Traditions are maintained in Ottery St Mary
Pixie Day is an annual event that has been running for 40 years and continues to bring out people in Ottery St Mary.
The community occasion revolves around the ancient legend that says that the town was once occupied by pixies but were exiled by the coming of the humans and the building of the church.
The legend says that the pixies believed that each time the bells rang, a pixie woul d die so they resolved to rid the town of the noise by seizing the bellringers and imprisoning them in Pixie’s Parlour.
But the bell ringers escaped, and the event is re-enacted each year on the Saturday nearest to midsummer, with children from the guide and scout groups - brownies, beavers, cubs and rainbows - playing the part of the pixies in the ‘Revenge’.
The day features a fete, which starts in the early afternoon at the Land of Canaan, the Pixies’ Revenge in the square at around 6.30pm, before returning to the Land of Canaan, where the fete continues for the rest of the evening.
This year’s event takes place on Saturday, June 23.
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