Furry Dance (Helston, UK)

The Furry Dance is a celebration of the passing of winter and the arrival of spring, and one of the oldest British customs still practised today. Traditionally held on 8 May, it is held in Helston, Cornwall, where dancers wear lily of the valley, the town's symbolic flower. The name probably derives from Cornish fer meaning "fair, feast" referencing the celebration on 8 May of the Apparition of the Archangel Michael at Monte Gargano, Italy, Helston's patron saint.

Helston is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of Penzance and 9 miles (14 km) south-west of Falmouth. Helston is the most southerly town on the island of Great Britain and is around 1+1⁄2 miles farther south than Penzance. The population in 2011 was 11,700. According to the 2021 census, the population was 11,500, this was estimated in 2022 to be 11,600.