MUMMERS MAYPOLES AND MILKMAIDS (HB)

In Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, a man covered from head to toe in straw - the 'straw bear' - is paraded through the streets, accompanied by 250 dancers, musicians and performers. In Ottery St Mary, Devon, a crowd gathers as townspeople hoist barrels of flaming tar on to their shoulders and carry them until they are too hot to handle. Award-winning photographer Sara Hannant has travelled across England to capture the seemingly bizarre regional rituals - costumed processions, symbolic dramatizations, traditional dances and fire ceremonies - that mark the changing seasons.