Between the camel and the elephant

Ya Raqs were invited to take part in Chester's Midsummer Watch parade. This is one of Britain's oldest festivals. It was first held in 1498, and included a family of giants and a collection of fantastic beasts, among them a unicorn, an elephant, a camel and a dragon.

The original parade was organised by the city guilds and was performed regularly until the 1660s, when it died out. It was revived in the 1980s and has now grown to include new characters, made and carried by school and community groups in the city, as well as retaining the original ones.

We found ourselves between the camel and the elephant, which seemed somehow appropriate.

Our role was to process, rather than dance, but we managed to have the occasional impromptu performance when the opportunity arose.

Our instructions were to make a lot of noise, so we arrived well equipped with riqs (tambourines) and sagat (finger cymbals) that we used to good effect, along with the odd zaghareet (a loud Middle Eastern yodelling sound).

Wrexham and Minerva's Shrine, posted by Hebba

What a day we had at Wrecsam (Wrexham). The boys had caught a Celt who was causing a lot of trouble so during our walk around the town centre, Gittus tried to sell him to the people of Wrecsam. No interest whatsoever and in their displeasure Marcus handed the Celt to Mish Mish (a fellow dancer) who set about him, hitting, scratching and dragging him along the ground with rope. I felt quite sorry for the slave and shouted at Mish Mish to stop. When we got back to camp, the Roman legionaries decided to get some sword practice in and they armed the Celt, then many soldiers took a turn at fighting him. The Celt showed no fear and some skill, so he is now being trained to be a gladiator.

It was very warm at Wrecsam and the Master of the villa we were staying at asked Meroe if she and the others would dance; we did so and he seemed pleased with us and I must admit I really enjoyed performing with my friends. I think we all danced well because later on in the afternoon we were asked to dance again, which we did. We then went into the crowd to get the people watching to dance with us. The Master of the villa ran off; so did the brave Deva Victrix legionaries. Men! I liked Wrecsam and I would like to visit there again.


Hebba (on right) dancing at Wrecsam

The next day we travelled to Minerva's Shrine. We walked through Deva (Chester) and many people followed us down to Edgar's Field where the Shrine to Minerva is. Minerva must have been smiling down on us because it was another warm beautiful day. We were able to pitch our tent and I think it looked lovely with the coloured ribbons and hangings.

We danced for the legionaries and for those people who were curious to see what we were doing; again, it was good to dance with the group. Meroe danced on her own; she is quite skilful. The legionaries take the worship at Minerva very seriously and they always encourage us to worship with them and move away from our own Gods. (As if.)