WELL DRESSING

Well dressing is the art of decorating (dressing) wells, springs or other water sources with pictures made of growing things.

The custom of well-dressing is popular all over Derbyshire The custom of well-dressing is popular all over Derbyshire. The wells are dressed with large framed panels decorated with elaborate mosaic-like pictures made of flower petals, seeds, grasses, leaves, tree bark, berries and moss. Well-dressings are beautiful and delicate and take a lot of work to make, and yet they only last for a few days.

This ancient custom is popular all over Derbyshire and is thought to date back to the Celts or even earlier.

Wooden trays are covered with clay, mixed with water and salt Wooden trays are covered with clay, mixed with water and salt. A design is drawn and its outline pricked out onto the surface of the clay.

The Well-dressings are beautiful and delicate and take a lot of work to make, and yet they only last for a few days. Design is then filled in with natural materials, predominantly flower petals and mosses, but also beans, seeds and small cones.

After the well dressing is erected next to the well it is blessed in a short outdoor service. Eyam, like many of the towns and villages, has several wells and a short procession from well to well is carried out during the blessing of the wells.

The well dressing season spans from May through to late September.

The origins of the tradition are alternatively said to lie in pagan tradition or in giving thanks for the purity of the water drawn from certain wells during the period of the Black Death. It was historically a custom exclusive in England to the Peak District of Derbyshire.

Well or tap dressing With the arrival of piped water the tradition was adapted so that not only wells but also taps were decorated although the resulting creations were still advertised as well dressings.

Annual celebration - January Straw Bear Festival Annual celebration - January The Whittlesea Straw Bear is maintaining the folklore tradition of parading a man dressed in straw around the streets

The Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival takes place every January.

A five year old boy from Park Lane School wore the costume of the Small Straw Bear in 2009.

In recent years the Whittlesea Straw Bear has made friends with a German Straw Bear ( der Strohbär) from Walldürn near Frankfurt, a town that celebrates its own Straw Bear Festival on the Monday before Shrove Tuesday. The Whittlesea Straw Bear is attended by a host of morris, molly and folk dancing, and musician from all over the UK.