| Where: | Slaithwaite, Yorkshire starting at Carr Lane |
| When: | Late February Saturday every other year |
| Time: | 6pm |
The Moonraking Festival is usually held every other February at Slaithwaite to commemorate a local legend of cunning smugglers, who nearly got caught retrieving their contraband hidden in the local pond ; they pretended to be simpletons raking the pond for the cheese caught in it (the reflected moon) and so the revenue men passed them by and the “Moonrakers” evaded capture. Nowadays the event is a spectacular lantern parade with a huge moon; the moon arrives by barge on the canal and a procession follows around the village accompanied by fireworks, street entertainers and music.
Helpful Hints
In 2025 the festival returns on Saturday 22nd February.
The date varies depending on school half-term holidays but the parade is always on the Saturday at the end of the holiday week. In the build-up there are lantern making workshops to prepare for the big day. Plenty of food & drinks are available in Slaithwaite.
In 2013 the Mummers were elusive – we never found them and apparently they had defected to the Rhubarb Festival at Wakefield!!
It’s held every other year and only on “odd” numbered years.
Click here for the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/slaithwaitemoonrakingfestival/
Brilliant website! As a Huddersfield exile in London these past 50 years I’d heard of the ‘Slowit’ Moonrakers but never knew what or who they were. Then in the Huddersfield Art gallery a few months ago I saw Reg Napier’s superb modernist representation. What a painting! Good enough for the Tate any day.
Thanks Bob! 2020 probably isn’t the best year to discover the site as just about everything is cancelled for the duration of the pandemic, but I live in hope that things will improve…
Averil