cumbria

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it’s a strange place, Cumbria

Zoomed out on google maps, there is nothing to see, but zoom in and sure enough,

the pranks and festivities of invisible villages

their life as if nothing has changed since their new milking machine 20 years ago. Every

words georgia weaving, photos bess grant, tatlin

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wedged in between the Yorkshire Dales and the Scottish border a lot of farmers living year, these little rainy hamlets and villages get together to celebrate the changing of the seasons in festivals whose meanings are long since forgotten. Bill, a born and bred Cumbrian farmer grew up a few miles outside of the small village of Walcop on his families farm. His thick accent and gentle smile tells stories of a youth with no electricity and cows for playmates, living for the seasonal festivities between the hard graft of farming. With Bill’s wise words to guide us, we learnt the subtle humour of the hidden Cumbrian villages and the most important celebrations that bring the people together. To celebrate the arrival of summer and all the crops it brings with it, a few villages around Appleby; made famous for the gypsy horse fair; have traditions that even Bill can’t explain the roots of satisfactorily. (Imagine everything he says in a strong Cumbrian accent and it’s even more magical.)

Rush Bearing To celebrate summer arriving, the children of two villages came together to decorate the church and themselves in a procession of flowers and woven reeds from the fields. “We lived between these two villages which did this thing called rush bearing. What happens is all the boys in the village, they make crosses out of rushes that they’d cut from the fields. All the girls in the village would make crowns that they’d decorate with all the wild flowers that they could find. The church is the end point of a procession through the village where the boys carry their crosses. So you’d go into the church and all the crosses are displayed around the church door, they’re kept there all winter and dry out. Then there’s the inevitable cream tea in the village hall and photo opportunities and this that and the other. We used to love it because we got the day off school. My parents did it, I did it and my kids did it. There’s not many villages do that.”


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cumbria by Georgia Weaving - Issuu