Furry Day

Furry Day is celebrated on 8th May every year in the West Cornish town of Helston in England, UK. If 8th May falls on a Sunday or Monday, the celebration takes place on the previous Saturday (the 6th or 7th). It should really be called Helston Flora Day (or sometimes Helston Floral Day), but because the Furry Dance is a major part of the celebrations, it has come to be called Furry Day.

There are actually two dances (really more like processions) on Furry Day, both led by the town band, who play the Floral Dance. Readers of a certain age will probably find it hard not to remember Terry Wogan's rendition of this tune, which seemed to take over the airwaves some years back. The first dance is called the Children's Dance and includes over a thousand children dressed in white, and the Furry Dance proper is for adults, the men wearing top hat and tails and the women in full length gowns.

Helston is known as the gateway of the Lizard. It is a small town, an ancient port used by the 19th century tin and copper trade, and still retains much of its quaint traditional charm. It is ideally based for wildlife enthusiasts, with many wild flowers and rare birds in the area. Other attractions include the Penrose Estate, a National Trust property, the nearby fishing village of Porthleven and the Helston Folk Museum. Finally, sporting activities such as windsurfing are catered for in the area.

On Furry Day, the whole town is decorated with Spring flowers and greenery to celebrate the end of Winter and the arrival of Spring. The origins of the celebration are thought to date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Beltane.

If you're looking for a way to commemorate this event, you might be interested in this article: Commemorations with Cross Stitch

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