Winter Solstice Night at the Museum & Revels' Headgear Gallery Performance (2011)

A celebration of the winter solstice during extended hours at the museum. In collaboration with The Christmas Revels, the Pinewoods Morris Men performed the traditional Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in the museum's Headgear: The Natural History of Horns and Antlers gallery. The horn dance is the oldest known English ritual dance and features six human 'deer' with antlers weaving in and out in a hypnotic pattern to the sound of a haunting melody. Revels Artistic Director Patrick Swanson introduced the performance and David Coffin, a versatile musician and featured performer in his 32nd year with Revels, demonstrated horn-based musical instruments such as the gemshorns, the Pibcorn, and his ivory sopranino recorder