There's a January tradition which was once common across England and which lives on at Whittlesea in Cambridgeshire.
Back in the nineteenth century times were hard for ploughboys in the middle of winter: there was no work. They weren't forgotten though. Come Plough Sunday a plough would be blessed in the church. They couldn't eat prayers however and so they came up with the idea of parading in costume and collecting money to get through the month. 
The costume was The Straw Bear. Originally quite scruffy but these days highly stylised. Every January the Straw Bear walks out accompanied by music and dancing and the coppers roll in. I'm adding below a picture of the 1909 Straw Bear.

I am currently part of the Bodies Of Wonder Storytelling Choir run by the wonder that is Joanna Gilar. 
Moss is part of the stories that are being told and it's an endlessly fascinating plant, stabilising the forest and having over 20,000 varieties. The more I've looked for moss the more fascinating I've found it, grazing the green tops of the white limestone walls in the dales, creeping between cracks, creating cushions in the crevices of trees or decorating the edges of abandoned vehicles.
In-between the stories we are voicing the plants that appear - this is the video above. You can also see there the coat I have made resembling moss. 
Here is the script for the video and a few more photos of moss and the mossy coat.


I am moss. 
Edge dweller, shape shifter, pillow maker. 
Stem, leaf, root. Water worshipper. 

I thrive in shadows, weaving the low light, stitching the forest together. 

Soft, patient, resilient, I survive, I revive. 
I humbly offer myself to you for your warmth, your wounds, your babies, dreaming. 
I am winters green carpet. 
I am moss, edge dweller, shapeshifter.

In South Africa it’s in May, in Cambodia October, and April in China. The concept of remembering our ancestors appears to be universal and, in many places, a national holiday. It tends to involve special food - often the favourite of the person being remembered - and poetry, songs and stories feature in many of the traditional versions of this day.

We were intrigued and so we made a date, invited friends over, and created our own day of remembrance. We turned out old photographs of our fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles and grandparents, old papers, old things made and used by them and laid them on the table. Black and white photographs from decades ago inevitably led to sharing memories, explaining relationships, and we found ourselves talking about love, parenting, loss and grief. There were snatches of songs, nips of whisky and a lot of talk about (and consumption of) food. It was fascinating hearing about differing family cultures, the tragedies and triumphs, and found we were looking at our present lives through the lens of past ones.

It was cathartic, moving, uplifting, sad and happy at the same time. It gave us a better understanding of each other and of ourselves.

We’re definitely going to do this again.

The Burning of the Bartle is an annual ceremony held in the village of West Witton near Leyburn in Wensleydale which usually takes place after sunset in the evening on a Saturday close to St. Bartholomew's Day in August.
The tradition sees locals carrying an effigy of "Old Bartle" through the village while pausing for doorstep drinks at selected houses along the way. A verse about the pursuit and fate of Old Bartle is chanted:


On Penhill Crags he tore his rags
Hunters Thorn he blew his horn
Cappelbank Stee happened a misfortune and brak’ his knee
Grassgill Beck he brak’ his neck
Wadhams End he couldn’t fend
Grassgill End we’ll mak’ his end
Shout, lads, shout!


Once outside the village at Grassgill Lane, after one last chant of the rhyme, the effigy is burned, everyone cheers and those with the sense to bring them, drink their beer in the light of Bartle’s fiery demise.


Nobody seems to know the origins of the tradition, or who Old Bartle actually was. The connection with St Bartholomew's Day has led some to suggest that "Old Bartle" is actually "St. Bart" (i.e. St. Bartholomew) himself, though quite why his pursuit, capture and ritual murder by immolation should be celebrated in a pagan style ceremony with overtones of the classic British horror drama film "The Wicker Man" one can only surmise..
Another theory holds that Old Bartle was a sheep rustling ne'er do well (or perhaps simply just an innocent victim?) who fell out of favour with his peers and came to a grisly end. The doggerel chanted tells of some kind of chase taking in Penhill and other local landmarks, with Bartle succombing to various terrible injuries before being finished off just outside the village. But there may also be a connection with the story of the Penhill Giant who supposedly broke his neck tumbling from the heights of the hill.

Midsummer’s Day brings with it a host of traditions. A lot of stone circles (famously Stonehenge) are aligned on the sunrise of the summer or winter solstice, probably so that the sun’s return to the north can be marked and celebrated.

As Christianity developed inevitably this affected the traditions and dancing and the devil are often involved. In West Sussex skeletons are reputed to appear and dance around an oak tree and many places have the legend that dancing round standing stones will raise the devil.

Bonfires are still lit for summer celebrations and in some parts, not long ago, wheels would be set on fire on hill tops to roll down to a lake or stream as a charm against summer drought.

One story survives of a tradition of fasting at Midsummer to find who would die in the next 12 months. The spirits of the doomed villagers would raise the knocker on the church door (apparently).

John Clare, the poet, mentions Midsummer Cushions in his writing. Now every year children of his home village make the cushions - usually an ice cream tub packed with moss into which flowers are pressed.

There is something special and poignant about the longest day. Although the turning of the wheel of year barely touches some of us the Midsummer Solstice retains its importance.

Some of the oldest art we have survives as part of the landscape. I always have a sense of shock and pleasure to see the Uffington White Horse carved into its hillside. The horse is made from the landscape itself, and it feels like it’s telling us something I’m sure - but what is it?

Beside the A1 as it approaches Gateshead, Anthony Gormley’s Angel of the North is a much-loved modern equivalent. Under its feet are the crushed remains of the buildings of a coal mine. It is literally rooted in the past while the rebirth of the industrial North evolves in the shadow of its wings.  Centuries apart there’s a sense of place in both of them. And what will the Angel say to people in 500 years?

There is a place near Wakefield which is home to hundreds of pieces of art in the landscape: The Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Sheep graze around enormous bronzes by Henry Moore. An old deer shelter, half sunk in the ground, has become a place to watch the clouds go by. By the espaliered apple trees in the walled garden contemporary artists pose questions in their work.

Walking through the park is a constant series of surprises. Artists choose where the pieces are set, often making them for their settings. They merge into the landscape or shine out in deliberate contrast. They make me think about the place, about the artist’s thoughts, about the nourishment art brings.

You can find details of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park HERE

If you’d like to create some art in the landscape Ian Scott Massie leads experiences from the Happy House in Masham. Details HERE

I fell in love with this book seeing it in a fantastic bookshop - Astors in Devon earlier this year. Apart from the beautifully sized hardback grey linen cover, the black soft end papers, and then the font (sigh) and the short chapter spacious layout…oh I could go on! But of course it is actually the content that I’ve found incredibly (and it almost seems trite to use this word) inspiring. It’s Rick’s authentic thoughts on what it means to be creative in everyday life. He calls each of the 78 chapters ‘areas of thought’ 
And here are a few of the titles…the source of creativity, self doubt, distraction, seeds, momentum, the ecstatic, a whisper out of time, harmony. 
Although Rick Rubin’s career has been as a musician this is not the focus of the book -more that if you make the creative act part of your everyday life you’ll find yourself enriched in so many ways. A lot of the content I agreed with - and perhaps already knew somehow but it made me think still and is written in such a beautifully succinct way  - it is a song to the act of creating and I know you would love it. 
P.S. oh and did I mention there’s a section at the back for writing your own notes? Fabulous.

Loving Kindness Meditation (LKM) is one of the most commonly used types of meditation today. It often crops up in mindfulness and it originates from the Buddhist tradition. It is a type of meditation where you wish yourself and others happiness, ease and contentment.
All that sounds very nice and fluffy doesn’t it? And maybe even a bit hippy dippy woo woo if you’re not feeling quite as generous. However even the sceptics might be interested to know there’s a great deal of contemporary and ongoing scientific research into LKM’s benefits. The benefits of a regular practise (several times a week) stretch further than we may realise, and can actually alter the structure of our brain. It is perhaps not surprising that if you practise LKM everyday then the stress responses in your body can be markedly reduced. It can also have an impact on the inflammation response in the body  - a major factor for many diseases. After 9 weeks or so of regular practice researchers saw a difference in people’s reporting of positive emotions, they were generally more satisfied with their experience of life and suffered less depression. LKM has been shown to increase feelings of social connection and improve our vagal tone. *
And for me the best bit is that you can reap all these benefits whilst having a lovely relaxing time for just a few minutes a day. And you can learn for free. There are lots of resources on line and slightly different versions but here is mine available for free on Insight Timer. If you’d like to learn more I can teach you one to one and we can explore some of the many different types of meditation to find what suits you.

​*Vagal Tone