Unusual customs In the UK

A Calendar of Unusual Customs in the UK
February
March
April
May
July
June
August
November
October
September
January
December

January
THE HAXEY HOOD,
TAR BARREL BURNING,
UP-HELLY-AA.

February
Blessing the throats ceremony,
Clowns in church.

May
Cheese rolling ,
Maypole Dancing,
Sweeps festival.

NOVEMBER
TAR BARREL BURNING

Well dressing is the art of decorating (dressing) wells, springs or other water sources with pictures made of growing things.
Well Dressing
The wells are dressed with large framed panels decorated with elaborate mosaic-like pictures made of flower petals, seeds, grasses, leaves, tree bark, berries and moss.
Wooden trays are covered with clay, mixed with water and salt. A design is drawn and its outline pricked out onto the surface of the clay.
The design is then filled in with natural materials, predominantly flower petals and mosses, but also beans, seeds and small cones.

Well-dressings are beautiful and delicate and take a lot of work to make, and yet they only last for a few days.
After the well dressing is erected next to the well it is blessed in a short outdoor service.
The well dressing season spans from May through to late September.

Straw Bear Festival
At Whittlesey, on the weekend following Plough MondayAt Whittlesey, on the weekend following Plough Monday the first Monday after Twelfth Night ) a straw bear is paraded around the town attended by a host of dancers and musician from all over the country. The bear is a man covered from head to foot in a straw costume.
During the 19th century Straw Bears - men or boys clothed in a layer of straw - were a familiar Plough Monday .
Takes place Whittlesey, Peterborough

Maypole Dancing is the great tradition of May 1st.
On May Day, teams of dancers perform intricate patterns whilst circling the pole. The ribbons interweave as they make their way down the pole with a very decorative result.
Maypole Dancing

Sweeps Festival
This occurs in the first weekend in May. A May Day Celebration.
The festival owes its roots to age old traditions. Sweeping chimneys was a dirty but necessary trade nearly 300 years ago.
Sweeps Festival is said to be the largest gathering of Morris Dancers in the world. Notably, the only true English day where you can join in and listen to the music.
Sweeps Festival, Rochester, Kent.

Hurling the Silver Ball
A Handball Game Hurling is one of the oldest forms of a ball game and still takes place at St Ives in Cornwall, England, on the first Monday after February 3rd.
The game is played in the town's streets and on the beach. The game starts at 10.30 am and the person holding the silver ball at noon wins.

Bread and Cheese Throwing
Whit Sunday Evening after the evening service at the church in St Briavels, Gloucestershire, baskets full of bread and cheese are thrown from a wall near the old castle. Everyone scrambles to grab as many pieces of food as they can.

Blessing the Throats Ceremony
St Etheldreda's Church, London
February 3rd St Blaise's day
Two candles are tied together, lit, and touched on to the necks of people suffering from sore throats.
St Blaise saved a child from choking to death on a fishbone and so is patron saint of throat sufferers.

Bacup Nutters Dance
(Easter) Holy Saturday - Bacup near Rochdale, Lancashire.The Nutter Dance is a form of Morris dance. One main difference is they blacken their faces. This probably came about because of the mining connections. They wear hats like turbans decorated with rosette and coloured feathers, black jersey, red and white kilts, white stockings and shining black Lancashire clogs.The dancers dance their way through the streets following a tradition that takes them from boundary to boundary of the Town. They tap out rhythms on wooden discs or 'nuts' fastened to their palms, knees and waist. This is thought to represent the protective cover worn on the hands and knees when crawling along narrow passages in the mines.