The dancers consist of a band of twelve, and by tradition, always male.  Six men carry the six reindeer antlers, accompanied by Maid Marion, the Hobby Horse, the Jester or Fool,  a boy carrying a bow and arrow, another a triangle on which he beats time, and another a musician, nowadays playing an accordion, but in  past years a fiddle.

Weights of Horns:
Large White 25 ¼ Ibs
Large Brown 23 ¼ Ibs
Medium Brown 20 Ibs
Medium White 19 Ibs
Small White 16 ½ Ibs
Small Brown 16 ¼ Ibs

In 1976 the No. 2 horn was damaged, the tip of the right antler being broken off.  While this was being repaired the opportunity was taken of carrying out a carbon-dating test.  A small splinter of bone from the broken horn was sent to the Department of Geological Sciences at Birmingham University and the test results gave the date as 1065 plus or minus 80 years.

This, of course, does not mean that the Horn Dance is the same age.  Many theories have been put forward as to its origin.

William Bentley, for instance, was born in 1857, and remembered stories told to him about the Dance by his grandfather when he was a boy.  This would take us back to at least 1800, and quiet likely even earlier, and other old residents had similar memories going back as far.