February 11, 2010

Marsden Imbolc Festival

Fire Spinning @ Marsden Imbolc Festival
Fire Spinners @ Marsden Imbolc Festival, (c) Rick Harrison 2010, All Rights Reserved.

Mr. Fox @ Marsden Imbolc Festival
Mister Fox Morris-dancers @ Marsden Imbolc Festival, (c) Rick Harrison 2010, All Rights Reserved.

The Marsden Imbolc Fire Festival takes place in the beautiful Pennine village of Marsden, West Yorkshire once a year.

While the event has been taking place in Marsden for 17 years, Imbolcs' roots lie in a two thousand year old Celtic tradition of welcoming Spring and leaving Winter behind - it's held roughly on the Equinox of the two seasons (or rather the first Saturday of February to make organising more practical).

The event is very much locally organised and run - in the weeks leading up to the event, workshops are held locally for the purpose of learning Fire Spinning, and making lanterns (they contain small candles to light them, and are carried both by the crowd and line the procession route), and locals both perform and steward the event.

What follows is a description of what takes place, along with photos I took at this years event, split into the following sections:

The procession
Fire Spinning
The battle between Jack Frost and The Green Man
Mr. Fox performing the Fox Dance

The procession

Druids leading a torch lit procession @ Marsden Imbolc Festival,
(c) Rick Harrison 2010, All Rights Reserved.

The event starts at 7pm at Marsden train station, where a torch-lit procession fronted by 3 masked druids, holding aloft what can only be described as "flaming balls", lead the crowd of hundreds out of the village to the Standedge visitors centre about half a mile away.

The procession is accompanied loud methodical drumming by a local samba band and the fantastic Mr. Fox.

Along the route are placed candle-lit lanterns, and a "dressed" well

Druids leading the crowd @ Marsden Imbolc Festival
Druids leading the crowd from the train station to Standedge Visitors Centre @ Marsden Imbolc Festival,
(c) Rick Harrison 2010, All Rights Reserved.

Fire Spinning

At the end of the procession, the following crowds are welcomed to the Standedge Visitors Centre by a very impressive choreographed display of Fire Spinning, accompanied drumming and a choir.

The fire spinning fits into two groups - people in rows spinning flaming batons (fire sticks), and at the back three people spin around flaming balls on a chain ("Poi"), creating an amazing spiral of sparks.

The battle between Jack Frost and The Green Man

Jack Frost & The Green Man battle for victory @ Marsden Imbolc Festival,
(c) Rick Harrison 2010, All Rights Reserved.

It's at this point that the main event takes place - Jack Frost (a man in a very large blue-glowing costume) appears in a spray of fireworks, much to the geering and booing of the crowd as he parades around.

Once given chance to make himself known, in a flash of Green light appears The Green Man of Spring (another guy in a huge green-glowing costume), here to save the day and defeat Jack Frost.

They slowly amble across the field sizing each other up, before battle commences - they tussle (much to the cheers of the crowd) while various hench-men (human sized crows, foxes etc) take each other on.

The crowd hold their breath - who will win? will we be perpetually stuck with Winter?

Eventually, Jack Frost throws in the towel, and backs away across the field, chased by the Green Man, much to the jubilation and merryment of the crowd - Spring has won again, fireworks are launched in celebration.

Once Frost is safely dispatched, a celtic-design looking tree is lit, to encourage the growth of spring, followed by a very impressive fireworks display.

And there ends the main event. But that's not the end of the evenings entertainment - there's more fun to be had back at the village....

The Fox Dance

Back at the Village (maybe via a quick stop at the Tunnel End pub), The Mr. Fox morris dancers put on a show outside the United Church.

This is not your average type of Morris Dancing, this is much darker - the dancers wear black hooded robes, and use flaming sticks and bright red flares as part of "The Fox Dance".

This for me was my favourite part.

And that about sums up Imbolc - one of the best events i've been to (both for entertainment, and for great photography (tho it's hard - very low light, fast action and large crowds make for challenging conditions!) - I highly recommend seeing it with your own eyes.

Within the village itself are various pubs and eateries if you'd like food before-hand (allow plenty of time - it gets busy!) and drinks afterwards.

You can see the rest of the photos I took at the event on my Flickr stream: Marsden Imbolc Festival photos

See the route of the procession and the locations of the various happenings on This google map.

Rick "Tricky" Harrison

Filed underPeak District

Marsden Imbolc Festival

The procession

Fire Spinning

The battle between Jack Frost and The Green Man

The Fox Dance