The Whittlesey Straw Bear
It is like nothing I have ever seen before. A man, dressed in a suit of straw, over seven feet high, walking through the town with a rope around his neck being lead by a man in a bowler hat.
Whittlesey Straw Bear Festival Parade
Around 15-20 minutes long, the parade through Whittlesey is lead by the Straw Bear and features all of the “sides” of dance groups and teams. It really is a festival: this unedited two minute video shows the variety of the costumes and dancing styles.
After the parade, and for the rest of the day, the ‘sides’ (as in teams of dancers, rather than sides in a fight) perform throughout the town. There is a schedule and a timetable but you really don’t need to find one: around the town there are half a dozen areas where the dancing takes place and without any people in hi-viz jackets and without a clipboard in sight, three or four sides take it in turns to perform for about three minutes each. They go in a cycle, so if you stay in the same place you’ll see all four and then the first one starts again – at which point you can watch them again, or move along to another area and see four different sides.
Mepal Molly dance
One of our favourite sides were the Mepal Molly dancers. Apparently they have been going since 1977 but only dance in January around Plough Monday: they visit schools in the mornings and pubs in the afternoons for a week either side of the Whittlesey festival. Their routine is somewhat slapstick and very good fun: it looks entirely chaotic and unrehearsed but must take a lot of practice. Fantastically at the end, someone in the crowd shouts “Rubbish! Absolute Rubbish!”, which was taken as the greatest compliment they had ever received with a hearty “Thank you very much sir!”
Their routine with the brooms features a bunch of old men in flatcaps and tweed jackets, and an old woman in a red coat… except look again, she is neither old… nor a woman.
The Red Leicesters
Some of the dance sides paint their faces black. It’s nothing to do with “blacking up” in the controversial non-PC sense, but because morris dancing and asking for money was considered variously illegal and degrading – so the dancers would paint their faces black by way of disguise. Many sides still do it, but this group from Leicester do it with red paint. The Red Leicesters, therefore. Or the “Green Leicesters” as their leader introduces them, claiming that he is colourblind.
Following The Bear
Throughout the day the Straw Bear walks around Whittlesey while being directed by his handler. He dances in the street, waves and greets people, and goes into the cafes and tea rooms around the town to see what is going on.
All the while, he is followed by a percussion band and hundreds of people. It is very pure and good natured, everyone has fun and if you ask his handler nicely, you can pose for photos with the bear, too. In this last video you can see the Straw Bear and his handler walking past, followed by the band, followed by an actual plough (nice touch: look at the vegetables attached to the plough – they are attached with cable. Green and yellow Earth cable!), followed by the crowds.
