A Mid Summer Riddle, posted by Meroe

What do you get if you cross some angels with some devils, add in a couple of Romans, a dash of a samba band, a liberal sprinkling of pirates and just a hint of Arabia?

Well the answer is obvious – it’s the Midsummer Watch Parade in Chester 2013!

Getting ready for the parade

I have to say when I saw the weather forecast for the weekend I was worried – very worried in fact. I could see no way that we were going to walk round Chester for an hour on either Saturday 22nd or Sunday 23rd June and either not get very wet, or get blown away in the strong winds. But... the gods of Chester were clearly smiling down on everyone because it certainly didn’t rain on this parade!

The unicorn

What a brilliant turn out for what was rumoured to be the biggest Midsummer Watch parade ever – and there have been a few in the past 600 years! Romans, pirates, school children, angels, samba bands, tumblers, giants, ravens, fish – you name it, it was there. And right at the heart of it the ladies of Ya Raqs.

On Saturday we were strategically placed between the camel and the elephant – naturally, where else do you put a group of Arabian dancers? The camel behaved itself, not a moment’s trouble from that direction but the elephant? Well, poor Phoenece very nearly got mowed down on a number of occasions! It could have been the excitement, or even the fact that Phoenece simply wasn’t quick enough on her feet, but I think it was more to do with poor brakes on the elephant! Still Phoenece, and the rest of us, survived to tell the tale. Day one of the parade completed and celebrated with a very nice slice of cake and welcome cup of tea in Chester before heading home.

Meroe, Kebi and Naima with the well-behaved camel

Sunday was equally successful, if a tad more breezy, but the important thing was that we didn’t get wet! And where were we today? Well, in view of the events of Saturday and not wishing to traumatize Phoenece anymore, we opted to put the camel between us and the elephant – and it worked out just fine.

The crowd were amazing, the rest of the participants in the parade were amazing and the weather – well not what you’d call amazing but not bad given the forecast.

We are grateful to Russell Kirk from Midsummer Watch for inviting us to join them all and are very much looking forward to the Midwinter Watch in December – these parades really are something to see so make sure you are in Chester for the next one.