A merry dance

A merry dance

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Sometimes the strangest traditions are the ones that survive. Every year, the small English village of Abbots Bromley hosts a Horn Dance, featuring a cast of six “deer-men”, a jester, a hobby horse, a bowman and others, who parade around holding reindeer antlers above their heads.

The performance is thought to be one of the oldest folk dances in Britain, and some of the antlers used are over a thousand years old.

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A spectator at the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance holds a walking stick topped with an antler.
. ABBOTS BROMLEY, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Darren Staples

A spectator at the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance holds a walking stick topped with an antler.

The traditionally dressed dancers walk between villages to perform.
. ABBOTS BROMLEY, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Darren Staples

The traditionally dressed dancers walk between villages to perform.

A musician grins as he plays the melodeon.
. ABBOTS BROMLEY, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Darren Staples

A musician grins as he plays the melodeon.

Participants take a break during the dance.
. ABBOTS BROMLEY, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Participants take a break during the dance.

Performers march down the street, with their antlers resting on their shoulders.
. ABBOTS BROMLEY, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Performers march down the street, with their antlers resting on their shoulders.

Dancers prance in front of Blithfield Hall, near Abbots Bromley.
. ABBOTS BROMLEY, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Dancers prance in front of Blithfield Hall, near Abbots Bromley.

Their antlers are silhouetted against the sky as they perform.
. ABBOTS BROMLEY, United Kingdom. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Their antlers are silhouetted against the sky as they perform.