindof ritual new year ceremony. We did say it was a bit bizarre.
The ceremony runs on the 14th – 16th January 2011.
For more details, see the Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival web site.
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