Straw bears parade through English village in annual event

People dressed as straw bears paraded through the English village of Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire on Sunday to mark a bizarre local tradition.

Participants could be seen dancing through the streets wrapped all over in straw so that they resembled - at least somewhat - bears.

According to the filmer, the earliest reports of the event trace back to 1882 when hard-up ploughmen paraded a straw bear around the town for beer, tobacco and beef.

The tradition was stopped in 1909 but revived 1980 by the Whittlesey Society.