The Straw Bear of Whittlesea

By Linda Tancs

In the market town of Whittlesea (or Whittlesey), England, don’t be surprised to see a straw bear paraded through the streets. The custom dates back to the 1880s, when the Tuesday following Plough Monday (the first Monday after Twelfth Night) would be marked by getting one of the members of the plough to dress in straw. Once in decline, the tradition is alive and well thanks to the Whittlesea Society. The procession these days includes over 250 dancers, musicians and performers accompanying the straw bear and a decorated plough, making its way up Market Street. This year’s Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival takes place from January 12 to January 14. The bear appears on Saturday.

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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045. 

Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.