This film is part of Free

Horn Dancers from Abbots Bromley and Painswick Church Clipping
A pagan fertility dance and a charming church service filmed by the English Fold Dance and Song Society
Overview
We'd forgive you for being a little puzzled by this murky amateur film of grown men performing ritualistic dance moves in medieval costumes and reindeer antlers. It was shot by the English Folk Dance and Song Society in an effort to preserve the nation's folk traditions on film, and records two pleasingly quirky calendar customs: the Abbots Bromley horn dance in Staffordshire and the Clipping Sunday service at the parish church of St Mary the Virgin in Painswick, Gloucestershire.
The antlered Abbots Bromley troupe are seen performing their horn dance outside a farmstead, with musicians, a hobby horse and a suspiciously tall Maid Marion (a man in drag) in tow. The custom is performed annually on Wakes Monday (the first Monday after 4 September), and is thought to have originated as a pagan fertility rite. Precisely dating the custom has proved near impossible, though a carbon dating attempt on one of the antlers has suggested that they hail from the eleventh century. The medieval costumes, on the other hand, were made by the local vicar's wife in the 1880s. Then on to Painswick in Gloucestershire, where the annual clipping (or 'clypping') service is enacted by parishioners of St Mary's Church. A brass band leads the procession of faithful through the church yard's manicured yew trees where the children - and some adults - clasp hands and move in as if to hug the church itself. Again, the age of the custom is unknown, though it is thought to have been revived in late Victorian times by the reverend WH Seddon.
Related

Screenwriters' Lecture: Peter Straughan Screenwriters' Lecture: Peter Straughan
Inside Film 2012 mins
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy's adapter reveals his quest for "the poem of the book" and the importance of simplicity: 'Drain the pond to find the fish'.

Gabriel Yared on composing for film Gabriel Yared on composing for film
Inside Film 2013 11 mins
Composer of The Lives of Others, The English Patient and Betty Blue on intimacy and experimentation.

Lois Burwell on movie makeup Lois Burwell on movie makeup
Inside Film 2013 17 mins
Lincoln, Braveheart and Magnolia make-up artist Lois Burwell explains how she created some of her most iconic looks, as part of a BAFTA Masterclass.

Barry Ackroyd (Masterclass) Barry Ackroyd (Masterclass)
2013 61 mins
British cinematographer of The Hurt Locker, Captain Phillips, Hillsborough and Riff Raff reviews the art of the moving image.

Olivier Assayas (Masterclass) Olivier Assayas (Masterclass)
Inside Film 2010 41 mins
Irma Vep writer/director Assayas moved from film journalism to filmmaking – a fascinating journey told with disarming honesty to Jonathan Romney.

Screenwriters' Lecture with Brian Helgeland Screenwriters' Lecture with Brian Helgeland
Inside Film 2012 27 mins
L.A. Confidential's screenwriter explains why he thinks writer's block is a myth, and reveals Clint Eastwood's unique powers of persuasion.