The Straw Bear & The Ploughboys

There's a January tradition which was once common across England and which lives on at Whittlesea in Cambridgeshire.
Back in the nineteenth century times were hard for ploughboys in the middle of winter: there was no work. They weren't forgotten though. Come Plough Sunday a plough would be blessed in the church. They couldn't eat prayers however and so they came up with the idea of parading in costume and collecting money to get through the month. 
The costume was The Straw Bear. Originally quite scruffy but these days highly stylised. Every January the Straw Bear walks out accompanied by music and dancing and the coppers roll in. I'm adding below a picture of the 1909 Straw Bear.