Reverend Simon Davis prays with the dancers before the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in Abbots Bromley, Britain, September 12, 2016. The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is an English folk dance dating back to the Middle Ages. The dance takes place each year in Abbots Bromley, a village in Staffordshire, England. The modern version of the dance involves reindeer antlers, a hobby horse, Maid Marian, and a Fool. According to some, the use of antlers suggests an Anglo-Saxon origin along with other native Anglo-Saxon traditions that have survived into modern times in various forms. It has been speculated, for example, that the dance originated in the pagan period and was connected with the ruling dynasty of Mercia, based some 15 miles away at Tamworth, who owned extensive hunting lands in Needwood Forest and Cannock Chase surrounding Abbots Bromley. On this theory, the royal forester would have organised sympathetic magic rituals to ensure a plentiful catch each year, a tradition that survived into Christian times and gradually came to be seen as affirming the villagers' hunting rights. Even when the lands were granted to Burton Abbey in 1004 a forester would still need to have been employed. Such an ancient origin for the dance has been doubted by some folklorists, who point out that while the reindeer antlers date to the 11th century, reindeer were long since extinct in England and Wales (and probably Scotland), and there is no evidence that any domestic reindeer herds remained at that time. Therefore, even more confusingly, the antlers must have been imported from Scandinavia at some point between the 11th and 17th centuries. This analysis may lend weight to the theory that the custom originally began with only a hobby horse, and the horn dance component was added later, explaining why only the former was mentioned by 16th century sources. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)





Dancers leave St Nicholas Church before the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in Abbots Bromley, Britain, September 12, 2016. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)





Dancers take a break during the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in Abbots Bromley, Britain, September 12, 2016. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)





Dancers perform the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in the grounds of Blithfield Hall in Admaston, Britain, September 12, 2016. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)





Dancers take a break during the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in Abbots Bromley, Britain, September 12, 2016. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)





Dancers perform the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in Abbots Bromley, Britain, September 12, 2016. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)





Dancers perform the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance overlooking Blithfield Reservor in Admaston, Britain, September 12, 2016. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)





Dancers take a break during the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in Abbots Bromley, Britain, September 12, 2016. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)





A woman with tattoos of the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance watches dancers in Abbots Bromley, Britain, September 12, 2016. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)





Musicians play as dancers perform the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in Abbots Bromley, Britain, September 12, 2016. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)