The Bear Dance, Willliam Holbrook Beard, ca. 1870
Teddy Bear Picnic Day
Jul 10
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"🎶 Ev'ry Teddy Bear who's been good
Is sure of a treat today.
There's lots of marvelous things to eat
And wonderful games to play.
Beneath the trees where nobody sees
They'll hide and seek as long as they please
'Cause that's the way the
Teddy Bears have their picnic."
~ Teddy Bears' Picnic, 1907
Today is a fine day to host a Teddy Bears' Picnic for young ones of your acquaintance, inviting all well-behaved Teddy Bears and other stuffed animals. In real life, however, it's wise to take all due care to prevent frolicking and hungry bears from crashing your own picnic party or camping trip. Real bears will go to great lengths to sample food left accessible by humans both outdoors and and can even rip open cars and break into houses if determined . Sometimes, though, all they want is a cool beverage. In 2012, a family of bears ransacked a cabin in northern Norway and guzzled 100 cans of beer! In a similar event in 2004, a bear drank 36 cans of Rainier, but completely ignored the Busch beer. After sleeping off his hangover, the bear was captured in a trap baited with doughnuts, honey, and two more cans of his favorite lager! 🍩 🐻 🧸 🍯 🍉 🍺
Teddy Bear's Picnic
"If you go down in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise
If you go down in the woods today, you'd better go in disguise
For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain
Because today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic"
"The Teddy Bears' Picnic" is a song consisting of a melody by American composer John Walter Bratton, written in 1907, and lyrics added by Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy in 1932. It remains popular as a children's song, having been recorded by numerous artists over the decades.
The song has inspired countless picnics for young children and their teddy bears. For the original 1932 classic recording by Henry Hall, click the picnic!
See below for the dance performed by the Chiswick Scottish Country Dancers in 2014 as part of a fundraising for the BBC Children in Need Appeal of that year.
