The Ritual Year - Market Place

Join us for a celebration of the delightfully eccentric folk customs, rituals and traditions that mark the turning year! From cheese rolling to hen races, and from Morris dancing to druid gatherings at Stongehenge, theres plenty in the ritual year that feels traditional. But these customs are not a twee relic of a fancy-dress past, but a series of living, breathing traditions that evolve and modernise over time. The seasonal calendar, too, is changing, as multicultural contemporary customs, like Lunar New Year celebrations or the Bradford mela, add diversity to the calendar. Yorkshire author, Kiera Chapman, will guide us through the surprising stories of these customs, showing why they are more popular than ever with audiences young and old.

Kiera Chapman is author of The Ritual Year: A New Calendar of Britain's Feasts, Festivals and Folklore and Nature's Calendar: The British Year in 72 Seasons. She is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, where her work focuses on preventing biodiversity loss associated with urban development.