“Bawming the Thorn”!

Saturday
Since we had stayed up quite late last night chatting, we had a leisurely start to the day. We just had a low key day with family. Around noon, we went with Janet to watch the old tradition of “Bawming the Thorn” in the nearby village of Appleton Thorn. “Bawming” means "decorating", and as part of the ceremony the (haw)thorn tree beside the parish church is decorated with ribbons and garlands.
The current form of the ceremony dates from the 19th century, when it was part of the village's "walking day". The ceremony stopped in the 1930s, but was revived in the early 1970s. "Bawming the Thorn" occurs on the Saturday nearest to Midsummer's Day.
The event begins with a short parade through the village, led by a brass band, guides and scouts, and the children of the local Primary School. During the ceremony, schoolchildren dance around the tree in the style of maypole dancing, with a community choir singing a traditional song, with the following repeated chorus:
“Up with fresh garlands this midsummer morn,
Up with red ribbons on Appleton Thorn.
Come lasses and lads to the Thorn Tree today
To bawm it and shout as ye bawm it "Hurray"!”

According to ancient legend, the hawthorn at Appleton Thorn grew from a cutting of the Holy Thorn at Glastonbury, which itself was said to have sprung from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea!
Unfortunately, the weather was extremely unkind to them. As you can see from the top right picture, as the children paraded to the tree, it was actually dry, though cold and grey, but within a few minutes, it began to rain, and by the time the children began to dance, after the inevitable welcoming speeches, it was raining steadily. The poor children must have been frozen, and by the end were soaked through, but they continued on, and did a fine job!