One of England’s more curious customs, the Straw Bear Festival takes place each January in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. The tradition, which dates to at least the 19th century, was banned in the early 1900s before being revived in 1980.

It involves parading a performer dressed entirely in straw through the streets, accompanied by a ‘keeper’, musicians and hundreds of folk dancers. A symbolic burning of a separate straw effigy marks the end of the celebrations.

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