| Where: | Whittlesey, Cambs all around town - check link under Helpful Hints for precise locations |
| When: | Mid-January Weekend |
| Time: | 10.30-3.30 Saturday, 11 am Sunday burning |
Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival is a modern revival (from 1980 so now well established!) of the ancient fenland custom of making a straw bear for Plough Monday – a man totally covered with a straw costume and led through town ( the costume weighs about 5 stone!) . The weekend starts with a concert on the Friday night and the main events are the procession and dancing on the Saturday and the Burning on the Sunday. The procession is led by the Straw Bear and his keepers and a Plough team pulling the plough, followed by numerous dance groups including morris, molly, clog and sword dancers, who perform throughout the day at several locations all around the town. Poetry readings and story telling sessions take place indoors and there is a ceilidh in the evening. On Sunday there are further performances and finally the Bear is ceremonially burnt (hopefully without the man inside…). This is a very well organised festival indeed and the only criticism I heard at all was that there weren’t enough collecting buckets for donations! Highlights for us included Pig Dyke Molly who were particularly good at involving children with their Zebra/Hobby Horse and dancing puppet dog, the slightly sinister Old Glory Molly Dancers and the dextrous sword-dancing trio from PRATS (whose performance sadly isn’t on our video!). It’s a fun event with a great atmosphere…be prepared to be haunted for days by the Straw Bear tune like us.
Helpful Hints
In 2025 the festival should be on Friday 10th to Sunday 12th of January. Check the website link below for full schedule. The Burning on Sunday was open to the public again at the new location of Decoy Lakes in 2024 (in 2023 it was restricted to Strawbearers only).
Though the festival is Whittlesea Straw Bear, you’ll find it’s spelled Whittlesey on most maps. Buy a festival programme when you arrive (they will be on sale at the Butter Cross in the Market Place with other festival merchandise ) then you can plan exactly who to watch, where and when and you won’t miss the Straw Bear himself – there are several processions through the day. Special Straw Bear Ale is on sale, brewed for the occasion and you might be lucky enough to be given some ears of wheat from the Bear’s costume at the Burning.
Click here for the event website : http://www.strawbear.org.uk/
and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/whittleseastrawbear?hc_location=ufi
View this location on the map.
please send me the email id where i can mail u
Hi Charlotte!
Visit the calendarcustoms.com “Feedback” section (just under the titles) and you can email me direct without leaving a comment on the site. It’s averil@calendarcustoms.com – looking forward to hearing from you!
Kind Regards,
Averil
fabulous weekend .. helped by weather that was just cold
Is it possible to put in a dance group to perform for the straw bear?
Hi Luke,
Calendar Customs isn’t at all connected to the organisation of the events featured on the site – go to the events own website at http://www.strawbear.org.uk/ There are contact phone numbers on the site as well as email.
Best of luck – it’s a great day out!
Averil