THE unique sight of a group of dancing bears and their accompanying musicians delighted members of Thurrock's Romanian community on Saturday (7 December), following the celebration of  Saint Nicholas's Day the day before, the official start to the Romanian Christmas festive season.

Not even a drizzle, strong winds and the cold could dampen the enthusiasm of the performers who are currently touring the UK to bring a spirit of home to Romanians now based in the UK.

The event was co-ordinated by Grays businessman Dacian Keran, who came to the UK 20 years ago.

He has recently converted his first business venture, the Feast restaurant on the town's High Street, into a convenience store called Europa, but he has retained the bar, the venue's upstairs function room and its grill service which delivers a range of offerings - some of them sampled by the hungry 'bears' after their performance.

"I wanted to bring a sense of tradition here for our community. The Romanian poipulation in Thurock is quite large and growing and we are committed long term to being members of the borough community," said Dacian, "but who does not like a bit of homeland tradition - especially at this festive time.

"The group of performers are touring the UK in the run up to Christmas and I thought it would be great for local children here to to see it - and many of their mums and dads too.

"It's a shame the weather wasn't great, the High Street was understandably quiet, but I think it went well and both the performers and the specators enjoyed it."

The Dancing Bears tradition in Romania is a pre-Christian custom where people dress up as bears to visit homes and wish people good luck and a happy new year. 

The tradition is said to date back to a time when people believed that wild animals protected them from danger and misfortune. 

Participants in the tradition, known as "dancing bears", visit homes and communities to wish people good luck and a happy new year. 

They wear bear skins, that can weigh up to 50 kilograms (110 pounds), as costumes and dance to the beat of traditional drums, pipes and whistles.

Some add giant red pom-pom decorations to their furs to make them look like a marching band. 

After performing in the High Street, the dancing bears then walked through the store, performed again in the function room and then sat down to refreshments provided by Dacian and his team.

Grays High Street will be in festive mood again on Monday (9 December) when the town's Christmas tree and festive decorations are switched on.