# How many British towns have unique festivals/town games **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-british-towns-have-unique-festivals-town-games/583657 "2011-05-29T14:32:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-british-towns-have-unique-festivals-town-games/583657/1 "2011-05-29T14:32:20Z")
Examples include the [Whittlesey Straw Bear](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittlesey#Whittlesea_Straw_Bear), London’s [Holly Man](http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/twelfthnight/celebration.html) procession, the [Haxey Hood](http://gouk.about.com/od/whatsoninjanuary/qt/haxey_hood.htm) and so on. Is there a comprehensive list of these events? It seems many towns have some festival involving a man enveloped in plants/straw or dressed like a horse (i.e. Padstow’s 'Obby 'Oss festival), possibly a Pagan holdover? ---
**Author:** ![isaiahrobinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@isaiahrobinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/isaiahrobinson)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-british-towns-have-unique-festivals-town-games/583657/2 "2011-05-29T15:17:36Z")
Not many, in my experience. Or at least, I haven’t heard of many. I’ve never heard of this Holly Man procession for instance, despite living in and near London. There’s the [cheese rolling festival](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper%27s_Hill_Cheese-Rolling_and_Wake) in Gloucestershire which gets a lot of press because it’s so stupid: they roll a huge wheel of cheese down a steep hill and then a load of people chase after it. The cheese gets up to speeds of about 70mph so it’s guaranteed to injure anyone it hits, and a lot of people get injured from falling down the hill and over each other, lots of broken bones, etc. Then there’s obviously also bonfire night, which is universal over here. I’m sure there are a lot of other village festivals but apart from that I’ve never really heard of any of them. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-british-towns-have-unique-festivals-town-games/583657/3 "2011-05-29T16:34:51Z")
Hundreds upon hundreds of British towns have, or had at one time, festivals or games on particular days of the year. An excellent place to track them down is the 19th century [Chambers’ Book of Days](http://www.thebookofdays.com/) (online hyperlinked edition). For instance, [the Fairlop Festival]([July 4th](http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/july/4.htm#THE) FAIRLOP OAK FESTIVAL) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-british-towns-have-unique-festivals-town-games/583657/4 "2011-05-29T16:44:26Z")
I recently caught [this programme](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wgrtr) on BBC 4 that had footage for various folk dancing rituals across Britain. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-british-towns-have-unique-festivals-town-games/583657/5 "2011-05-29T16:59:59Z")
I don’t know how many, but here’s an article with a bunch of crazy-sounding medieval ball games that still go on. > **[Medieval football](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_football)** > > Medieval football is a modern term used for a wide variety of the localised informal football games which were invented and played in England during the Middle Ages. Alternative names include folk football, mob football and Shrovetide football. These games may be regarded as the ancestors of modern codes of football, and by comparison with later forms of football, the medieval matches were chaotic and had few rules. > The Middle Ages saw a rise in popularity of games played annually at Shrovetid...