STRAW BEAR FESTIVAL WHITTLESEA WHITTLESEY CAMBRIDGESHIRE UK

Whittlesey (also Whittlesea) Cambridgeshire, England 12th January 2008. The Straw Bear festival takes place on the Tuesday following Plough Monday (the 1st Monday after Twelfth Night). 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". The custom lapsed during the late 19th century, the Straw Bear appeared...
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Whittlesey (also Whittlesea) Cambridgeshire, England 12th January 2008. The Straw Bear festival takes place on the Tuesday following Plough Monday (the 1st Monday after Twelfth Night). 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". The custom lapsed during the late 19th century, the Straw Bear appeared once more in 1909 and was revived in the 1980s. These days there is a concert on the Friday night, and on Saturday various folk festival performers, dance, sing and perform around the town. The Straw Bear appears only during the Saturday before the Sunday Bear Burning ceremony.
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