Worm Charming

Now I know there are some strange traditions in the South West of England. We've been to the tar barrel rolling and to the Wassailing, but this one really does have to top the lot so far!

Skip back to Beltaine weekend and the counties of Devon and Cornwall were alive with old customs and rituals. Most villages were having the annual may pole dancing! Dancers perform circle dances around a tall pole which is decorated with garlands, painted stripes, flowers, flags and other emblems. In the second, dancers dance in a circle each holding a coloured ribbon attached to a much smaller pole; the ribbons are intertwined and plaited either on to the pole itself or into a web around the pole. The dancers may then retrace their steps exactly in order to unravel the ribbons. The first kind of maypole dancing is probably extremely ancient and is thought to stem from pagan fertility symbolism. It is traditionally performed in the spring around the festival of May Day, being a cross quarter day. For the Celts, Beltaine marked the beginning of the pastoral season when the herds of livestock were driven out to the summer pastures and mountain grazing lands. Early Gaelic sources from around the 10th century state that the druids of the community would create a fire on top of a hill on this day and drive the village's cattle through the fires to purify them and bring luck. It is still celebrated as the union of the Lord and Lady!

However, in the village of Blackawton there were not only May pole and Morris dancers but as well as the beer festival it was the World Worm Charming Championship!
The idea being that you are given a small patch of turf and during twenty minutes you have to get as many worms out of the soil without digging! It was absolutely packed out as teams dressed in all kinds of attire ready themselves. Using all kinds of weird methods to coax the worms to the surface! Am hoping to get my own team up together next year!