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Flora Day in Helston is one of the best known of the pagan Cornish ceremonies and one of the best loved. A far cry from its original incarnation, today it is acted out in Edwardian costume, top hat and tails and ball gowns. It is essentially a fertility rite, based around the coming of spring and the flowering of the plants of spring. At early morn, noon and in the evening dancers are led aroung the town to music, calling in at numerous shops, houses and pubs on the way and accepting no small amount of liquid refreshment as their due. The streets of this small market town are thronged as the dancers are led in and out of alleys and buildings, the Furry Dance having become a spectacle known worldwide. The early dance is for the children, when, dressed in white and sporting a Lily of the Valley on their lapels, up to 1500 take part. The oldest part of the ceremony is the Hal an Tow, with its strange characters and wonderful costumes and the slaying of the Dragon by St Michael, the original patron saint of Cornwall. Around the dancing is enacted a day of drinking and merrymaking. Stalls and fun fairs entertain all and the pubs do a roaring trade. The origins of the Furry, or Faddy, are lost in the mists of time, and almost certainly didn't involve top hats. But the fact that the tradition of the dances is maintained - and that you have to be local to take part - has meant this is one of the most community led and community strengthening events in the Cornish calendar. |