English Country Christmas

Last weekend, we went to the English Country Christmas party the Northeast Oregon Folklore Society puts on every year. There were so many people there! It was great to see such an awesome turn out. Here is Hailey practicing her dance moves in the kitchen just before we left for the event.

We sang Christmas carols and then a bunch of kids put on a Mummer's play. I've never seen one of these before and it was very interesting, very Shakespearish. The kids did great.

The sword dancers were incorportated into the Mummer's play. They did a terrific job. In this picture they somehow put their swords together to form a start. It was amazing! I could see Josiah doing sword dancing when he's older.

After the play, the little kids followed Carla in a traditional Jewish dance to live music. Josiah, Hailey and Michael are in tow. It was nice they had some dancing for the little ones, too.

Next came an English Country dance demonstration, mostly made up of older homeschoolers, I noticed. The women were all dressed up in long dresses and looked gorgeous. The dances they did looked like something you would see in a Jane Austin movie. Beautiful and graceful.

After the domenstration, there was a community dance. We weren't able to stay for long since it was getting late. Michael and I were very involved with the Folklore Society before kids. We miss it, but I've accepted that it just isn't our season of life. When the kids get older, we plan on getting involved again. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful, family friendly, folklore society in town.