Christmas in Cambridge

There's a lot of festive spirit in Cambridge's city center this holiday season. This old man with his face painted black is an example. He's part of the "Molly Dancers" a bizarre troup of people who perform ancient english dances. I put pictures of them, along with some others at flickr. Click on the Christmas Time photo set (there are a few new photos of London in the "UK Trips" photoset as well).

The Molly dancers were a troup of fifteen to twenty people, all with their faces painted black. Some of these people were actual dancers, some of them seemed to be guards and guides (the man pictured above would be in this category) and some of them were part of the band. The band seemed to be made up entirely of women, and they dressed very strangely, in black overcoats with green sashes and huge hats of foilage and plastic plants that draped down their backs.

The band played it's odd assortment of instruments - iron triangles, accordians, recorders, bass drums and a string attached to a pole - while the dancers performed traditional english dances and jigs. The audience they attracted wasn't really sure what to make of them, but some of the older people seemed to know what was going on immediately. One particularly old women squeeled "Molly Dancers!" when she saw them and then proceeded to tell her teenage grandchildren about them. Between this old women and the guides I learned that they're an old tradition of dancing beggers. They paint their faces black to remain anonymous because it used to be a crime to beg.

The photos show that there was another, much more colorful group of dancers as well. These people had no specific name, but I can only presume they were another group of traditional dancers. They had jingle bells on their shins and different props for every dance. One dance used sticks, another used flowers, one used streamers etc, and before each dance they would announce where it originated from.

While Grace and I were in town fighting the crowds I took two more pictures of Cambridge, but since they're stuffed in the back of the Cambridge photoset, I'll post them here as well. Here's a view of St. John's (I think).



And these are some gargoyles that I never noticed before. They're above us as we walk along one of the main streets.



Yes.