Lord of the Dance

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Gloucestershire Morris Men in front of the Queen's Hotel this morning, which is part of Cheltenham's Boxing Day tradition.

According to the Glos. Morris Men web site, "Morris dancing has been traced all over the English Midlands and further North, but it is particularly associated with our own Cotswold area, where the most evolved form of Morris was, and still is, to be found. Here it is performed generally by six men and a musician, accompanied in most cases by a fool and sometimes a beast. The men wear a colourful costume or "kit" often based upon white, the old sacred colour. They also wear bells, wave hankies or sticks so say to ward off evil spirits."

Today's event was also memorable because the youngest members (whose grandfather had previously been part of the group) was formally presented with his red cross braid baldric as a symbol that he was now an "official member". Howver, in my blip I wanted to capture one of the oldest characters whose energy never seems to be sapped - notice how airborne he is!