DOZENS of teenagers chasing a wheel of cheese down a hill in Gloucestershire. A chef flipping pancakes in front of excited kids at London’s Westminster School. Men giving girls a kiss in exchange for an orange in Berkshire.
These aren’t scenes from an off-the-wall comedy sketch show, but age-old traditions that Brits celebrate once a year.
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Dozens of teenagers race a wheel of cheese down Coopers Hill in Gloucestershire on the Spring Bank Holiday in 1975Credit: Homer Sykes
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Men in black and white striped tops carry an effigy of the Pope, which will later be burned, at Lewes BonfireCredit: Homer Sykes
Photographer Homer Sykes started capturing the brilliantly bizarre customs in 1968 after fearing they were going to die out.
Between 1971 and 1976 he went on a tour of the country’s smallest towns and villages to document unusual festivals, ceremonies and gatherings.
In 1977 the honest, unsneering black and white images were published in a book called, ‘Once a Year: Some Traditional British Customs’.
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A peak inside the strip tease tent at the Pinner Annual Fair in Middlesex in 1971. The raunchy ritual no longer existsCredit: Homer Sykes
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Tutti Men give out oranges and sweets in return for kisses from girls at Hocktide in Berkshire. The celebrations take place on the Monday and Tuesday in the week following the second Tuesday after EasterCredit: Homer Sykes
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Chef Sam Sellars flips pancakes at Westminster School during the Shrove Tuesday celebrations. School boys can be seen scrambling for a piece of the treatCredit: Homer Sykes
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Homer Sykes' travelled across Britain during the 70s, capturing unusual rituals from different towns, villages and communitiesCredit: Homer Sykes
The coffee table tome was popular among regional communities but faded into relative obscurity until some of the pictures were featured in a Tate Britain exhibition, ‘How We Are: Photographing Britain’.
Now, a new edition of the book has been released, including 52 previously unpublished photographs from Homer’s personal archive.
Some of the new images depict customs that have since disappeared.
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Ickwell May Day is a celebration of spring held in the parish of Northill. The earliest documented Ickwell May Day festivities were in 1565. The festivities usually involve Morris dancing and the crowning of a May Day QueenCredit: Homer Sykes
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Beating the Bounds is an ancient custom still observed in many English parishes. Its roots go back to medieval times when parishes reaffirmed their boundaries by processing round them at Rogationtide, stopping to beat each boundary mark with wands and to pray for protection and blessings for the land. The ritual usually takes place on Ascension DayCredit: Homer Sykes
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Men at the Egremont Crab Fair are photographed climbing to the top of a 40ft greasy pole in 1975. The aim was to grab the prize at the top of the pole, which was usually a top hatCredit: Homer Sykes
Farmers in Oxfordshire no longer gather on the first Monday following St. Peter’s Day to bid on the rights to the hay from the meadows, parishioners at St. Mary the Virgin in Sussex have stopped collecting a dole at the grave of Nicholas Smith on Good Friday and villagers in Wiltshire have abandoned an auction of the Midsummer Tithes.
The strip tease tent is no longer a regular feature at the Pinner Fair in Middlesex.
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A group of women are photographed skipping in Scarborough on Shrove Tuesday in 1974. Originating from an older tradition known then as 'Ball Day' - a public holiday when apprentices and servants would join one and other to play games on the foreshore - ‘Scarborough’s Skipping Festival’ has taken place for around 100 yearsCredit: Homer Sykes
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Flaming tar barrels are run through the streets of Ottery St Mary in Devon in 1973 during the night. The tradition was used as a warning of the approach of the Spanish armadaCredit: HOMER SYKES
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Homer Sykes' book, 'Once A Year' has been re-released by Dewi Lewis Publishing and features some never-before-seen imagesCredit: Homer Sykes'
Homer told : “I thought it would be a real shame if they were completely forgotten about because they’d never been published.”
However, some of the rituals he photographed are more popular than ever.
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At 8pm on 5 November each year, while the rest of the country is burning an effigy of Guy Fawkes, Shebbear in Devon has its own unique celebration. The one tonne lump of rock known as the Devil's Stone, which lies in the village square, is turned over by the village bellringersCredit: Homer Sykes
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Revellers at Hocktide in Berkshire 1973 are pictured taking part in the 'Shoeing the Colt'. A 'colt' is a person who has not attended the lunch before, after being over-powered, a horse-shoe nail is supposedly driven into the heel of his shoe, until he calls a halt by crying 'punch'Credit: Homer Sykes
In Humberside, every January, thousands of spectators assemble at a farmer’s field to follow a scrum as it pushes a leather tube called a hood to a nearby pub.
Firework spectators in Lewes watch an effigy burn on the bonfire every November 5 and Scarborough still hosts a skipping day to mark Shrove Tuesday.
Once A Year: Some Traditional British Costumes by Homer Sykes is published byDewi Lewis Publishing
