Today was William Westley Day at the kids' school. It started with them going to church in the village for an end of year service, picnic lunch with parents and then the Summer Fayre in the evening. No that is not a mis-spelling, that is how it is spelled here. The Fayre started with a small parade from the 'old school' to the current school, led by the Gog Magog Molly Dancers.
According to Wikipedia, Molly Dancing is a form of Morris dance and is traditional to this part of England. It came about in the 19th century. Apparently ploughboys got bored between Epiphany and the start of Spring-so they would tour around the village landowners offering to dance for money. If the landowners refused, they were often treated with a furrow ploughed across their lawn. Because the dancers usually asked the same landowners for jobs, they would attempt concealment by blacking their faces with soot and dressing up in black garments with colored scarves. Typically only men did this with one dressing as a woman, the Molly.
The Gog Magog dancers typically wear very colorful attire and face paint. See photo of some of the kids and the dancers. Kaitlyn is in the front, Griffen was on picture strike again.
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