DARK DORSET - Dorset's premier website devoted to local folklore and the unexplained

News Clipping: Bournemouth resident mystified by 'blue sphere shower'

2012-01-27T08:07:00.000Z

A man in Dorset has been left mystified after tiny blue spheres fell from the sky into his garden. Steve Hornsby from Bournemouth said the 3cm diameter balls came raining down late on Thursday afternoon during a hail storm. He found about a dozen of the balls in his garden. He said: "[They're] difficult to pick up, I had to get a spoon and flick them into a jam jar." The Met Office said the jelly-like substance was "not meteorological"

READ MORE - Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo 27th January 2012

Events: Bonny Sartin's "The Banks Of Newfoundland" with special guests - Nick Wyke and Becki Driscoll

2012-01-25T22:22:00.001Z

17th Century painting of Trinity Bay, Newfoundland
(Dorset County Museum)

Bonny Sartin will be performing at a various locations around the county with a fascinating talk on the history of Dorset people. This time the story moves abroad, and he will be joined by two of the South West's finest fiddle players to make it a real night to remember.

The talk is entitled “The Banks Of Newfoundland” and tells the story of Dorset's brave fishermen who for hundreds of years sailed across the Atlantic for the summer to fish for cod off Newfoundland.

Bonny said “Many fortunes were made and lost, but the port of Poole, in particular, flourished. It was tough for the fishermen though. Newfoundland is inhospitable. Icebergs, fogs and foul weather played havoc with their little boats and if you survived that you were often greeted by the Press Gang when you reached home.”

Nick Wyke and Becki Driscoll

Joining Bonny will be Nick Wyke and Becki Driscoll, the fiddle duo are leading lights in the new folk generation and have recently completed a project marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first permeant English settlement in Canada, Cupids Cove, Newfoundland.

They have been swopping tunes and songs with Newfoundland musicians, and will have just finished a joint tour called Shore To Shore. This show brought together leading singers and musicians from Newfoundland and the West Country of England in an international collaboration that charted the development of folk song and music on both sides of the Atlantic from the early 1600s to the present day.

Bonny, Becki and Nick will be performing on:

Saturday, February 4th at 7.30pm at the Durweston Village Hall, Tel: 01258 453170

Sunday, March 4th at 7.00pm at the Cerne Abbas Village Hall, Tel: 01300 341332

Friday, March 16th at 7.30pm at the Broadwindsor Comrades Hall, Tel: 01308 868582

The Year of the Dragon: Dragons and Wyverns of Dorset

2012-01-23T00:25:00.000Z

One of the oldest mythical creatures thathave appeared in every culture around the world occurring in oral and writtenfolk traditions are dragons. The popular image of the dragon as a large firebreathing winged lizards has been so deeply ingrained on our psyche that it ishard to think that these fabulous animals never existed at all, althoughtraveller’s tales, and misunderstandings about the habits of real animals, mayhave played a major part in the zoology of the dragon.

2012 is the year of the dragon according tothe Chinese calendar. The Chinese dragonis highly revered, for it is symbol of beauty, wisdom and divine powers, asopposed to its western counterpart which is a feared and loathed.

In English folk tradition the dragonappeared either as a marauding creature that would feast upon livestock or laywaste to villages. More often than notit was the case that a maiden would be sacrificed to the creature to appease itand a gallant knight or local squire would slay the beast with either cunningor magical means.

As most English counties have a dragonlegend it is surprising that Dorset is devoid of any stories relating to them,which is strange considering that fossils of long forgotten sea monsters ofprehistoric times have been found along the Dorsetcoast for centuries

The Christchurch Dragon

However in a chronicle, written in 1146 byone Hermann of Tournai. In "De Miraculis S. Marie Laudunensis"("On the Miracles of Our Lady of Laon." ) Hermann writes about theyear 1113 in which French monks visiting England,witnessed a dragon with five-heads emerge from the channel attacking andburning Christchurch (formerly in the county of Hampshire) to the ground.

Hermann writes:

XI. God’s vengeance is shown in a wonder

On the same Sunday when we had dined, weleft the town. The people there, who were touched with gratitude for thebenefits we had brought them, asked us to return to them later and we acceptedthe invitation. But, meanwhile, the just Judge of Heaven did not delay revengefor the slight given to his Mother. We were only about half a league out oftown when suddenly two horsemen rode up behind us, shouting out and calling usto come and help the city, which was on fire. We looked back: the whole townhad caught fire and was in a blaze. We asked them how it had come to burn andwere told that a dragon had come out of the sea and, while we were making our departure, had flown to the city, breathing fire out of its nostrils.

First, it had set the church afire, andthen had kindled some houses in the town. We heard this and, wanted to take a look at the wonder. Leaving the shrine withits own attendants, we raced our horses back to Christchurch and there we saw the dragon. Itwas incredibly long and had five heads.

We made our way back there as far as the church, which we found burnt to the ground, totally – it was not just the timbers which were consumed but the walls themselves, even the biggest blocks of stone. The altars had been reduced to dust and ashes. Everyone who saw what had happened was dumbfounded with dread at the miracle.

When the Dean had seen his house and his church on fire, he had hastily collected his clothing and furniture and strapped them onto a ship which was beached in the harbour nearby. Then he had the ship launched and hoped that on it they would be safe from the fire. The dragon was nearby and (as if fulfilling the purpose for which it had come) found the ship and flew over it and burnt all that was on board. Then, wonderful as it is to tell, it set fire to the whole ship in an instant! We were anxious about our host of the night before and moved on towards his home: there we found him glad in the safety of his house and all within it, thinking how good a quest the Queen of Heaven had been in preserving him. It was not just the house where we had stayed that had survived intact: the preservation extended to the outbuildings, which, as I said, housed his livestock, so that nothing out of all his goods had been lost. The traders who had earlier shown so much kindness to us now received the favour of Heaven, for little if any of their wares were lost. The fair in the town only lasted a day, so after eating at midday they had all gathered up their packs and had them already strapped up and stowed away when the dragon came. They were all utterly terrified by the dragon’s appearance and we saw them running about wildly in all directions. Now the Dean – the man who had the shrine of Our Lady thrown out of his church – was moved to a late repentance. He came forward, barefoot, and prostrated himself before the shrine, acknowledging that the judgement of the Lord had been just, and praying to be forgiven for all that he had done wrong.

Wyverns of Wessex

Where there is a lack of stories andfolklore related to Dragons in Dorset there isno shortage of usage in symbolism represented in stone ornaments and grotesqueson churches and houses and also heraldic crests.


Stone Tympanum, Wynford Eagle From Rev. John Hutchins 'History and Antiquities of Dorset' 1741

The wyvern is a legendary winged serpentwith a dragon's head, two legs, a barbed tail and poisonous breath. These creatures are depicted fighting on the stonetympanum, the remaining part of the original Norman chapel at Wynford Eagle. Italso bears two inscriptions, Malhad l'Egle meaning Matilda l' Eagle this isthough to refer to the patron of the piece. The village is named after theNormal Aqulia (Eagle) family. There is a further enscription Alvi me fecimeaning Alvi made me.

Modern depictions can be found on thecounty coat of arms. Two golden dragons (Sometimes incorrectly referred to as Wyverns) represented the ancient kingdom of Wessex were latergranted as supporters to the arms of Dorset County Council in 1950. Two Wyvernsupporters also appear in the West Dorset District Council granted in 1990.

Who's Afear'd: County Arms of Dorset

There has been much debate on the originsof the wyvern or dragon used as an emblem of Wessex. The invading Saxons may have broughtdragon-emblems with them, but from the Romano-British the ancient chroniclesindicate that Cerdic, and perhaps all the Saxon monarchs not only in Wessex but in other parts of Britain,adopted the dragon-standard, and possibly this is what did actually happen. However,dragon standards were in fairly wide use in Europeat the time, being derived from the ensign of the Roman legions. The phrase,‘the dragon of Wessex,’does not appear to be of great antiquity.

It has been suggested that a golden dragonstandard was raised at the Battle of Burford in AD 752 by the West Saxons.

The historian William Camden (1551–1623)wrote

"...in Saxon Beorgford [i.e. Burford],where Cuthred, king of the West Saxons, then tributary to the Mercians, notbeing able to endure any longer the cruelty and base exactions of KingÆthelbald, met him in the open field with an army and beat him, taking hisstandard, which was a portraiture of a golden dragon."

While others have suggested the origin of thegolden dragon standard, is attributed to that of Uther Pendragon, the father ofKing Arthur of whom Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote:

[Uther Pendragon] "...ordered twodragons to be fashioned in gold, in the likeness of the one which he had seenin the ray which shone from that star. As soon as the Dragons had beencompleted this with the most marvellous craftsmanship — he made a present ofone of them to the congregation of the cathedral church of the see of Winchester. The secondone he kept for himself, so that he could carry it around to his wars."

'Yellow Devils' Badge of the 43rd Wessex Division

The golden wyvern of Wessex continued to beused as a symbol for battle. The British Army have used this ancient emblemto represent The 43rd (Wessex)Infantry Division. Who adopted aformation sign consisting of a gold wyvern on a black background, and both theWessex Brigade and Wessex Regiments used a cap badge featuring the heraldicbeast. During the Second World War, the Germans certainly respected the 43rd (Wessex)Infantry Division, nicknaming them "Yellow Devils" on account oftheir tenacity (and, of course, the "WessexWyvern" badge), especially at the battles on the R Odon and for Hill 112in Normandy.

Dragon Reading.....

Dragons - More than a Myth?
by Richard Freeman
Click Here

For further reading about Dragons look no further than this excellent publication 'Dragons - More than a Myth?' by Richard Freeman, cryptozoologist, author, explorer, adventurer, and Zoological Director of the world’s largest mystery animal research organisation 'The Centre for Fortean Zoology'. Richard follows this mysteries creature right across the globe, from prehistory to the present day. He tracks it from the steamy jungles of the Congo, to the desolate lakes of eastern Siberia. The dragon rears its scaly head in every culture on Earth; from the Indians to the Australian Aborigines, and from the Vikings to the Pygmies.

The inescapable conclusion is that there are very real beasts at the core of these fantastic stories. The dragon has its teeth and claws deep into the collective psyche of mankind, and it’s not about to let go. Our most ancient fear still stalks the earth today. Beware. This is no fairytale! When your parents told you that there were no such things as dragons, they lied! With illustrations by Mark North, (co-author of Dark Dorset Tales of Mystery Wonder and Terror) - this is truly a fascinating insight into the world of Dragons.

***************

The Portland Sea Dragon
by Carol Hunt
Click Her

Published by Roving Press 'The Portland Sea Dragon' by Carol Hunt. This is the first in a series of children’s books set on Portland written by local author Carol Hunt. The Portland Chronicles draw on local history, exploring a seventeenth century world of smuggling, witchcraft, piracy and local intrigue. The Chronicles aim to capture children’s imagination with stories based on real folklore and places.

For more information about the book visit www.rovingpress.co.uk

New Book: Souls, Spirits and Deities by Bob Thrubshaw

2012-01-18T20:33:00.002Z

Souls, Spirits and Deities
by Bob Thrubshaw

Bob Thrubshaw of 'Heart of Albion' uploaded his latest publication as a FREE PDF download from his website.

Modern Western ideas about souls, spirits and deities are seemingly materialistic and rational. Yet, when looked at closely, these seemingly-secular ideas rather too clearly betray their origins in Christian doctrines.

By looking closely at ethnographical parallels together with recent 'Dark Age' scholarship Bob Trubshaw starts to strip away these more recent ideas. This begins to reveal how pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons might have thought about the differences between souls and spirits – and the similarities of spirits and deities.

Souls, spirits and deities develops some of the ideas about souls in Bob Trubshaw's recent book Singing Up the Country.

Available as a free PDF download only. Download Souls, Spirits and Deities for FREE (1 megabyte PDF)

Old Twelfth Night and The Burning of the Ashen Faggot

2012-01-17T00:00:00.000Z

The Ashen Faggot

Old Twelfth Night’ occurs on 17th January and is the traditional date to ‘Wassail Apple Orchards’. The word ‘wassail’ is derived from the Anglo Saxon ‘wes hál’ meaning ‘be whole’ or ‘be of good health’. ‘Apple Wassailing’ or ‘Apple Howling’ as it is sometimes called is an ancient ceremony performed to ensure a healthy and plentiful crop of fruit in the coming year.

The Ashen Faggot (sometimes called ashton fagot) is an old English Christmas tradition from in Devonshire and Somersetshire, similar to that of the Yule log and related to the wassail tradition. The wassail party passes around a bundle of ash sticks, twigs or branches—the ashen faggot—bound with green ash withies, which is then placed onto the fire. As each binding bursts, the watchers toast it with a drink. Some traditions had the unmarried women each choosing a withy, and the first one whose tie snapped would be married the next year. While women at the Squirrel Inn, Laymore, hoping to become pregnant would jump over a burning faggot. When the bindings have all burst and the bundle has fallen loose, each person who plans to host the festivities next year takes one of the half-burned ash sticks and saves it until the following Christmas, when it will go in the center of their own ashen faggot. The tradition endures (or has been resurrected) in many places; according to an article in the Winter 2005 issue of Devon Talk, the Harbour Inn in Axmouth annually builds an ashen faggot six feet high and three feet wide for their huge pub fireplace.

Some traditions held that not burning the ashen faggot in your house brought bad luck, or that having an ashen faggot in the house kept the Devil and evil spirits away. Ash was likely chosen because the ash tree has a long pedigree of magical associations: perhaps the most important is the Yggdrasil of Norse mythology, also known as the World Ash Tree.

Since 2004, The Shave Cross Inn has continued the traditional custom of burning the Ashen Faggot. This year on 19th Jananuary 2012 (Nearest to Old Twelfth Night), Shave Cross Inn will be holding the 'Ash'n'faggot' burning once again, with performances by the Wessex Morris Men. Also there will be Music, Dancing and Singing at 7.00pm onwards.

For more information visit there website at www.theshavecrossinn.co.uk

Below: The Burning the Ashen Faggot on Old Twelfth Night (17th January 2007) at the The Shave Cross Inn.

Events: Mystery Big Cats Of Britain - A talk by Merrily Harpur

2012-01-13T19:33:00.000Z

Merrily Harpur

Merrily Harpur will be giving a talk about big cats in our countryside, at The Gryphon School, Conference Centre, Sherborne on Wednesday 25th January 2012 at 7.00pm

Merrily, who runs the Dorset Big Cat Register www.dorsetbigcats.org - has researched thousands of sightings of anomalous big cats (ABCs) roaming Britain. Sightings of these mysterious felines, described as being like pumas or panthers, are higher in Dorset than any other county in England.

Click the image above to enlarge poster

Meeting or glimpsing a Big Cat could, Merrily suggests, be the nearest we get in Britain to a ‘brush with the unknown’. She discovers that these mystery felines have been with us for longer than we imagine, in folklore and familiar to the Neoplatonists as daimons (not demons) – intermediaries between this world and another. They may ‘at the very least change your view of a landscape that can produce such beautiful and elusive creatures’.

Merrily Harpur is a freelance cartoonist, illustrator and writer and has contributed regularly to many national newspapers and magazines. Living between Dorset and Ireland, in 2002 she created the Dorset Big Cats Register, a gazetteer of locations and eyewitness accounts.

She has written two books on the subject, Roaring Dorset! Encounters with Big Cats (pub 2008, Roving Press) documents some of the closest and most vivid encounters. Mystery Big Cats (pub 2006, Heart of Albion) investigated the big cat phenomena nationwide and received huge critical acclaim.

Tickets: £4 (Concessions £3). For more enquiries telephone 01935 810152 of email. lizzie.kingsbury@gryphon.dorset.sch.uk

13 Reasons to be Fearful - Superstitions about Friday 13th

2012-01-13T00:00:00.000Z

The belief that Friday 13th is an especially unlucky day is one of the widest-known superstitions in Britain today, and is erroneously assumed to be of great antiquity. The notion that thirteen is a generally unlucky number has not been found earlier than 1852, and although Fridays have been regarded as unlucky since medieval times, it is quite certain that the fear of Friday 13th is a Victorian invention. Indeed, the first definite reference to Friday 13th we have is from 1913:

I have met a coach' of fine mental capacities, which had been carefully cultivated, who dreaded the evil luck of Friday the 13th.

Here is an interesting article, from the Daily Express Friday 13th October 2000, about the superstitions linked with the number Thirteen and Friday 13th.

"Every week most of us thank God it's Friday. However, an estimated live million people in Britain will spend today in such a state of anxiety and fear that they will feel compelled to stay at home until tomorrow. It is because today. Friday the 13th makes its only appearance this millennium year. Businesses lose money through absenteeism, while travel operators are hit as customers cancel trips or switch departure dates. So why in these ‘enlightened’ times, are we still so worried about such superstitions? Here are 13 things you need to know about the myths and legends surrounding this most auspicious date:

Friday the 13th (1980, USA)
Fear of the number 13 is known by psychologists as ‘triskaidekaphobia’. The term paraskavidekatriaphobia (basically just the Greek for ‘fear of Friday 13’) was later coined to identify those specifically afraid of Friday the 13th. In the US, there are an estimated 21 million sufferers. This may have prompted Hollywood to tap into the popular myth with the ‘Friday The 13th' series of horror movies, in which the main character Jason is driven to mindless frenzy on that day.
There is always at least one Friday 13th each year. Some years there are two, rarely three (most recently in 1998 and the next in 2009). In the event of it occurring in conjunction with a full moon, folklore has it that there is an increase in crime and mental illness.
Legend tells us that the 13th of any month is unlucky, especially if it falls on a Friday. Only failure and doom awaits those foolhardy "enough to start a new venture such as a business or marriage.
Strategies used to avoid catastrophes include carrying a four-leafed clover, crossing fingers, wishing on a star, tossing coins into a wishing well or fountain and even burning old socks on turned up on top of a mountain. And, until recently, a decree in Indiana required that all black cats must wear bells.
The superstition is supposed to date from the early years of Christianity. Biblical references include the 13 people at Christ's Last Supper and the belief that the crucifixion took place on Friday 13th. Some theologians also claim that Adam accepted the apple from Eve on a Friday and that Cain killed his brother Abel on Friday 13th.
Earlier cultures also considered the number 13 unlucky. In Norse mythology when Loki, the god of mischief, became the uninvited 13th guest at a banquet in Valhalla, the god of Light: Balhar died as a result. Ancient Norsemen had 13 knots in their hangman's noose. The Romans believed that witches gathered in groups of 13 and the 13th was the Devil. Greek mythology also tells of the violent death of the 13th member in a group of gods. The Chinese interpreted 13 as the number of obstacles in the way of good fortune.
There are some societies that consider 13 lucky. The Mexicans believed the number symbolised the sun and energy. The Jewish Cabala confirms its lucky status; the Book of Moses mentions 13 attributes of God; and the bar mitzvah celebrates the passing from childhood into adulthood at the age of 13.
Friday is considered a lucky day in Scandinavia. The word Friday comes from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Frigdaeg’, thought to have been a derivation of Frig g, the Norse god of love. Vendredi, French for Friday, derives from Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Some actors also believe that Friday is a lucky day, insisting they sign contracts only on that day Charles Dickens was said to have begun writing all of his books on a Friday. Even stock market traders on Wall Street regard Friday 13th a lucky day Over the past three years it has occurred five times and each time the market has risen substantially
Celebrated paraskavidekatria- phobics include Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, who both avoided travelling on that day. The Royal Family has also been known to avoid the dreaded number. Princess Margaret's birth was not officially recorded, as the registration number was 13. The family waited three days until another baby was registered so Margaret could have the number 14.
Disasters associated with Fridays and the number 13 include in the 19th century, the disappearance of the Royal Navy's HMS Friday, following which Lloyd's would not insure any ship launched on Friday 13th. Even today the US Navy will avoid launching a ship on Friday 13th. The Andes airline crash happened on Friday 13th 1970, and the survivors were forced to eat the flesh of the dead passengers. The ill-fated Apollo 13 launch took place at 13.13 hours whereupon an explosion in the fuel cell aborted the mission on April 13th.
In the Twenties, 13 people sat down to dinner at the Savoy Hotel in London. The following day their host died. Since then, whenever there are 13 people for dinner at the Savoy, the hotel provides an extra seat and places a statuette of a black cat called Kaspar on the chair. In France, a company exists which will always provide a last minute 14th guest for dinner parties.
Many sceptics challenge or dismiss the concept of superstition. The London Thirteen Club, formed in the late 19th century by journalists, regularly meets to mock superstition by spilling salt, opening umbrellas indoors and walking on cracks. The Friday The 13th club, in Philadelphia, has been meeting for 63 years and celebrates the day by breaking mirrors, walking under ladders and crossing the paths of black cats. Greek-born Nick Matsoukas emigrated to the US, arriving on February 13^th 1917. He was the 13th child in his family and his name consisted of 13 letters. He formed the National Committee of Thirteen Against Superstition, Prejudice And Fear.
Finally, perhaps you might like to wonder who it was that actually sat down and worked out that an anagram of ‘eleven plus two’ is ‘twelve plus one".

So, whether you decide to spent today cower in bed, or burn your socks atop a mountain, or even book a table at the Savoy for 12 of your friends — just remember to put a four-leafed clover in your pocket, cross your fingers and stay lucky."

News Clipping: Plough Monday making a comeback

2012-01-09T22:58:00.000Z

Anonymous Morris Dancing on Poole Quay

According to local tradition we should all be enjoying a public holiday today. Plough Monday once marked the end of the Christmas period and was often the only holiday of the year for Dorset farm labourers apart from the odd celebrations such as May Day or Harvest Home. Active from the Middle Ages until the late 1800s, Plough Monday was the day field labourers could have fun at the expense of their wealthier neighbours.

READ MORE - Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo Monday 9th January 2012

Plough Sunday - The blessing of the plough

2012-01-08T00:00:00.000Z

Plough Monday

'Plough Sunday' this marked the start of Plough Tide a short agriculture festival marking the return to work after the Christmas season and the start of new year ploughing.

The origins of Plough Sunday go back a long way, at least into medieval times. On the first Sunday after Epiphany, the parish ploughs, bedecked with ribbons, would be dragged to church to be blessed, as the ploughing season began. On Plough Monday the teams would drag the ploughs round the village, seeking contributions for an 'Ale' or night of revelling at the tavern. They were often accompanied by musicians, molly dancers, an old woman or a boy dressed as an old woman, called the "Bessy", and a man in the role of the "fool". Plough Tuesday would be spent, more often than not, in recovering. Then on Wednesday the work would begin in earnest.

Click here to read an interesting article about 'Plough Monday in Dorchester' by Jo Draper and how this ancient custom was revived in the county town

Old Glory Molly Dancers perform 'Solomons Seal' on Plough Monday

at the Rumburgh Buck in Suffolk.

Extract taken from the Chambers Book of Days 11th January 1864, details the tradition.

PLOUGH MONDAY

This being In 1864 the first Monday after Twelfth Day, is for the year Plough Monday. Such was the name of a rustic festival, heretofore of great account in England, bearing in its first aspect, like St. Distaff's Day, reference to the resumption of labour after the Christmas holidays.

In Catholic times, the ploughmen kept lights burning before certain images in churches, to obtain a blessing on their work; and they were accustomed on this day to go about in procession, gathering money for the support of these plough-lights, as they were called. The Reformation put out the lights; but it could not extinguish the festival. The peasantry contrived to go about in procession, collecting money, though only to be spent in conviviality in the public-house. It was at no remote date a very gay and rather pleasant-looking affair. A plough was dressed up with ribbons and other decorations—the Fool Plough. Thirty or forty stalwart swains, with their shirts over their jackets, and their shoulders and hats flaming with ribbons, dragged it along from house to house, preceded by one in the dress of an old woman, but much bedizened, bearing the name of Bessy. There was also a Fool, in fantastic attire. In some parts of the country, morrisdancers attended the procession; occasionally, too, some reproduction of the ancient Scandinavian sword dance added to the means of persuading money out of the pockets of the lieges.

A Correspondent, who has borne a part (cow-horn blowing) on many a Plough Monday in Lincolnshire, thus describes what happened on these occasions under his own observation: —Rude though it was, the Plough procession threw a life into the dreary scenery of winter, as it came winding along the quiet rutted lanes, on its way from one village to another; for the ploughmen from many a surrounding thorpe, hamlet, and lonely farm-house united in the celebration of Plough Monday. It was nothing unusual for at least a score of the "sons of the soil" to yoke themselves with ropes to the plough, having put on clean smock-frocks in honour of the day. There was no limit to the number who joined in the morris-dance, and were partners with " ossy," who carried the money-box; and all these had ribbons in their hats and pinned about them wherever there was room to display a bunch. Many a hardworking country Molly lent a helping hand in decorating out her Johnny for Plough Monday, and finished him with an admiring exclamation of "Lawks, John! thou does look smart, surely." Some also wore small bunches of corn in their hats, from which the wheat was soon shaken out by the ungainly jumping which they called dancing. Occasionally, if the winter was severe, the procession was joined by threshers carrying their flails, reapers bearing their sickles, and carters with their long whips, which they were ever cracking to add to the noise, while even the smith and the miller were among the number, for the one sharpened the plough-shares and the other ground the corn; and Bessy rattled his box and danced so high. that he shewed his worsted stockings and corduroy breeches; and very often, if there was a thaw, tucked up his gown skirts under his waistcoat, and shook the bonnet off his head, and disarranged the long ringlets that ought to have concealed his whiskers. For Betsy is to the procession of Plough Monday what the leading figurante is to an opera or ballet, and dances about as gracefully as the hippopotami described by Dr Livingstone. But these rough antics were the cause of much laughter, and rarely do we ever remember hearing any coarse jest that would call up the angry blush to a modest cheek. No doubt they were called "plough bullocks," through drawing the plough, as bullocks were formerly used, and are still yoked to the plough in some parts of the country. The rubbishy verses they recited are not worth preserving beyond the line which graces many a public-house sign of "God speed the plough." At the large farm-house, besides money they obtained refreshment, and through the quantity of ale they thus drank during the day, managed to get what they called "their load" by night. Even the poorest cottagers dropped a few pence into Bessy's box.

But the great event of the day was when they came before some house which bore signs that the owner was well-to-do in the world, and nothing was given to them. Bossy rattled his box and the ploughmen danced, while the country lads blew their bullocks' horns, or shouted with all their might; but if there was still no sign, no coming forth of either bread-and-cheese or ale, then the word was given, the ploughshare driven into the ground before the door or window, the whole twenty men yoked pulling like one, and in a minute or two the ground before the house was as brown, barren, and ridgy as a newly-ploughed field. But this was rarely done, for everybody gave something, and were it but little the men never murmured, though they might talk about the stinginess of the giver afterwards amongst themselves, more especially if the party was what they called " well off in the world." We are notaware that the ploughmen were ever summoned to answer for such a breach of the law, for they believe, to use their own expressive language, " they can stand by it, and no law in the world can touch 'em,' cause it's an old charter;" and we are sure it would spoil their " folly to be wise."

One of the mummers generally wears a fox's skin in the form of a hood; but beyond the laughter the tail that hangs down his back awakens by its motion as he dances, we are at a loss to find a meaning. Bessy formerly wore a bullock's tail behind, under his gown, and which he held in his hand while dancing, but that appendage has not been worn of late.

Some writers believe it is called White Plough Monday on account of the mummers having worn their shirts outside their other garments. This they may have done to set off the gaudy-coloured ribbons; though a clean white smock frock, such as they are accustomed to wear, would shew off their gay decorations quite as well. The shirts so worn we have never seen. Others have stated that Plough Monday has its origin from ploughing again commencing at this season. But this is rarely the case, as the ground is generally too hard, and the ploughing is either done in autumn, or is rarely begun until February, and very often not until the March sun has warmed and softened the ground. Some again argue that Plough Monday is a festival held in remembrance of " the plough. having ceased from its labour." After weighing all these arguments, we have come to the conclusion that the true light in which to look at the origin of this ancient custom is that thrown upon the subject by the ploughman's candle, burnt in the church at the shrine of' some saint, and that to maintain this light contributions were collected and sanctioned by the Church, and that the priests were the originators of Plough Monday.'

At Whitby, in Yorkshire, according to its historian, the Rev. G. Young, there was usually an extra band of six to dance the sword-dance. With one or more musicians to give them music on the violin or flute, they first arranged them-selves in a ring with their swords raised in the air.

Then they went through a series of evolutions, at first slow and simple, afterwards more rapid and complicated, but always graceful.

Towards the close each one catches the point of his neighbour's sword, and various movements take place in consequence; one of which consists in joining or plaiting the swords into the form of an elegant hexagon or rose, in the centre of the ring, which rose is so firmly made that one of them holds it up above their heads without undoing it. The dance closes with taking it to pieces, each man laying hold of his own sword. During the dance, two or three of the company called Toms or Clowns, dressed up as harlequins, in most fantastic modes, having their faces painted or masked, are making antic gestures to amuse the spectators; while another set called Madgies or Madryy Pegs, clumsily dressed in women's clothes and also masked or painted, go from door to door rattling old canisters, in which they receive money. Where they are well paid they raise a huzza; where they get nothing, they shout " hunger and starvation!" '

Domestic life in old times, however rude and comfortless compared with what it now is, or may be, was relieved by many little jocularities and traits of festive feeling. When the day came for the renewal of labour in earnest, there was a sort of competition between the maids and the men which should be most prompt in rising to work. If the ploughmen were up and dressed at the fire-side, with some of their field implements in hand, before the maids could get the kettle on, the latter party had to furnish a cock for the men next Shrovetide. As an alternative upon this statute, if any of the ploughmen, returning at night, came to the kitchen hatch, and cried 'Cock in the pot,' before any maid could cry 'Cock on the dunghill!' she incurred the same forfeit.

N.B. Other Plough Monday Celebrations in Britain can be found here at Peter Millington's Web Space

News Clipping: New museum role for Victorian Hall

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Dorset County Museum's Victorian Hall

Dorset County Museum's Victorian Hall will have a new role when a blockbuster exhibition moves out later this month. The venue is currently hosting the touring British Museum exhibition Pharaoh: King of Egypt, which has smashed visitor numbers at the Dorchester museum since it opened in October. The exhibition ends on 22nd January but the links will continue with the British Museum's involvement in creating a new display on the theme of A Museum within a Museum in the hall.

READ MORE - Source: Blackmore Vale Magazine Friday, 6th January 2012

Wassail!! The customs and traditions of Twelfth Night.

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In his book 'Dorsetshire Folklore' published in 1922 John Symonds Udal wrote about Twelfth Night :

"So called from its being the twelfth and last day of Christmas, counting from the Nativity. It is sometimes called " Old Christmas Day ". It is considered to be the last day upon which it is lawful to eat mince- or minced-pies, which are essentially a Christmas dish. To eat one on each of the twelve days of Christmas is said to ensure for the eater entire happiness for the ensuing year, or, failing that, one happy month for each mince-pie so eaten. In some parts of Dorsetshire, however, it is said that to procure the desired result each mince-pie must be of a different person's " make ", or must be eaten at a different house."

Apple Tree Wassailing

Drinking a toast to the Apple Tree

Apple tree wassailing is a ceremony which involves drinking to the health of the apple trees.

The biggest and best tree was then selected and cider poured over its roots. Pieces of bread soaked in cider were placed in the forks of branches.

The Apple trees were sprinkled with wassail to ensure a good crop. Villagers would gather around the apple trees with shotguns or pots and pans and make a tremendous racket. This noise and mayhem had a duel effect, for it was not only intended to awaken the Apple Tree Man from his slumber but also to scare away the evil spirits of winter that hovered among its branches. Finally everyone would hail the Apple Tree Man and sing the traditional ‘Wassailing Song’. One widespread version of the song ran:The wassail song was sung or chanted as a blessing or charm to bring a good apple harvest the following year.

Old Apple-Tree, we Wassail thee,
And hoping thou will bear
For the Lord doth know where we shall be
Till apples come another year;
For us to bear well and bloom well,
So merry let us be,
Let everyman take off his hat
And shout to the old Apple-tree;
Old Apple-Tree, we Wassail thee,
And hoping thou will bear
Hats-full, caps-full
Three Bushel bag-fulls,
And a heap under the stair.
Hooray!!

This custom was especially important during a time when part of a labourer's wages was paid in apple cider. Landlords needed a good apple crop to attract good workers. Wassailing was meant to keep the tree safe from evil spirits until the next year's apples appeared.

John Symonds Udal wrote in 'Dorsetshire Folklore' about folk customs associated to the apple tree:

"Apple tree. — If an apple tree blossoms out of season - e.g. in the autumn - it is regarded as a sign that one of the owner's family will die before very long. Upon this subject the late Canon Bingham made the following communication to Notes and Queries (Ser. iv, x, 408) (1872) :—

"Remarking an apple blossom a few days ago" (month of November) " on one of my trees I pointed it out as a curiosity to a Dorset labourer. ' Ah! Sir,'he said, 'tis lucky no women folk be here to see that '; and upon my asking the reason he replied, ' Because they's be sure to think that somebody were a-going to die.' " (This superstition is referred to in somewhat similar terms by Mr. Bosworth Smith in his Bird Life and Bird Lore, 1909, p. 365.)

I have been told by an old lady in West Dorset that if the sun is seen to shine through the branches of an apple tree on Old Christmas Day (6th January) it denotes a fine "blooth " (i.e. collective blossom), and that a good crop of apples may be expected.

An apple pip is often used by girls as a test of their lovers' fidelity. If, on putting it in the fire, it bursts with the heat she is assured of his affection ; but if it is consumed in silence she may know that he is false. Whilst they anxiously await the effect the following couplet is usually pronounced :—
" If you love me, pop and fly ;
If you hate me lay and die."
I have not myself met with any instance in Dorsetshire of the ancient custom of " wassailing ", or drinking the health, of apple trees on the eve of Twelfth Day, similar to that which obtains in some parts of Devonshire, Herefordshire, and other cider-drinking and making counties. It may be that the apple crop in our county is not considered of sufficient importance to warrant such rites being carried out as in those counties which are more noted for the high quality of the cider made there — and of which large quantities are exported — that in Dorsetshire, I think, being reserved more for local consumption, and particularly for the sheep-shearing, hay-making, and harvesting seasons. In a recent volume, however, of Folk-Lore (xxix, p. 71) (1918) containing notes of the folk-lore material now being collected by the "Brand Committee" of the Folk-Lore Society, there appears some indication that similar rites have been carried out in Dorsetshire, when cakes or toast dipped in cider were put in the branches or forks of apple trees and libations of cider were poured out upon or thrown against their trunks, to the accompaniment of shouts and the firing of guns, whilst songs or rhymes were sung in their honour, to which sometimes " rough music " was added. Full particulars of these ceremonies will no doubt appear in due course when that material comes to be published. In the meantime I append a verse given there as a Dorset variant, as follows :—
"Stand fast, root! bear well, top !
Pray God send a good howling crop !
Hats full, caps full, dree bushel bags full !
Now, now, NOW ! " (Fire-arms discharged.)- (Conf. Brand's Popular Antiquities, i, 2, where it seems to be considered that these ceremonies were a relic of the heathen sacrifice to the goddess Pomona.)
At a meeting of the Dorset Field Club held at Dorchester in December, 1920, in the discussion which followed the reading of a paper by Mr. W. O. Beament on " The Apple Tree Wassail", Mr. Stanhope Rodd stated that apple wassailing was still kept up in his own parish at Chardstock (This paper subsequently appeared in vol. xlii of the Proceedings (1922)).

Apropos of this custom of wassailing the apple trees may be noticed the superstition which Brand gives us in a general statement (i, 273, (n.)) : " There is an old saying that when it rains on St. Swithin's Day it is the Saint christening the Apples."

I was not aware that this superstition had any special reference to Dorsetshire until I had read Thomas Hardy's interesting collection of short stories, published in 1913, under the title of A Changed Man. Mr. Hardy is as surely to be depended upon for his knowledge and application of his county's folk-lore as ever Mr. Barnes was for its dialect. Here in that charming story of " The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid" one of the characters observed (p. 355) :

"But I hope it won't be long after the time when God A'mighty christens the little apples." " And when's that ? " " St. Swithin's—the middle of July."

It will be noticed that here it is the Almighty not the Saint which shows His solicitude for the welfare of the apple crop— a solicitude apparently equally shown by the Church in the olden days when the " Blessing of New Apples " (Benedictio Pomorum in Die Sancii Jacobi) was ordained to be observed ten days later, St. James's Day (25th July), according to the Manuale ad Usum Sarum (Brand, vol. i, p. 274.)"

Faggot Burning

The Ashen Faggot as depicted in the the
1913 Christmas Edition of 'The Graphic'.

Custom rekindled on Twelfth Night

A centuries old custom was re-enacted for Twelfth Night with a faggot-burning ceremony at a pub on the West Dorset and Somerset border.

For 21 years local farmer Mike Turner has made a 13-foot long ash faggot, bound with hawthorn, to be burned in the fire at the Squirrel Inn at Laymore, west of Drimpton.

The ceremony, where people make guesses as to how long the faggot will take to burn, is thought to have originated to celebrate the old Christmas Day on January 6, under the Julian Calendar, which England followed until 1752.

Tradition has it that spectators should take a drink every time each of the dozen binds burns away, to ward off evil spirits.

Squirrel landlord Ron Cull was 'stoker' for the evening, he was helped by Tim Beer and Mike Turner, who put the finishing touches to the faggot.

This year the ceremony took four hours, 33 minutes and 31 seconds from the breaking of the first bind to the moment the last one snapped.

Best guess was from Sheila Doble, from Laymore, who was just 91 seconds adrift and who won a keg of beer. Second came Jenny Jefford, from Salisbury, and third was Samantha Moyle from Tatworth, near Chard.

"I think we are probably the last pub around here to do this now," said Ron, who had to ask magistrates to grant a special drinks licence extension.

"They said they weren't too keen but my solicitor persuaded them to let the custom carry on as long as it did not set a precedent — and after all, it's only once a year!"

The 'New Year' Mummers at Symondsbury

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Towards the end of the last 19th century many English villages had their Yuletide mummers. A number of young men would form themselves into a company, usually of five to eleven members, according to the size of the play. Some plays were much longer than others.

The Symondsbury Mumming Play is the most complete of any of these plays. This play has eleven characters, Father Christmas, Room, King of Egypt, St. George, St. Patrick, a Doctor, four warriors, Servant-man, Dame Dorothy and Tommy the Pony. The traditional dress of the warriors was usually a soldier's uniform (see photo), decked with ribbons, streamers and sashes. The head-dress was in the form of a helmet with ribbons falling to mask the face completely from view.

The Ilchester Arms, Symondsbury

Symondsbury Mummers are still in existence today, their play being performed on New Year's Day every year in the car park of the local village inn The Ilchester Arms at around 8.00pm.

Staffordshire born, John Symonds Udal who lived at the Symondsbury Manor, took a keen interest in Dorset's folklore, customs and traditions. He wrote the following article printed in Folk-Lore Record, (Vol.III Pt. I, 1880, pp.87-116) and later reprinted in his book 'Dorsetshire Folklore' (published in 1922), with regards to the custom of mumming including a transcript of the play that is performed at Symondsbury.

For more information about this play visit www.darkdorset.co.uk

2012 - A Happy New Year from Dark Dorset

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At Dark Dorset we would like to wish our readers

A Happy New Year

Janus Head grotesque
All Saint's Church, Dorchester

January was established as the first the first month of the year by the Roman Calendar. It was named after the god Janus, the god of beginning and transitions. As depicted on All Saint's Church, Dorchester, he had two faces which allowed him to look backwards at the old year, and the other looked forward to what would happen in the coming year.

It is the beginning of the new year, when most people reflect on the year before and practice the custom of making New Year resolutions, in which they commit themselves to better behaviour and healthier life choices.

Cream of the Well

The first water to be drawn from any spring-fed well on ‘New Year’s Day’, 1st January, was believed to have special significance. It was called the ‘Cream of the Well’, and it was believed that who ever obtained it was certain to have a lucky year.

Girls were particularly fond of this custom, for the girl who managed to draw the Cream of the Well had the additional prize that she could expect to marry before twelve months were out. Since the Cream of the Well could only be drawn once, it was therefore customary for the person who claimed Cream of the Well to throw a little grass or flowers into the water, both as an offering to the resident well spirit and as a notification to the next to arrive that he or she had come too late.

Sometimes a girl would purposely leave behind her glove or hankerchief embroidered with her initials, as a statement that she had got there first.

New Year's Day Weather-lore

In his book 'Dorsetshire Folklore' published in 1922, John Symonds Udal wrote:

"It was from this source then, namely, a correspondent of the Dorset County Chronicle in December, 1891, that I am able to give the following item which being more extensive than mere " weather lore "—a subject which I deal with later — may claim, I think, to come under this chapter also.

It reads like a prophecy from Old Moore's Almanac or one of Mother Shipton's, and there is certainly an old-world savour about it, but I cannot give the actual source whence it was taken. It treats upon what we may expect should New Year's Day fall upon a Thursday.

" Winter and summer windie. A rainie harvest. Therefore we shall have overflowings; much fruit; plentie of honey; yet flesh shall be deare; cattel in general shall die; great troubles; warres."

* * * * *

Extract below taken from the Chambers Book of Days January 1st 1864, details the traditions of New Year's Day.

New Year's Day Festivities

'Long ere the lingering dawn of that blithe morn
Which ushers in the year, the roosting cock,
Flapping his wings, repeats his larnun shrill;
But on that morn no busy flail obeys
His rousing call; no sounds but sounds of joy
Salute the year—the first-foot's entering step,
That sudden on the floor is welcome heard,
Ere blushing maids have braided up their hair;
The laugh, the hearty kiss, the good new year
Pronounced with honest warmth. In village, grange,
And borough town, the steaming flagon, borne
From house to house, elates the poor man's heart,
And makes him feel that life has still its joys.
The aged and the young, man, woman, child,
Unite in social glee; even stranger dogs,
Meeting with bristling back, soon lay aside
Their snarling aspect, and in sportive chase,
Excursive scour, or wallow in the snow.
With sober cheerfulness, the grandam eyes
Her offspring round her, all in health and peace;
And, thankful that she's spared to see this day
Return once more, breathes low a secret prayer,
That God would shed a blessing on their heads.'
Grahame

As New-Year's Day, the first of January bears a prominent place in the popular calendar. It has ever been a custom among northern nations to see the old year out and the new one in, with the highest demonstrations of merriment and conviviality. To but a few does it seem to occur that the day is a memorandum of the subtraction of another year from the little sum of life; with the multitude, the top feeling is a desire to express good wishes for the next twelvemonths' experience of their friends, and be the subject of similar benevolence on the part of others, and to see this interchange of cordial feeling take place, as far as possible, in festive circumstances. It is seldom that an English family fails to sit up on the last night of the year till twelve o'clock, along with a few friends, to drink a happy New Year to each other over a cheerful glass. Very frequently, too, persons nearly related but living apart, dine with each other on this day, to keep alive and cultivate mutual good feeling. It cannot be doubted that a custom of this kind must tend to obliterate any shades of dissatisfaction or jealous anger, that may have arisen during the previous year, and send the kindred onward through the next with renewed esteem and regard. To the same good purpose works the old custom of giving little presents among friends on this day:

'The King of Light, father of aged Time,
Hath brought about that day which is the prime,
To the slow-gliding months, when every eye
Wears symptoms of a sober jollity.'

Charles Lamb had a strong appreciation of the social character of New-Year's Day. He remarks that no one of whatever rank can regard it with indifference. 'Of all sounds of all bolts,' says he, 'most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the old year. I never hear it without a gathering up of my mind to a concentration of all the images that have been diffused over the past twelvemonth; all I have done or suffered, performed or neglected, in that regretted time. I begin to know its worth as when a person dies. It takes a personal colour; nor was it a poetical flight in a contemporary, when he exclaimed:

"I saw the skirts of the departing year."'

One could wish that the genial Ella had added something in recommendation of resolutions of improvement of the year to come, for which Now-Year's Day is surely a most appropriate time. Every first of January that we arrive at, is an imaginary milestone on the turnpike track of human life: at once a resting-place for thought and meditation, and a starting point for fresh exertion in the performance of our journey. The man who does not at least propose to himself to be better this year than he was last, must be either very good or very bad indeed! And only to propose to be better, is something; if nothing else, it is an acknowledgment of our need to be so, which is the first step towards amendment. But, in fact, to propose to oneself to do well, is in some sort to do well, positively; for there is no such thing as a stationary point in human endeavours; he who is not worse today than he was yesterday, is better; and he who is not better, is worse.'

The merrymakings of New-Year's Eve and New-Year's Day are of very ancient date in England. The head of the house assembled his family around a bowl of spiced ale, comically called lamb's wool, from which ho drank their health; thou passed it to the rest, that they might drink too. The word that passed amongst them was the ancient Saxon phrase, Wass hael; that is, To your health. Hence this came to be recognised as the Wassail or Wassel Bowl. The poorer class of people carried a bowl adorned with ribbons round the neighbourhood, begging for something wherewith to obtain the means of filling it, that they too might enjoy wassail as well as the rich. In their compotations, they had songs suitable to the occasion, of which a Gloucestershire example has been preserved:

Wassail! wassail! over the town,
Our toast it is white, our ale it is brown:
Our bowl it is made of the maplin tree,
We be good fellows all; I drink to thee.

Here's to [The name of some horse] and to his right ear,
God send our maister a happy New Year;
A happy New Year as e'er he did see—
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

Here's to [The name of another horse], and to his right eye,
God send our mistress a good Christmas pie
A good Christmas pie as e'er I did see—
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

Here's to Filpail, and her long tail,
God send our measter us never may fail
Of a cup of good beer; I pray you draw near,
And then you shall hear our jolly wassail.

Be here any maids, I suppose here be some;
Sure they will not let young men stand on the cold stone;
Sing hey 0 maids, come troll back the pin,
And the fairest maid in the house, let us all in.

Come, butler, come bring us a bowl of the best:
I hope your soul in heaven may rest:
But if you do bring us a bowl of the small,
Then down fall butler, bowl, and all.'

What follows is an example apparently in use amongst children:

Here we come a wassailing,
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a wandering,
So fair to be seen.

Chorus. Love and joy come to you,
And to your wassel too,
And God send you a happy New Year,
A New Year,
And God send you a happy New Year!
Our wassel cup is made of rosemary-tree,
So is your beer of the best barley.

We are not daily beggars,
That beg from door to door;
But we are neighbours' children,
Whom you have seen before.

Call up the butler of this house,
Put on his golden ring,
Let him bring us up a glass of beer
And the better we shall sing.

We have got a little purse,
Made of stretching leather skin,
We want a little of your money
To line it well within.

Bring us out a table,
And spread it with a cloth;
Bring us out a mouldy cheese,
And some of your Christmas loaf.

God bless the master of this house,
Likewise the mistress too,
And all the little children,
That round the table go!

Good master and mistress,
While you're sitting by the fire,
Pray think of us poor children,
Who are wandering in the mire.

Chorus. Love and joy come to you, &c.

The custom of wassail at the New Year was kept up in the monasteries as well as in private houses. In front of the abbot, at the upper end of the refectory table, was placed the mighty bowl styled in their language Poculum Caritatis, and from it the superior drank to all, and all drank in succession to each other. The corporation feasts of London still preserve a custom that affords a reflex of that of the wassail bowl. A double-handled flagon full of sweetened and spiced wine being handed to the master, or other person presiding, he drinks standing to the general health, as announced by the toastmaster; then passes it to his neighbour on the left hand, who drinks standing to his next neighbour, also standing, and so on it goes, till all have drunk. Such is the well-known ceremony of the Loviny Cup.

[Receipt for Making the Wassailbowl - Simmer a small quantity of the following spices in a teacupful of water, viz.:—Cardamums, cloves, nutmeg, mace, ginger, cinnamon, and coriander. When done, put the spice to two, four, or six bottles of port, sherry, or madeira, with one pound and a half of fine loaf sugar (pounded) to four bottles, and set all on the fire in a clean bright saucepan; meanwhile, have yolks of 12 and the whites of 6 eggs well whisked up in it. Then, when the spiced and sugared wine is a little warm, take out one teacupful; and so on for three or four cups; after which, when it boils, add the whole of the remainder, pouring it in gradually, and stirring it briskly all the time, so as to froth it. The moment a fine froth is obtained, toss in 12 fine soft roasted apples, and send it up hot. Spices for each bottle of wine:—10 grains of mace, 46 grains of cloves, 37 grains of cardamums, 28 grains of cinnamon, 12 grains of nutmeg, 48 grains of ginger, 49 grains of coriander seeds.—Mark Lane Express.]

Till very few years ago in Scotland, the custom of the wassail bowl at the passing away of the old year might he said to be still in comparative vigour. On the approach of twelve o'clock, a hot pint was prepared—that is, a kettle or flagon full of warm, spiced, and sweetened ale, with an infusion of spirits. When the clock had struck the knell of the departed year, each member of the family drank of this mixture 'A good health and a happy New Year and many of them' to all the rest, with a general hand-shaking, and perhaps a dance round the table, with the addition of a song to the tune of Hey tuttie taitic:

'Weel may we a' be,
Ill may we never see,
Here's to the king
And the gude companie!' &c.

The elders of the family would then most probably sally out, with the hot kettle, and bearing also a competent provision of buns and short-bread, or bread and cheese, with the design of visiting their neighbours, and interchanging with them the same cordial greetings. If they met by the way another party similarly bent, whom they knew, they would stop and give and take sips from their respective kettles. Reaching the friend's house, they would enter with vociferous good wishes, and soon send the kettle a-circulating. If they were the first to enter the house since twelve o'clock, they were deemed as the first-foot; and, as such, it was most important, for luck to the family in the coming year, that they should make their entry, not empty-handed, but with their hands full of cakes and bread and cheese; of which, on the other hand, civility demanded that each individual in the house should partake.

To such an extent did this custom prevail in Edinburgh in the recollection of persons still living, that, according to their account, the principal streets were more thronged between twelve and one in the morning than they usually were at midday. Much innocent mirth prevailed, and mutual good feelings were largely promoted. An unlucky circumstance, which took place on the 1st January of 1812, proved the means of nearly extinguishing the custom. A small party of reckless boys formed the design of turning the innocent festivities of firstfootinq to account for purposes of plunder. They Kept their counsel well. No sooner had the people come abroad on the principal thoroughfares of the Old Town, than these youths sallied out in small bands, and commenced the business which they had undertaken.

Their previous agreement was, to look out for the white neckcloths,—such being the best mark by which they could distinguish in the dark individuals likely to carry any property worthy of being taken. A great number of gentlemen were thus spoiled of their watches and other valuables. The least resistance was resented by the most brutal maltreatment. A policeman, and a young man of the rank of a clerk in Leith, died of the injuries they had received. An affair so singular, so uncharacteristic of the people among whom it happened, produced a widespread and lasting feeling of surprise. The outrage was expiated by the execution of three of the youthful rioters on the chief scone of their wickedness; but from that time, it was observed that the old custom of going about with the hot pint—the ancient wassail —fell off.

A gentleman of Preston has communicated to a popular publication that for many years past he has been in the habit of calling on a friend, an aged lady, at an early hour of New-Year's Day, being by her own desire, as he is a fair-complexioned person, and therefore assumed to be of good omen for the events of the year. On one occasion, he was prevented from attending to his old friend's request, and her first caller proved to be a dark-complexioned man; in consequence of which there came that year sickness, trouble, and commercial disaster.

In the parish of Berlen, near Snodland, in the county of Kent, are the remains of the old mansion of Groves, originally the property of a family named Hawks. On part of this house being pulled down in the latter part of the eighteenth century, there was found an oak beam supporting the chimney, which presented an antique carving exactly represented in the engraving at the head of this article. The words Wass hell and Drinc hello leave no doubt that the bowl in the centre was a representation of the wassail bowl of the time when the house was built, probably the sixteenth century. The two birds on the bowl are hawks—an allusion to the name of the family which originally possessed the mansion.

"The wassail bowle,' says Warton, 'is Shakespeare's Gossip's Bowl in the Midsummer Night's Dream. The composition was ale, nutmeg, sugar, toast, and roasted crabs or apples.' The word is interpreted by Verstegan as wase hale—that is, grow or become well. It came in time to signify festivity in general, and that of rather an intemperate kind. A wassail candle was a largo candle used at feasts.

There was in Scotland a first footing independent of the hot pint. It was a time for some youthful friend of the family to steal to the door, in the hope of meeting there the young maiden of his fancy, and obtaining the privilege of a kiss, as her first-foot. Great was the disappointment on his part, and great the joking among the family, if through accident or plan, some half-withered aunt or ancient grand-dame came to receive him instead of the blooming Jenny.

It may safely be said that New-Year's Day has hitherto been observed in Scotland with. a heartiness nowhere surpassed. It almost appears as if. by a sort of antagonism to the general gravity of the people, they were impelled to break out in a half-mad merriment on this day. Every face was bright with smiles; every hand ready with the grasp of friendship. All stiffness arising from age, profession, and rank, gave way. The soberest felt entitled to take a license on that special day. Reunions of relatives very generally took place over the festive board, and thus many little family differences were obliterated. At the pre-sent time, the ancient practices are somewhat decayed; yet the First of January is far from being reduced to the level of other days.

A grotesque manorial custom is described as being kept up in the reign of Charles II, in connection with Hilton in Staffordshire. There existed in that house a hollow brass image, about a foot high, representing a man kneeling in an indecorous posture. It was known all over the country as Jack of Hilton. There were two apertures, one very small at the mouth, another about two-thirds of an inch in diameter at the back, and the interior would hold rather more than four pints of water, 'which, when sot to a strong fire, evaporates after the same manner as in an Æolipile, and vents itself at the mouth in a constant blast, blowing the fire so strongly that it is very audible, and makes a sensible impression in that part of the fire where the blast lights.'

Now the custom was this. An obligation lay upon the lord of the adjacent manor of Essington, every New-Year's Day, to bring a goose to Hilton, and drive it three times round the hall fire, which Jack of Hilton was all the time blowing by the discharge of his steam. He was then to carry the bird into the kitchen and deliver it to the cook; and when it was dressed, he was further to carry it in a dish to the table of his lord paramount, the lord of Hilton, receiving in return a dish of meat for his own mess.

At Coventry, if not in other places throughout England, it is customary to eat what are called God-cakes on New-Year's Day. They are of a triangular shape, of about half an inch thick, and filled with a kind of mince-meat. There are halfpenny ones cried through the street; but others of much greater price--even it is said to the value of a pound—are used by the upper classes.

New-Years Gifts

The custom of making presents on New-Year's Day has, as far as regards the intercourse of the adult population, become almost if not entirely obsolete. Presents are generally pleasant to the receiver on any day of the year, and are still made, but not on this day especially. The practice on New-Year's Day is now limited to gifts made by parents to their children, or by the elder collateral members of a family to the younger; but the old custom, which has been gradually, like the drinking of healths, falling into disuse in England, is still in full force in France, as will presently be more particularly adverted to.

The practice of making presents on New-Year's Day was, no doubt, derived from the Romans. Suetonius and Tacitus both mention it. Claudius prohibited demanding presents except on this day. rand, in his Popular Antiquities, observes, on the authority of Bishop Stillingfleet, that the Saxons kept the festival of the New Year with more than ordinary feasting and jollity, and with the presenting of New-Year's gifts to each other. Fosbroke notices the continuation of the practice during the middle ages; and Ellis, in his additions to Brand, quotes Matthew Paris to shew that Henry III extorted New-Year's gifts from his subjects.
The New-Year's gifts presented by individuals to each other were suited to sex, rank, situation, and circumstances. From Bishop Hall's Satires (1598), it appears that the usual gifts of tenants in the country to their landlords was a capon; and Cowley, addressing the same class of society, says:

"When with low legs and in an humble guise
Ye offered up a capon-sacrifice
Unto his worship at the New-Year's tide.'

Ben Johnson, in his Masque of Christmas, among other characters introduces 'New-Year's Gift in a blue coat, serving-man like, with an orange, and a sprig of rosemary on his head, his hat full of brooches, with a collar of gingerbread, his torch-bearer carrying a marchpane, with a bottle of wine on either arm.' An orange stuck with cloves was a common present, and is explained by Lupton, who says that the flavour of wine is improved, and the wine itself preserved from mouldiness, by an orange or lemon stuck with cloves being hung within the vessel, so as not to touch the liquor.

Gloves were customary New-Year's gifts. They were formerly a more expensive article than they are at present, and occasionally a sum of money was given instead, which was called 'glove-money: Presents were of course made to persons in authority to secure favour, and too often were accepted by magistrates and judges. Sir Thomas More having, as lord chancellor, decided a cause in favour of a lady with the unattractive name of Croaker, on time ensuing New-Year's Day she sent him a pair of gloves with forty of the gold coins called an angel in them. Sir Thomas returned the gold with the following note: 'Mistress, since it were against good manners to refuse your New-Year's gift, I am content to take your gloves, but as for the lining I utterly refuse it.'

When pins were first invented and brought into use about the beginning of the sixteenth century, they were a New-Year's gift very acceptable to ladies, and money given for the purchase of them was called 'pin-money,' an expression which has been extended to a sum of money secured by a husband on his marriage for the private expenses of his wife. Pins made of metal, in their present form, must have been in use some time previous to 1543, in which year a statute was passed (35 Hen. VIII. c. 6), entitled 'An Acte for the true making of Pynnes,' in which it was enacted that the price charged should not exceed 6s. 8d. a thousand. Pins were previously made of boxwood, bone, and silver, for the richer classes; those used by the poor were of common wood—in fact, skewers.

The custom of presenting New-Year's gifts to the sovereigns of England may be traced back to the time of Henry VI. In Rymer's Faedera, vol. x. p. 387, a list is given of gifts received by the king between Christmas Day and February 4, 1428, consisting of sums of 40s., 20s., 13s. 4d., 10s., 6s. 8d., and 3s. 4d.

A manuscript roll of the public revenue of the fifth year of manuscript roll of the public revenue of the fifth year of Edward VI has an entry of rewards given on New-Year's Day to the king's officers and servants, amounting to £155, 5s., and also of sums given to the servants of those who presented New-Year's gifts to the king.

A similar roll has been preserved of the reign of Philip and Mary. The Lord Cardinal Pole gave a 'saulte,' with a cover of silver and gilt, having a stone therein much enamelled of the story of Job; and received a pair of gilt silver pots, weighing 1433/4 ounces. The queen's sister, the Lady Elizabeth, gave the fore part of a kyrtell, with a pair of sleeves of cloth of silver, richly embroidered over with Venice silver, and rayed with silver and black silk; and received three gilt silver bowls, weighing 132 ounces. Other gifts were—a sacrament cloth; a cup of crystal; a lute in a case, covered with black silk and gold, with two little round tables, the one of the phisnamy of the emperor and the king's majesty, the other of the king of Bohemia and his wife. Other gifts consisted of hosen of Garnsey-making, fruits, sugar-loaves, gloves, Turkey hens, a fat goose and capon, two swans, two fat oxen, conserves, rose-water, and other articles.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the custom of presenting Now-Year's gifts to the sovereign was carried to an extravagant height. The queen delighted in gorgeous dresses, in jewellery, in all. kinds of ornaments for her person and palaces, and in purses filled with gold coin. The gifts regularly presented to her were of great value. An exact and descriptive inventory of them was made every year on a roll, which was signed by the queen herself, and by the proper officers. Nichols, in his Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, has given an accurate transcript of five of these rolls. The presents were made by the great officers of state, peers and peeresses, bishops, knights and their ladies, gentlemen and gentlewomen, physicians, apothecaries, and others of lower grade, down to her majesty's dustman. The presents consisted of sums of money, costly articles of ornament for the queen's person or apartments, caskets studded with precious stones, valuable necklaces, bracelets, gowns, embroidered mantles, smocks, petticoats, looking-glasses, fans, silk stockings, and a great variety of other articles.

Howell, in his History of the World, mentions that 'Queen Elizabeth, in 1561, was presented with a pair of black silk knit stockings by her silk-woman, Mrs. Montague, and thence-forth she never wore cloth hose any more.' The value of the gifts in each year cannot be ascertained, but some estimate may be made of it from the presents of gilt plate which were in all instances given in return by the queen; an exact account having been entered on the roll of the weight of the plate which each individual received in return for his gift. The total weight in 1577-8 amounted to 5882 ounces. The largest sum of money given by any temporal lord was £20; but the Archbishop of Canterbury gave £40, the Archbishop of York £30, and other spiritual lords £20 or £10. The total amount in the year 1561-2 of money gifts was £1262, 11s. 8d. The queen's wardrobe and jewellery must have been principally supplied from her New-Year's gifts.

The Earl of Leicester's New-Year's gifts exceeded those of any other nobleman in costliness and elaborate workmanship. The description of the gift of 1571-2 may be given as a specimen:

'One armlet, or shakell of gold, all over fairely garnished with rubyes and dyamondes, haveing in the closing thearof a clocke, and in the fore part of the same a fayre lozengie dyamonde without a foyle, hanging thearat a round juell fully garnished with dyamondes, and perle pendant, weying 11 oz. qu. dim., and farthing golde weight: in a case of purple vellate all over embranderid with Venice golde, and lyned with greeve vellat.'

In the reign of James I the money gifts seem to have been continued for some time, but the ornamental articles presented appear to have been few and of small value. In January 1601, Sir Dudley Carleton, in a letter to Mr. Winwood, observes:

'New-Year's Day passed without any solemnity, and the accustomed present of the purse and gold was hard to be had without asking.'

Mr. Nichols, in a note on this passage, observes:

'During the reigns of King Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, the ceremony of giving and receiving New-Year's gifts at Court, which had long before been customary, was never omitted, and it was continued at least in the early years of King James; but I have never met with a roll of those gifts similar to the several specimens of them in the Progresses of Queen Elizabeth.'

He afterwards, however, met with such a roll, which he has copied, and in a note attached to the commencement of the roll, be makes the following remarks:

'Since the note in that page [471 of vol. i., Progresses of James I] was printed, the roll here accurately transcribed has been purchased by the trustees of the British Museum, from Mr. Rodd, book-seller of Great Newport Street, in whose catalogue for 1824 it is mentioned. It is above ten feet in length; and, like the five printed in Queen Elizabeth's "Progresses," exhibits the gifts to the king on one side, and those from his majesty on the other, both sides being signed by the royal hand at top and bottom. The gifts certainly cannot compete in point of curiosity with those of either Queen Mary's or Queen Elizabeth's reign. Instead of curious articles of dress, rich jewels, &c., nothing was given by the nobility but gold coin.'

The gifts from the nobility and prelates amounted altogether to £1293, 13s. 4d. The remainder were from per-sons who held some office about the king or court, and were generally articles of small value. The Duke of Lennox and the Archbishop of Canterbury gave each £40; all other temporal lords, £20 or E10; and the other spiritual lords, £30, £20, £13, 6s. 8d., or £10. The Duke of Lennox received 50 ounces of plate, the Arch-bishop of Canterbury 55 ounces; those who gave £20 received about 30 ounces, and for smaller sums the return-gift was in a similar proportion.

No rolls, nor indeed any notices, seem to have been preserved of New-Year's gifts presented to Charles I., though probably there were such. The custom, no doubt, ceased entirely during the Commonwealth, and was never afterwards revived, at least to any extent worthy of notice. Mr. Nichols mentions that the last remains of the custom at court consisted in placing a crown-piece under the plate of each of the chaplains in waiting on New-Year's Day, and that this custom had ceased early in the nineteenth century.
There is a pleasant story of a New-Year's gift in the reign of King Charles I, in which the court jester, Archy Armstrong, figures as for once not the maker, but the victim of a jest. Coming on that morn to a nobleman to bid him good-morrow, Archy received a few gold pieces; which, however, falling short of his expectations in amount, he shook discontentedly in his hand, muttering that they were too light. The donor said: 'Prithee, then, Archy, let me see them again; and, by the way, there is one of them which I would be loth to part with.' Archy, expecting to get a larger gift, returned the pieces to his lordship, who put them in his pocket, with the remark: 'I once gave my money into the hands of a fool, who had not the wit to keep it.'—Banquet of Jests, 1634

It cannot be said that the custom of giving presents to superiors was a very rational one: one can even imagine it to have been something rather oppressive— 'a custom more honoured in the breach than the observance.' Yet Robert Herrick seems to have found no difficulty in bringing the smiles of his cheerful muse to bear upon it. It must be admitted, indeed, that the author of the Hesperides made his poem the gift. Thus it is he addresses Sir Simon Steward in:

'A jolly
Verse, crowned with ivy and with holly;
That tells of winter's tales and mirth,
That milkmaids make about the hearth;
Of Christmas' sports, the wassail howl,
That's tost up after fox-i'-th'-hole;
Of blind-man-buff, and of the care
That young men have to shoe the mare;
Of twelfth-tide cakes, of pease and beaus,
Wherewith ye make those merry scenes;
Of crackling laurel, which fore-sounds
A plenteous harvest to your grounds;
Of those, and each like things, for shift,
We send, instead of New Year's gift.
Read then, and when your faces shine
With buxom meat and cap'ring wine,
Remember us in cups full crown'd,
And let our city-health go round.
Then, as ye sit about your embers,
Call not to mind the fled Decembers;
But think on these, that are t' appear
As daughters to the instant year;
And to the bagpipes all address,
Till sleep take place of weariness.
And thus throughout, with Christmas plays,
Frolic the full twelve holidays.'

The custom of giving of presents among relatives and friends is much declined in England, but is still kept up with surprising vigor in Paris, where the day is especially recognized from this circumstance as Le Jour d' Etrennes. Parents then bestow portions on their children, brothers on their sisters, and husbands make settlements on their wives. The mere externals of the day, as observed in Paris, are of a striking character: they were described as follows in an English journal, as observed in the year 1824, while as yet the restored Bourbon reigned in France: 'Carriages,' says this writer, 'may be seen rolling through the streets with cargoes of bon-bons, souvenirs, and the variety of etceteras with which little children and grown up children are bribed into good humour; and here and there pastrycooks are to be met with, carrying upon boards enormous temples, pagodas, churches, and playhouses, made of fine flour and sugar, and the embellishments which render French pastry so inviting. But there is one street in Paris to which a New-Year's Day is a whole year's fortune—this is the Rue des Lombards, where the wholesale confectioners reside; for in Paris every trade and profession has its peculiar quarter. For several days preceding the 1st of January, this street is completely blocked up by carts and wagons laden with cases of sweetmeats for the provinces. These are of every form and description which the most singular fancy could imagine; bunches of carrots, green peas, hoots and shoes, lobsters and crabs, hats, books, musical instruments, gridirons, frying-pans, and sauce-pans; all made of sugar, and coloured to imitate reality, and all made with a hollow within to hold the bon-bons.

The most prevailing device is what is called a cornet; that is, a little cone ornamented in different ways, with a bag to draw over the large end, and close it up. In these things, the prices of which vary from one franc (tenpenee) to fifty, the bon-bons are presented by those who choose to be at the expense of them, and by those who do not, they are only wrapped in a piece of paper; but bon-bons, in some way or other, must be presented. It would not, perhaps, be an exaggeration to state that the amount expended for presents on New-Year's Day in Paris, for sweet-meats alone, exceeds 500,000 francs, or £20,000 sterling. Jewellery is also sold to a very large amount, and the fancy articles exported in the first week of the year to England and other countries, is computed at one-fourth of the sale during the twelvemonths. In Paris, it is by no means uncommon for a man of 8000 or 10,000 francs a year, to make presents on New-Year's Day which cost him a fifteenth part of his income. No person able to give must on this day pay a visit empty-handed.

Everybody accepts, and every man gives according to the means which he possesses. Females alone are excepted from the charge of giving. A pretty woman, respectably connected, may reckon her New-Year's presents at something considerable. Gowns, jewellery, gloves, stockings, and artificial flowers fill her drawing-room: for in Paris it is a custom to display all the gifts, in order to excite emulation, and to obtain as much as possible. At the palace, the New-Year's Day is a complete jour de fete. Every branch of the royal family is then expected to make handsome presents to the king. For the six months preceding January 1824, the female branches were busily occupied in preparing presents of their own manufacture, which would fill at least two common-sized wagons.

The Duchess de Berri painted an entire room of japanned panels, to be set up in the palace, and the Duchess of Orleans prepared an elegant screen. An English gentleman, who was admitted suddenly into the presence of the Duchess de Berri two months before, found her and three of her maids of honour, lying on the carpet, painting the legs of a set of chairs, which were intended for the king. The day commences with the Parisians, at an early hour, by the interchange of their visits and bon-bons. The nearest relations are visited first, until the furthest in blood have had their calls; then friends and acquaintances. The conflict to anticipate each other's calls, occasions the most agreeable and whimsical scenes among these proficients in polite attentions. In these visits, and in gossiping at the confectioners' shops, which are the great lounge for the occasion, the morning of New-Year's Day is passed; a dinner is given by some member of the family to all the rest, and the evening concludes, like Christmas Day, with cards, dancing, or any other amusement that may be preferred.'

Dorset's Weird and Wonderful Year of 2011

2011-12-31T00:01:00.000Z

From more sightings of big cats to flying saucers, strange archaeological finds to hauntings in a North Dorset museum. 2011 has been a busy year for weird and wonderful news in Dorset.

Dark Dorset looks back with a selection of twelve stories taken from our blog scrapbook.

JANUARY - Thursday, 13th January 2011

News Clipping: Dorset 'beast' sighting near Batcombe sparks further mystery

The beast of Dorset has been spotted roaming the countryside again. This time the large black cat – said to be much larger than a domestic cat – was seen as it ran in front of a council roadworks lorry near Batcombe, outside Dorchester.

READ MORE - Source: Dorset Echo Thursday 13th January 2011

For more information on big cats in Dorset visit www.darkdorset.co.uk

FEBRUARY - Thursday, 17th February 2011

News Clipping: Trebuchet returns to Corfe Castle - but there's not a cow in sight

During the Middle Ages this type of device was used to lay siege to ancient strongholds by hurling diseased cows over castle walls. But the good residents of Corfe Castle have no need to keep a watchful eye skyward for falling cattle, because today, thankfully, it is employed just for fun.

READ MORE - Source: Dorset Echo Thursday, 17 February 2011

MARCH - Thursday, 3rd March 2011

News Clipping: UFO files: "flying saucers" over coastline sparked full scale alert

A “War of the Worlds” incident in the south which sparked off a full-scale military alert is revealed for the first time in newly-released former top secret files. The incident, contained in extra-terrestrial files released today by the Ministry of Defence, occurred during the 1960s when members of the public reported six small flying saucers positioned in a perfect line across southern England.

READ MORE - Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo Thursday 3rd March 2011

APRIL - Wednesday, 27th April 2011

News Clipping: 'Wareham's monument is not Excalibur'

A civic leader has stepped in to clear up any confusion about the new sword in the stone monument at the gateway to Wareham. It seems some people have been jumping to the wrong conclusion and confusing the replica blade, which stands on one of the town’s main roundabouts, with the stuff of Arthurian legend.

READ MORE - Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo Wednesday 27th April 2011

MAY - Monday, 16th May 2011

News Clipping: Mystery over circles on Studland heath

These intriguing round marks in the heath at Studland are definitely not crop circles – but what they are remains a mystery. Nestling in the heath near Poole Harbour, the 80 circles with an average size of 20 metres across are obviously man-made and have 2ft high turf walls around them.

READ MORE - Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo Monday 16th May 2011

JUNE - Thursday, 2nd June 2011

News Clipping: Channel 4 show 'Four Rooms' in bidding for Gruesome Artifact

Next week, the dealers of the Channel 4 show 'Four Rooms' have to decide how much to offer for a gruesome piece of tattooed skin pickled in a jar. This was reported last year in the Dorset Echo (News Clipping: Tatooed skin with Dorset connection turns up at car boot sale) when the tattooed skin of a would-be killer that was used to bind a Victorian pocket book was been discovered at a car boot sale at Shepton Mallet in Somerset by local author and historian Rodney Legg.

The show will be aired on Channel 4 Tuesday 7 June 2011 at 8pm

JULY - Thursday, 7th July 2011

News Clippings: Fang-tastic! Viking remains reveal warriors filed their teeth to appear more ferocious to enemies.

An axe-swinging 'rape and pillage' fighter found in a Viking burial pit had filed his teeth to look more ferocious in battle. The pain without anaesthetic would have been excruciating - but it would have proved his status as a great warrior, archaeologists said. The warrior, found in Weymouth, Dorset, had grooves filed into his two front teeth.

READ MORE - Source: The Daily Mail 7th July 2011

Other Sources:

READ MORE - Source: The Mirror 7th July 2011

READ MORE - Source: The Guardian 7th July 2011

READ MORE - Source: BBC News 7th July 2011

AUGUST - Saturday, 13th August 2011

Mapperton villagers pay tribute to 'Posy Tree'
Dark Dorset learnt of the sad news that the 'Posy Tree' of Mapperton has been removed due to health and safety fears. Residents from Mapperton gathered last Saturday at the tree, with glasses of cider, to toast the historic landmark.
The Posy Tree, Mapperton
This tree was planted to commemorate victims of the terrible pestilence that occurred at Mapperton, near Bridport, some four hundred years ago.

Though the Black Death took the lives of twenty-five million Europeans between 1348 and 1351, outbreaks continued to occur in isolated villages, towns and cities throughout England for the next three hundred and eighteen years. It was a common enough practice for the inhabitants of Mapperton to bury their dead at the cemetery of the neighbouring parish of Netherbury. Mapperton's cemetery was deemed unsuitable for burial because the soil was inadequate. In 1582 this routine of burial changed due to the outbreak of bubonic plague at Mapperton. Villagers of Netherbury gathered at the parish boundary refusing to let the residents of Mapperton bury the corpses of plague victims in their cemetery. This resulted in a bitter skirmish between the villagers but after some negotiations, it was agreed that the bodies should remain at the boundary, which the old Mapperton and Netherbury track crosses, now known as "Dead Man's Lane". The sycamore tree known locally as the 'Posy' or 'Cosy' Tree, marked the spot where the 80 dead of Mapperton were collected and buried a mile away in a mass grave within a small enclosure on the summit of South Warren Hill. After burial a copse of Beech trees was planted on the site to make sure the area was not disturbed.

There have been several attempts made to save the tree. On 1st February 2002 it was reported in the Bridport News, "that its fate was uncertain, two years after the news was reported that is was under threat”. "But in recent years it has deteriorated, despite being severely pollarded in the vain hope that it might spring to life". But old age has taken its toll on the sycamore and safety fears meant it had to come down last weekend.

It was reported in the Western Gazette, 11th August 2011 that Rohaise Newall, who chairs the Mapperton parish meeting, said: "It was incredibly old and completely hollow. The tree man from the council came to look and he asked us to take it down because it was really dangerous. We went through all the proper channels. "We had the whole village there to have a glass of cider and wish it well and we are going to plant another one.” It was lovely because nearly everyone walked from the village to the tree and chatted and talked about what we're going to do. We will have a ceremony when we put the new one in."
Source: www.darkdorset.co.uk - The Posy Tree

SEPTEMBER - Sunday, 11th September 2011

On this day 11th September 1685, The Bloody Assizes were opened at Lyme Regis

On this day in 1685, 'The Bloody Assizes' were opened at Lyme Regis. The next day twelve men were executed on the beach west of the Cobb and their body parts were spiked up along the railings around the church.

Two of the men's heads were impaled on the iron gates of the great house in Broad Street, now known as Chatham House. It was here that Judge Jeffreys was said to have dined on the night before the executions. Even his ghost has been seen carrying a bloody bone in the house and gnawing upon it outside in the street.

Read More about Judge Jeffrey's www.darkdorset.co.uk/the_hanging_judge

OCTOBER - Tuesday, 25th October 2011

News Clipping: Records reveal lives of Dorset's smugglers

Local Smuggler, Isaac Gulliver
The lives of Dorset's infamous smugglers have been brought to life by parish records published online for the first time. The collection of 1.5 million baptisms, marriages and burials feature on the family history website Ancestry.co.uk.
READ MORE - Source: BBC News 25th October 2011

NOVEMBER - Monday, 27th November 2011

News Clipping: Roman ring and Viking fragment found in North Dorset declared treasure

A Roman ring and a silver Viking fragment found on farmland have been declared treasure and seized for the Queen. Both pieces of ancient jewellery were found last year on farmland in North Dorset.

READ MORE - Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo Sunday 27th November 2011

DECEMBER - Thursday, 1st December 2011

Dorsetarian: Folklore, Customs and Ghost Stories in Sherborne
Contributing to the Dark Dorset online journal the 'Dorsetarian' this month. Elisabeth Bletsoe of Sherborne Museum explores the folklore, customs and hauntings of this ancient Dorset market town.

Click here to read - Folklore, Customs and Ghost Stories in Sherborne

The Night of the Winter Bull: The customs and traditions of New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000Z

The Dorset Ooser

For most people, New Year's Eve is either spent quietly at home, or at a party, which lasts till after midnight to ‘see the New Year in’. Such gatherings differ little from other parties, apart from the ubiquitous singing of ‘Auld Lang Syne’. For some, the proper way to celebrate is to gather at a public place appropriated for such use.

However, in the past it was believed the malevolent powers set loose by the winter season had to be driven away. People dressed up in animal masks to disguise themselves and went about their parish beating pots and pans, clanging bells, tooting horns, cracking whips and blowing whistles. In some districts one man would dress in a horned bulls mask or ‘Ooser’ as it is called in Dorset, and he would be led from door to door and symbolically beaten before each. The Osser or Winter-Bull, brought luck to those household that he passed. The noise of the ‘Town Rattling’ as it was called, drove out the ghosts of the dying year and thus brought the New Year safely in. Great ritual bonfires were also lit in order to burn out the old year and to cleanse the new. In the home candles flickered from every window, the hearth fire was kept burning, and New Year ‘globes’ made of twisted hawthorn seasoned with cider were hung up in the kitchen to ensure against illness.

New Year's Eve Folklore

New Year's Eve or Day was also one of the key times for divination. Particularly popular was ‘dipping’ into the Bible and reading aloud a passage to predict how the coming year would be. Another widespread method involved inspecting the ashes of the domestic fire for shapes, while many put their faith in whom they met first on New Year's Day, preferring certain types of people for luck (as in the first footing), but a variation was the idea that the Christian name of the first person of the opposite sex you see on that day will be that of your future partner.

Weather Lore

The wind direction on New Year Eve was seen as an indication of what could be expected in the months to come.

‘If New Year’s Eve night wind blows south,
It betokeneth warmth and growth;
If West, much milk and fish in the sea;
If North, much cold and storms there will be;
If East, the trees will bear much fruit;
If North-east, flee it, man and brute’.

Extract taken from the Chambers Book of Days December 31st 1864, details the traditions of New Year's Eve.

NEW YEAR'S EVE, OR HOGMANAY

As a general statement, it may be asserted that neither the last evening of the old year nor the first day of the new one is much, observed in England as an occasion of festivity. In some parts of the country, indeed, and more especially in the northern counties, various social merry-makings take place; but for the most part, the great annual holiday-time is already past. Christmas Eve, Christmas-day, and St. Stephen's or Boxing Day have absorbed almost entirely the tendencies and opportunities of the community at large in the direction of joviality and relaxation. Business and the ordinary routine of daily life have again been resumed; or, to apply to English habits the words of an old Scottish rhyme still current, but evidently belonging to the old times, anterior to the Reformation, when Christmas was the great popular festival:

Yule's come and Yule 's gane,
And we hae feasted weel;
Sae Jock maun to his flail again,
And Jenny to her wheel.'

Whilst thus the inhabitants of South Britain are settling down again quietly to work after the festivities of the Christmas season, their fellow-subjects in the northern division of the island are only commencing their annual saturnalia, which, till recently, bore, in the license and boisterous merriment which used to prevail, a most unmistakable resemblance to its ancient pagan namesake. The epithet of the Daft [mad] Days, applied to the season of the New Year in Scotland, indicates very expressively the uproarious joviality which characterized the period in question. This exuberance of joyousness—which, it must be admitted, sometimes led to great excesses—has now much declined, but New-year's Eve and New-year's Day constitute still the great national holiday in Scotland. Under the 1st of January, we have already detailed the various revelries by which the New Year used to be ushered in, in Scotland. It now becomes our province to notice those ceremonies and customs which are appropriate to the last day of the year, or, as it is styled in Scotland, Hogmanay.

This last term has puzzled antiquaries even more than the word Yule, already adverted to; and what is of still greater consequence, has never yet received a perfectly satisfactory explanation. Some suppose it to be derived from two Greek words, άιαμηνη (the holy moon or month), and in reference to this theory it may be observed, that, in the north of England, the term used is Hagmenu, which does not seem, however, to be confined to the 31st of December, but denotes generally the period immediately preceding the New Year. Another hypothesis combines the word with another sung along with it in chorus, and asserts 'Hogmanay, trollolay!' to be a corruption of 'Homma est né—Trois Bois lá' ('A Man is born—Three Kings are there'), an allusion to the birth of our Saviour, and the visit to Bethlehem of the Wise Men, who were known in medieval times as the 'Three Kings.'

But two additional conjectures seem much more plausible, and the reader may select for himself what he considers the most probable. One of these is, that the term under notice is derived from Hoggu-nott, Hogenat, or Hogg-night, the ancient Scandinavian name for the night preceding the feast of Yule, and so called in reference to the animals slaughtered on the occasion for sacrificial and festal purpose word hogg signifying to kill. The other derivation of Hogmanay is from 'Au gui menez' ('To the mistletoe go'), or 'Au gui ľan neuf' ('To the mistletoe this New Year '), an allusion to the ancient Druidical ceremony of gathering that plant. In the patois of Touraine, in France, the word used is Aguilanneu; in Lower Normandy, and in Guernsey, poor persons and children used to solicit a contribution under the title of Hoguinanno or 0guinano; whilst in Spain the term, Aguinaldo, is employed to denote the presents made at the season of Christmas.

In country places in Scotland, and also in the more retired and primitive towns, it is still customary on the morning of the last day of the year, or Hogmanay, for the children of the poorer class of people to get themselves swaddled in a great sheet, doubled up in front, so as to form a vast pocket, and then to go along the streets in little bands, calling at the doors of the wealthier classes for an expected dole of oaten-bread. Each child gets one quadrant section of oat-cake (some-times, in the case of particular favourites, improved by an addition of cheese), and this is called their hogmanay. In expectation of the large demands thus made upon them, the housewives busy themselves for several days beforehand in preparing a suitable quantity of cakes. The children on coming to the door cry, 'Hogmanay!' which is in itself a sufficient announcement of their demands; but there are other exclamations which either are or might be used for the same purpose. One of these is:

            'Hogmanay, Trollolay,

            Give us of your white bread, and none of your gray.'

And another favourite rhyme is:

            Get up, goodwife, and shake your feathers,
            And dinna think that we are beggars;
            For we are bairns come out to play,
            Get up and gie's our hogmanay!'

The following is of a moralising character, though a good deal of a truism:

            Get up, goodwife, and binna sweir,
            And deal your bread to them that 's here;
            For the time will come when ye'll be dead,
            And then ye'll neither need ale nor bread.'

The most favourite of all, however, is more to the point than any of the foregoing :

            My feet's cauld, my shoon's thin;
            Gie's my cakes, and let me rin!'

It is no unpleasing scene, during the forenoon, to see the children going laden home, each with his large apron bellying out before him, stuffed full of cakes, and perhaps scarcely able to waddle under the load. Such a mass of oaten alms is no inconsiderable addition to the comfort of the poor man's household, and enables him to enjoy the New-year season as much as his richer neighbours.

In the primitive parish of Deerness, in Orkney, it was customary, in the beginning of the present century, for old and young of the common class of people to assemble in a great band upon the evening of the last day of the year, and commence a round of visits throughout the district. At every house they knocked at the door, and on being admitted, commenced singing, to a tune of its own, a song appropriate to the occasion. The following is what may be termed a restored version of this chant, the imagination having been called on to make up in several of the lines what was deficient in memory. The 'Queen Mary' alluded to is evidently the Virgin:

            'This night it is grid New'r E'en's night,
            We're a' here Queen Mary's men;
            And we 're come here to crave our right,
            And that's before our Lady.

            The very first thing which we do crave,
            We 're a' here Queen Mary's men;
            A bonny white candle we must have,
            And that's before our Lady.

            Goodwife, gae to your butter-ark,
            And weigh us here ten mark.

            Ten mark, ten pund,
            Look that ye grip weel to the grund.
            Goodwife, gae to your geelin vat,
            And fetch us here a skeet o' that.

            Gang to your awmrie, gin ye please,
            And bring frae there a yow-milk cheese.

            And syne bring here a sharping-stane,
            We'll sharp our whittles ilka ane.

            Ye'll cut the cheese, and eke the round,
            But aye take care ye cutna your thoom.

            Gae fill the three-pint cog o' ale,
            The maut maun be aboon the meal.

            We houp your ale is stark and stout,
            For men to drink the auld year out.

            Ye ken the weather's snow and sleet,
            Stir up the fire to warm our feet.

            Our shoon's made o' mare's skin,
            Come open the door, and let's in.'

The inner-door being opened, a tremendous rush was made ben the house. The inmates furnished a long table with all sorts of homely fare, and a hearty feast took place, followed by copious libations of ale, charged with all sorts of good-wishes. The party would then proceed to the next house, where a similar scene would be enacted. How they contrived to take so many suppers in one evening, heaven knows ! No slight could be more keenly felt by a Deerness farmer than to have his house passed over unvisited by the New-year singers.

The doings of the guisers or guizards (that is, masquers or mummers) form a conspicuous feature in the New-year proceedings throughout Scotland. The favourite night for this exhibition is Hogmanay, though the evenings of Christmas, New-year's Day, and Handsel Monday, enjoy like-wise a privilege in this respect. Such of the boys as can lay any claim to the possession of a voice have, for weeks before, been poring over the collection of 'excellent new songs,' which lies like a bunch of rags in the window-sill; and being now able to screech up 'Barbara Allan,' or the 'Wee cot-house and the wee kail-yardie,' they determine upon enacting the part of guisers. For this purpose they don old shirts belonging to their fathers, and mount mitre-shaped casques of brown paper, possibly borrowed from the Abbot of Unreason; attached to this is a sheet of the same paper, which, falling down in front, covers and conceals the whole face, except where holes are made to let through the point of the nose, and afford sight to the eyes and breath to the mouth. Each vocal guiser is, like a knight of old, attended by a sort of humble squire, who assumes the habiliments of a girl, 'with an old-woman's cap and a broomstick, and is styled 'Bessie: Bessie is equal in no respect, except that she shares fairly in the proceeds of the enterprise. She goes before her principal, opens all the doors at which he pleases to exert his singing powers; and busies herself, during the time of the song, in sweeping the floor with her broomstick, or in playing any other antics that she thinks may amuse the indwellers. The common reward of this entertainment is a halfpenny, but many churlish persons fall upon the unfortunate guisers, and beat them out of the house. Let such persons, however, keep a good watch upon their cabbage-gardens next Halloween!

The more important doings of the guisers are of a theatrical character. There is one rude and grotesque drama which they are accustomed to perform on each of the four above-mentioned nights; and which, in various fragments or versions, exists in every part of Lowland Scotland. The performers, who are never less than three, but sometimes as many as six, having dressed themselves, proceed in a band from house to house, generally contenting themselves with the kitchen for an arena; whither, in mansions presided over by the spirit of good-humour, the whole family will resort to witness the spectacle. Sir Walter Scott, who delighted to keep up old customs, and could condescend to simple things without losing genuine dignity, invariably had a set of guisers to perform this play before his family both at Ashestiel and Abbotsford. The drama in question bears a close resemblance, with sundry modifications, to that performed by the mummers in various parts of England, and of which we have already given a specimen.

Such are the leading features of the Hogmanay festivities in Scotland. A similar custom to that above detailed of children going about from house to house, singing the Hagmena chorus, and obtaining a dole of bread or cakes, prevails in Yorkshire and the north of England; but, as we have already mentioned, the last day of the year is not in the latter country, for the most part, invested with much peculiar distinction. One or two closing ceremonies, common to both countries—the requiem, as they may be termed, of the dying year—will be more appropriately noticed in the concluding article of this work.

Events: New Year's Day Nurdling Tourney 2012

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The Nurdlers will be out in force on New Year’s Day getting up to their extraordinary antics.

They’re gathering at the Old Ship Inn on Ridgeway, dustbin lids to the fore, dressed for the fray in a variety of somewhat strange garments ready to hurl the nurdle from 10:30am to 13:30pm

It’s noisy, energetic, unexpected and without rules one can easily decipher and by the time they’ve pounded to the top of the Ridgeway and back they’re ready for their good ale.

Potential Nurdlers and Droves seeking knowledge and wishing to participate should contact Albert The Tall at bill@beakerfolk.co.uk

Witnesses welcome, at their own risk.

For more information about this obscure sporting event visit Upwey Nurdler's Website

Boxing Day! The customs and traditions of St. Stephen's Day

2011-12-26T00:00:00.000Z

St. Stephen

Extract taken from the Chambers Book of Days December 26th 1864, details the traditions of St. Stephen's Day.

St. Stephen's Day

To St. Stephen, the Proto-martyr, as he is generally styled, the honour has been accorded by the church of being placed in her calendar immediately after Christmas-day, in recognition of his having been the first to seal with his blood the testimony of fidelity to his Lord and Master. The year in which he was stoned to death, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, is supposed to have been 33 A.D. The festival commemorative of him has been retained in the Anglican calendar.

A curious superstition was formerly prevalent regarding St. Stephen's Day—that horses should then, after being first well galloped, be copiously let blood, to insure them against disease in the course of the following year. In Barnaby Googe's translation of Naogeorgus, the following lines occur relative to this popular notion:

Then followeth Saint Stephen's Day, whereon doth every man

His horses jaunt and course abrode, as swiftly as he can,

Until they doe extremely sweate, and then they let them blood,

For this being done upon this day, they say doth do them good,

And keepes them from all maladies and sicknesse through the yeare,

As if that Steven any time tooke charge of horses heare.'

The origin of this practice is difficult to be accounted for, but it appears to be very ancient, and Douce supposes that it was introduced into this country by the Danes. In one of the manuscripts of that interesting chronicler, John Aubrey, who lived in the latter half of the seventeenth century, occurs the following record: On St. Stephen's Day, the farrier came constantly and blouded all our cart-horses.' Very possibly convenience and expediency combined on the occasion with superstition, for in Tusser Redivivus, a work published in the middle of the last century, we find this statement: 'About Christmas is a very proper time to bleed horses in, for then they are commonly at house, then spring comes on, the sun being now coming back from the winter-solstice, and there are three or four days of rest, and if it be upon St. Stephen's Day it is not the worse, seeing there are with it three days of rest, or at least two.'

In the parish of Drayton Beauchamp, Bucks, there existed long an ancient custom, called Stephening, from the day on which it took place. On St. Stephen's Day, all the inhabitants used to pay a visit to the rectory, and practically assert their right to partake of as much bread and cheese and ale as they chose at the rector's expense. On one of these occasions, according to local tradition, the then rector, being a penurious old bachelor, determined to put a stop, if possible, to this rather expensive and unceremonious visit from his parishioners. Accordingly, when St. Stephen's Day arrived, he ordered his housekeeper not to open the window-shutters, or unlock the doors of the house, and to remain perfectly silent and motionless whenever any person was heard approaching. At the usual time the parishioners began to cluster about the house. They knocked first at one door, then at the other, then tried to open them, and on finding them fastened, they called aloud for admittance. No voice replied. No movement was heard within. 'Surely the rector and his house-keeper must both be dead!' exclaimed several voices at once, and a general awe pervaded the whole group. Eyes were then applied to the key-holes, and to every crevice in the window-shutters, when the rector was seen beckoning his old terrified housekeeper to sit still and silent. A simultaneous shout convinced him that his design was under-stood. Still he consoled himself with the hope that his larder and his cellar were secure, as the house could not be entered. But his hope was speedily dissipated. Ladders were reared against the roof, tiles were hastily thrown off, half-a-dozen sturdy young men entered, rushed down the stairs, and threw open both the outer-doors. In a trice, a hundred or more unwelcome visitors rushed into the house, and began unceremoniously to help themselves to such fare as the larder and cellar afforded; for no special stores having been provided for the occasion, there was not half enough bread and cheese for such a multitude. To the rector and his housekeeper, that festival was converted into the most rigid fast-day they had ever observed.

After this signal triumph, the parishioners of Drayton regularly exercised their 'privilege of Stephening' till the incumbency of the Rev. Basil Wood, who was presented to the living in 1808. Finding that the custom gave rise to much rioting and drunkenness, he discontinued it, and distributed instead an annual sum of money in proportion to the number of claimants. But as the population of the parish greatly increased, and as he did not consider himself bound to continue the practice, he was induced, about the year 1827, to withhold his annual payments; and so the custom became finally abolished. For some years, however, after its discontinuance, the people used to go to the rectory for the accustomed bounty, but were always refused.

In the year 1834, the commissioners appointed to inquire concerning charities, made an investigation into this custom, and several of the inhabitants of Drayton gave evidence on the occasion, but nothing was elicited to shew its origin or duration, nor was any legal proof advanced skewing that the rector was bound to comply with such a demand.* Many of the present inhabitants of the parish remember the custom, and some of them have heard their parents say, that it had been observed:

'As long as the sun had shone,

And the waters had run.'

In London and other places, St. Stephen's Day, or the 26th of December, is familiarly known as Boxing-day, from its being the occasion on which those annual guerdons known as Christmas-boxes are solicited and collected. For a notice of them, the reader is referred to the ensuing article.

CHRISTMAS-BOXES

The institution of Christmas-boxes is evidently akin to that of New-year's gifts, and, like it, has descended to us from the times of the ancient Romans, who, at the season of the Saturnalia, practiced universally the custom of giving and receiving presents. The fathers of the church denounced, on the ground of its pagan origin, the observance of such a usage by the Christians; but their anathemas had little practical effect, and in process of time, the custom of Christmas-boxes and New-year's gifts, like others adopted from the heathen, attained the position of a universally recognised institution. The church herself has even got the credit of originating the practice of Christmas-boxes, as will appear from the following curious extract from The Athenian Oracle of John Dunton; a sort of primitive Notes and Queries, as it is styled by a contributor to the periodical of that name.

Q. From whence comes the custom of gathering of Christmas-box money? And how long since?

A. It is as ancient as the word mass, which the Romish priests invented from the Latin word mitto, to send, by putting the people in mind to send gifts, offerings, oblations; to have masses said for everything almost, that no ship goes out to the Indies, but the priests have a box in that ship, under the protection of some saint. And for masses, as they cant, to be said for them to that saint, &c., the poor people must put in something into the priest's box, which is not to be opened till the ship return. Thus the mass at that time was Christ's-mass, and the box Christ's-mass-box, or money gathered against that time, that masses might be made by the priests to the saints, to forgive the people the debaucheries of that time; and from this, servants had liberty to get box-money, because they might be enabled to pay the priest for masses—because, No penny, no paternoster—for though the rich pay ten times more than they can expect, yet a priest will not say a mass or anything to the poor for nothing; so charitable they generally are.'

The charity thus ironically ascribed by Dunton to the Roman Catholic clergy, can scarcely, so far as the above extract is concerned, be warrantably claimed by the whimsical author himself. His statement regarding the origin of the custom under notice may be regarded as an ingenious conjecture, but cannot be deemed a satisfactory explanation of the question. As we have already seen, a much greater antiquity and diversity of origin must be asserted.

This custom of Christmas-boxes, or the bestowing of certain expected gratuities at the Christmas season, was formerly, and even yet to a certain extent continues to be, a great nuisance. The journeymen and apprentices of trades-people were wont to levy regular contributions from their masters' customers, who, in addition, were mulcted by the trades-people in the form of augmented charges in the bills, to recompense the latter for gratuities expected from them by the customers' servants. This most objectionable usage is now greatly diminished, but certainly cannot yet be said to be extinct. Christmas-boxes are still regularly expected by the postman, the lamplighter, the dustman, and generally by all those functionaries who render services to the public at large, without receiving payment therefore from any particular individual. There is also a very general custom at the Christmas season, of masters presenting their clerks, apprentices, and other employees, with little gifts, either in money or kind.

St. Stephen's Day, or the 26th of December, being the customary day for the claimants of Christmas-boxes going their rounds, it has received popularly the designation of Boxing-day. In the evening, the new Christmas pantomime for the season is generally produced for the first time; and as the pockets of the working-classes, from the causes which we have above stated, have commonly received an extra supply of funds, the theatres are almost universally crowded to the ceiling on Boxing-night; whilst the 'gods,' or upper gallery, exercise even more than their usual authority. Those interested in theatrical matters await with consider-able eagerness the arrival, on the following morning, of the daily papers, which have on this occasion a large space devoted to a chronicle of the pantomimes and spectacles produced at the various London theatres on the previous evening.

In conclusion, we must not be too hard on the system of Christmas-boxes or handsets, as they are termed in Scotland, where, however, they are scarcely ever claimed till after the commencement of the New Year. That many abuses did and still do cling to them, we readily admit; but there is also intermingled with them a spirit of kindliness and benevolence, which it would be very undesirable to extirpate. It seems almost instinctive for the generous side of human nature to bestow some reward for civility and attention, and an additional incentive to such liberality is not infrequently furnished by the belief that its recipient is but inadequately remunerated otherwise for the duties which he performs. Thousands, too, of the commonalty look eagerly forward to the forth-coming guerdon on Boxing-day, as a means of procuring some little unwonted treat or relaxation, either in the way of sight-seeing, or some other mode of enjoyment. Who would desire to abridge the happiness of so many?

CHRISTMAS PANTOMIMES

Pantomimic acting had its place in the ancient drama, but the grotesque performances associated with our English Christmas, are peculiar to this country. Cibber says that they originated in an attempt to make stage-dancing something more than motion without meaning. In the early part of the last century, a ballet was produced at Drury Lane, called the Loves of Mars and Venus, wherein the passions were so happily expressed, and the whole story so intelligibly told by a mute narration of gesture only, that even thinking spectators allowed it both a pleasing and rational entertainment. From this sprung forth that succession of monstrous medleys that have so long infested the stage, and which arise upon one another alternately at both houses, outlying in expense, like contending bribes at both sides at an election, to secure a majority of the multitude.'

Cibber's managerial rival, Rich, found himself unable, with the Lincoln's-Inn-Fields' company, to compete with Drury Lane in the legitimate drama, and struck out a path of his own, by the invention of the comic pantomime. That he was indebted to Italy for the idea, is evident from an advertisement in the Daily Courant, for the 26th December 1717, in which his Harlequin Executed is described as 'A new Italian Mimic Scene (never performed before), between a Scaramouch, a Harlequin, a Country Farmer, his Wife, and others.' This piece is generally called 'the first English pantomime' by theatrical historians; but we find comic masques 'in the high style of Italy,' among the attractions of the patent-houses, as early as 1700. Rich seems to have grafted the scenic and mechanical features of the old masque upon the pantomimic ballet. Davies, in his Dramatic Miscellanies, describes Rich's pantomimes as 'consisting of two parts—one serious, the other comic. By the help of gay scenes, fine habits, grand dances, appropriate music, and other decorations, he exhibited a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses, or some other mythological work. Between the pauses or acts of this serious representation, he interwove a comic fable, consisting chiefly of the courtship of Harlequin and Columbine, with a variety of surprising adventures and tricks, which were produced by the magic wand of Harlequin; such as the sudden transformation of palaces and temples to huts and cottages; of men and women into wheel-barrows and joint-stools; of trees turned to houses; colonnades to beds of tulips; and mechanics' shops into serpents and ostriches.'

Pope complains in The Dunciad, that people of the first quality go twenty and thirty times to see such extravagances as:

'A sable sorcerer rise,

Swift to whose hand a winged volume flies:

All sudden, gorgons hiss and dragons glare,

And ten-horned fiends and giants rush to war.

Hell rises, Heaven descends, and dance on earth,

Gods, imps and monsters, music, rage, and mirth,

A fire, a jig, a battle and a ball,

Till one wide conflagration swallows all.

Thence a new world to Nature's laws unknown,

Breaks out refulgent, with a heaven its own;

Another Cynthia her new journey runs,

And other planets circle other suns.

The forests dance, the rivers upward rise,

Whales sport in woods, and dolphins in the skies;

And last, to give the whole creation grace,

Lo! one vast egg produces human race.'

The success of the new entertainment was wonder-fully lasting. Garrick and Shakespeare could not hold their own against Pantomime. The great actor reproaches his aristocratic patrons because:

'They in the drama find no joys,

But doat on mimicry and toys.

Thus, when a dance is in my bill,

Nobility my boxes fill;

Or send three days before the time,

To crowd a new-made pantomime.'

And The World (1st March 1753) proposes that pantomime shall have the boards entirely to itself. 'People of taste and fashion have already given sufficient proof that they think it the highest entertainment the stage is capable of affording; the most innocent we are sure it is, for where nothing is said and nothing is meant, very little harm can be done. Mr. Garrick, perhaps, may start a few objections to this proposal; but with those universal talents which he so happily possesses, it is not to be doubted but he will, in time, be able to handle the wooden sword with as much dignity and dexterity as his brother Lun.'

The essayist does Rich injustice; the latter's Harlequin was something more than a dexterous performance. Rich was a first-rate pantomimic actor, to whom words were needless. Garrick bears impartial witness to the genius of the exhibitor of the eloquence of motion. In the prologue to a pantomime with a talking-hero, produced after Rich's death, he says:

'Tis wrong,

The wits will say, to give the fool a tongue.

When Lun appeared, with matchless art and whim,

He gave the power of speech to every limb;

Though masked and mute, conveyed his quick intent,

And told in frolic gestures all he meant.'

At this time the role of Harlequin was not considered derogatory to an actor as it is now—Woodward, who established his reputation by playing such characters as Lord Foppington, Marplot, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, was equally popular as the party-coloured hero.

In the hands of Lun's successors, Harlequin sadly degenerated; and when Grimaldi appeared upon the scene, his genius elevated the Clown into the principal personage of the pantomime. The harlequinade still remained the staple of the piece, the opening forming a very insignificant portion. John Kemble himself did not disdain to suggest the plot of a pantomime. Writing to Tom Dibdin, he says:

'The pantomime might open with three Saxon witches lamenting Merlin's power over them, and forming an incantation, by which they create a Harlequin, who is supposed to be able to counter-act Merlin in all his designs against King Arthur. If the Saxons come on in a dreadful storm, as they proceeded in their magical rites, the sky might brighten, and a rainbow sweep across the horizon, which, when the ceremonies are completed, should contract itself from either end, and form the figure of Harlequin in the heavens. The wizards may fetch him down as they will, and the sooner he is set to work the better.' —Dibdin's Reminiscences.

Dibdin himself was a prolific pantomime author; and we cannot give a better idea of what the old-fashioned pantomime was, than by quoting the first scene of his Harlequin in his Element; or Fire, Water, Earth, and Air, performed at Covent Garden Theatre in 1807. The dramatis persona consist of Ignoso, the spirit of Fire; Aquina, the fairy of the Fountain; Aurino, genius of Air; Terrena, spirit of Earth; Harlequin (Mr Bologna, Jr.); Columbine (Miss Adams); Sir Amoroso Sordid, guardian to Columbine (Mr Ridgway); and Gaby Grin, his servant (Mr Grimaldi).

SCENE I.

A beautiful garden, with terraces, arcades, fountains, &c. The curtain rises to a soft symphony. Aurino is seen descending on a light cloud; he approaches a fountain in the centre of the garden, and begins the following duet:

Aurino. Aquina! Fountain Fairy!

The genius of the Air

Invites thee here

From springs so clear,

With love to banish care.

AQUINA, rising from fountain.

Aquina. Aurino, airy charmer,

Behold thy nymph appear.

What peril can alarm her,

When thou, my love, art near?

Terrena rises from the earth, and addresses the other two.

Terr. Why rudely trample thus on Mother Earth?

Fairies, ye know this ground 's my right by birth.

These pranks I'll punish: Water shall not rise

Above her level; Air shall keep the skies.

It thunders; IGNOSO descends.

Igno.' Tis burning shame, such quarrels 'mong you three,

Though I warm you, you're always cold to Inc.

The sons of Earth, on every slight disaster,

Call me good servant, but a wicked master.

Of Air and Water, too, the love I doubt,

One blows me up, the other puts me out.

Nay, if you're angry, I'll have my turn too,

And you shall see what mischief I can do !

Ignoso throws the fire from his wand; the flowers all wither, but are revived by the other fairies.

Terr. Fire, why so hot? Your bolts distress not me,

But injure the fair mistress of these bowers;

Whose sordid guardian would her husband be,

For lucre, not for love. Rather than quarrel,

let us use our powers,

And gift with magic aid some active sprite,

To foil the guardian and the girl to right.

Quartett.

Igno. About it quick!

Toss This clod to form shall grow,

Aqui. With dew refreshed

Aur. With vital air

Igno. And warm with magic glow.

HARLEQUIN is produced from a bed of party-coloured flowers; the magic sword is given him, while he is thus addressed:

Terr. This powerful weapon your wants will provide;

Then trip,

Aur. Free as air,

Aqui. And as brisk as the tide.

Igno. Away, while thy efforts we jointly inspire.

Terr. Tread lightly!

Aur. Fly!

Aqui. Run!

Igno. And you'll never hang fire!

IGNOSO sinks. AQUINA strikes the fountains; they begin playing. TERRENA strikes the ground; a bed of roses appears. Harlequin surveys everything, and runs round the stage. Earth sinks in the bed of roses, and Water in the fountain. Air ascends in the car. Columbine enters dancing; is amazed at the sight of Harlequin, who retires from her with equal surprise; they follow each other round the fountain in a sort of pas de deux.' They are surprised by the entrance of Columbine's Guardian, who comes in, preceded by servants in rich liveries. Clown, as his running footman, enters with a lapdog. Old Man takes snuff views himself in a pocket-glass. Clown imitates him, &c. Old Man sees Harlequin and Columbine, and pursues them round the fountains, but the lovers go of, followed by Sir Amonoso and servants.

And so the lovers are pursued by Sir. Amoroso and Clown through sixteen scenes, till the fairies unite them in the Temple of the Elements. The harlequinade—left is full of practical jokes, but contains no hits at the follies of the day throughout it all; the relative positions of Clown and Sir Amoroso, Pantaloon, or the Guardian (as he is styled indifferently), as servant and master, are carefully preserved.

Since Dibdin's time, the pantomime has under-gone a complete change. The dramatic author furnishes only the opening, which has gradually become the longest part of the piece; while the harlequinade—left to the so-called pantomimists to arrange—is nothing but noise. Real pantomime-acting is eschewed altogether; Harlequin and Columbine are mere dancers and posturers; and Clown, if he does not usurp the modern Harlequin's attribute, is but a combination of the acrobat and coarse buffoon. The pantomime of the present day would certainly not be recognized by Rich or owned by Grimaldi.

A Dorset Christmas 1880: The customs and traditions of this festive season

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Dark Dorset

would like to wish

all our readers a

Merry Christmas

and Joyful Yule.

As a Christmas contribution, we offer the following article printed in Notes and Queries (series 6, Vol ii, July-Dec 1880) by Dorset folklorist J. S. Udal, regarding the Christmas traditions and customs in Dorset.

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CHRISTMAS IN DORSETSHIRE

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Imbued with the utilitarian spirit of our time, one is apt to overlook those strong feelings of genuine pleasure and innocent merriment with which our ancestors were wont to greet Christmas as it came upon them in its annual round. For many years now the ancient glories that used to attend the celebration of the great season of Christmas-tide in England have been on the wane. The advent of Charles Dickens's Christmas Carol, nearly forty years ago, bearing with it that beautiful lesson of charity - charity, in its true sense of love for, and sympathy with the sufferings of, humankind checked for a time the ebbing tide of its popularity. But in this matter-of-fact age it is greatly to be feared that only too many look upon Christmas but as a statutable holiday, and welcome it merely as a cessation from toil.

In olden times Dorset had its full share in the gaieties appertaining to this joyous and festive season, and still in out-of-the-way corners of the county many scattered remnants of its former glory survive.

The following quaint custom (a note of which I sent to "N. & Q.," 4th S. x. 494) has not yet quite died out in some parts of the county. A few days before Christmas (generally about St.Thomas's Day) the women, children, and old men in a parish would visit by turns the houses of their wealthier neighbours, and in return for, and in recognition of, their Christmas greetings and their general demand of " Please give me something to keep up a Christmas," would receive substantial pieces or hunks of bread and cheese,bread and meat, or small sums of money. The old and infirm of either sex were generally represented by their children or grandchildren, those only being refused the dole who did not belong to the parish.

It was customary in many farmhouses on Christmas Eve for a large block of wood (in fact, a very Yule log) to be brought into the kitchen,and an immense fire having been made up, the farm labourers would come in and sit round it, or is many as were able would crowd into the chimney corner, and drink beer and cider. This was what was usually called a Christmas "brown."

Playing "forfeits" was a very favourite amusement with Dorsetshire folk during the long Christmas evenings, and one form which the game took was that of a " puzzle," as it was sometimes called, the solution of which was to be arrived at by making persona in turn repeat a line or couplet of a jingle or a rhyme ; and if it were not correctly rendered a "forfeit" was declared. The following is an example : - One of the company, who knows the "puzzle" (all being seated round the fire), commences by saying "Ragged-and-Tough," and, this having gone the circuit of the company, he begins the second round with " Not Ragged-and-Tough, but Huckem-a-buff, first cousin to Ragged-and-Tough." This being duly honoured, he begins again with "Not Ragged-and-Tough, nor Huckem-a-buff, first cousin to Ragged-and-Tough, but Miss Grizzle, maiden aunt to Huckem-a-buff, first cousin to Ragged-and-Tough," and so on ; each person repeating the jingle, one after another, and going backwards through the list, a new character being introduced each round, so that by the time the end of the characters, some seven or eight in number, is reached, some one's memory is sure to become confused and a mistake be made in the repetition, whilst, amid general laughter, a u forfeit" is claimed.

There is another one, which I can give but imperfectly, for I can only remember up to "twelve," though I fancy there are "eighteen" or more ; and an old Dorsetshire lady from whom I have heard it has now (in her ninetieth year) forgotten it. I should be much beholden to any reader of " N. & Q." who, happening to know the continuation of it, would be kind enough to acquaint me with it. It is as follows, and each rhyme is to be repeated backwards as in the last :

" A gaping, wide-mouthed, waddling frog,
Two pudding-ends won't choke a dog;
Three monkeys tied to a log ;
Four mares stuck in a bog ;
Five puppy-dogs and our dog Ball
Loudly for their breakfast call ;
Six beetles on a wall,
Close to an old woman's apple-stall ;
Seven lobsters in a dish,
As good as any heart can wish ;
Eight cobblers, cobblers all,
Working with their tools and awl ;
Nine comets in the sky,
Some are low and some are high ;
Ten peacocks in the air,
I wonder how they all got there -
You don't know and I don't care;
Eleven ships sailing on the main,
Some bound for France and some for Spain,
I wish them all safe back again ;
Twelve hunters, hares, and hounds, Hunting over other men's grounds."

It is to be noted that these two illustrations of forfeits that I have given are very similar in their backward repetition or refrain to "The House that Jack built," and it is quite possible that our old friend, now enshrined in every nursery book, may owe its origin to a game of "forfeits."

Chief, however, amongst the amusements and customs of this festive season as no doubt they were the most ancient were the " mummers" (or maskers), a party of youths who went from house to house and performed a play or drama, generally representing a fight between St. George, the patron saint of England, and a Mohammedan leader, commemorative of the Holy Wars. The actors were all decked out with painted paper and tinsel, in the character each was intended to assume, garnished with bows, coloured strips of paper, caps, sashes, buttons, swords, helmets, &c. The principal character in the Dorsetshire mummers was "Old Father Christmas," who frequently appeared mounted on a wooden horse covered with trappings of dark cloth. The representation took place in the servants' hall or kitchen of the mansion or farmhouse in which the mummers were permitted (a permission seldom denied) to act. The actors, ten or twelve in number, were grouped together at the back of the stage, so to speak, and each came forward as he was required to speak or to fight, and at the conclusion fell back upon the rest, leaving the stage clear for other disputants or combatants.

As soon as the play, which always concluded with a song, was over, and the actors had been regaled with such good cheer as the hospitable hearts of the Dorsetshire folk seldom refused, the mummers passed on to the next parish, where to a fresh and ever-delighted audience they went through a repetition of their performance ; and though if the night were wet and the wind cold they experienced rough usage at times, yet their welcome was made all the warmer at their next halting- place, so that none could doubt for a moment but that he came in for no small share (a share I wish to every reader of " N. & Q.") of the delights of a " Merry Christmas." Those readers of "N. & Q.'; who may desire to see the full text of a Dorsetshire mummers' play, I would refer to a paper I read before the Folk-lore Society last April, and which has been printed in the Folklore Record, vol. iii. part i.p. 87 ; also, for a list of characters, &c., in the same, see a short contribution I sent to the Christmas number of " N. & Q." in 1874 (5th S. ii. 505).

J. S. UDAL.

A Dorset Ghost Story for Christmas

2011-12-24T17:25:00.000Z

Curiously perhaps, Yuletide has always seemed an appropriate time for spine chilling tales and ghost stories. Maybe it is because the festival comes in the depths of winter when the nights are longest. One of the most famous Christmas fables of all is a ghost story is Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' with its four reforming spirits. But the spectres of most ghostly tales are far less benign.

One classic Dorset ghost story for Christmas is taken from the Rev. W. S. Swayne’s, 1889 publication “History and Antiquities of Stalbridge”.

“The old manor house in the park at Stalbridge was pulled down in 1822. It was of the Jacobean style, and contained a beautiful staircase with figures of the twelve apostles about a yard high, placed at intervals between the balusters.

In connection with the old mansion, a curious story is told. It is said that for some years before the house was pulled down it was left empty in the charge only of an old housekeeper.

Stalbridge Manor

The owner, however, on one occasion lent the house for the Christmas season to a lady friend of hers who had a large family of young children, making the stipulation that she should do whatever the old housekeeper required of her.

On arriving at the house the lady and her family were met by the housekeeper, who requested all of them to make a point of not being in the hall of the house at five o’clock of an evening. This request was agreed to, and for some time observed; but on one occasion the lady had had some children in to play during the afternoon with her own children, and having said goodbye to them, was standing in the hall of the house just on stroke of five. Hardly had the hour passed when her notice was attracted by a figure issuing from the door of one of the bedrooms on the first floor, which could be seen from the hall. The figure was that of a woman enveloped in flames, who repeated to herself in an agonized voice: ‘I have done it. I have done it.’ The figure disappeared almost immediately into the door of another room:

The lady ascended the stairs, and found that the doors both of the room from which the figure had emerged and that into which it had entered were locked.

Startled by so strange an occurrence, she determined to be in the hall on another evening at the same hour. Once more, she witnessed the same strange events. Now thoroughly convinced that it was something more than a mere freak of her imagination she returned at once with her children to London, and took an early opportunity of calling upon the owner. She mentioned what she had seen, and begged to know what was the meaning of it.

The following story was then related to her.

Some years ago the house was inhabited by a widowed mother and her only son, who was not yet of age. One day the boy came to his mother and told her that he had fallen in love with the gamekeeper’s daughter. The mother reproved him for his indiscretion, and forbade him to mention the subject again. Not long after the boy returned to the subject and announced his intention of marrying the girl. Once more, his mother refused to listen to him.

Some weeks afterwards the son once more spoke to his mother on the same subject and told her that it would be far better for her to make up her mind to accept the inevitable as the girl had now been his wife for some months. The mother was so indignant that she turned her son out of the house and forbade him ever to enter it again. Some months passed away, and the mother apparently repented of her harshness, for she went to her son and told him that she would receive both him and his wife and condone his disobedience. They returned to Stalbridge House, and at first all went well, for the girl was beautiful and amiable and did her best to please her mother-in-law.

One day, however, the young man returned late in the evening after a long day’s hunting, and was met by the sad news that his young wife had been burnt to death. The accident had occurred in this way. His wife had entered her mother-in-law’s dressing room about five o’clock in the evening, ready dressed for dinner. The mother-in-law was sitting in a distant part of the room before her looking glass, and the girl stood before the fire. Suddenly the elder lady heard a scream, and turning, saw her daughter-in-law enveloped in flames, having accidentally caught her dress on fire from the hearth. This story was accepted without question; and it was not until the wretched woman lay on her deathbed that she confessed to her son that she had murdered his young wife, having pushed her into the fire. After the death of the murderess the old house was haunted by her figure enveloped in flames, and exclaiming at her own crime.”

Source: www.darkdorset.co.uk/stalbridge_manor_ghost

A Dorset folk charm to combat the recession 19th Century style

2011-12-23T07:21:00.000Z

On this day in 1882 a farmer's wife who lived near Bridport, took a gamble with four pounds. She entrusted the money to two travelling women who claimed that they could treble money, and who asked for just a few shillings in return for their financial acumen.

They marked the coins with astrological symbols, and hid them. The farmer was having none of this and demanded to know where they had put the loot. Despite his wife's warnings that it must be left undisturbed until Easter Sunday, the farmer dragged the truth from her and discovered that the two strangers had stuck something up the chimney.

The something turned out to be a cloth-wrapped, pin-stuck smoked pig's heart stuffed with polished farthings. That was that: the spell was broken, and so the four pounds was never trebled. That is the non-cynic's way of viewing it.

Animal Hearts used as Folk Charms

Witches were once commonplace in Dorset, and the belief in witchcraft was never stronger than in the outlying villages and hamlets - such as Hawkchurch.

In 1884, one of its residents made an unusual discovery, for found lodged up a chimney of the farmhouse was a stuffed bullock's heart studded with thorns, pins, and nails. John Symonds Udal in his book 'Dorsetshire Folklore' published in 1922 wrote:

"An interesting illustration of that to which Mr. Roberts alludes occurred some forty years ago in the parish of Hawkchurch, West Dorset, an account of which appeared in the Bridport News in March, 1884. A new tenant had recently entered into possession of a house in the village which had just been vacated, when it was necessary to displace what was thought to be a lodgment in one of the chimneys. The obstruction was got out, and was found to be neither brick nor stone, but a bullock's heart, into which was stuck a quantity of the prickles of the white thorn, some nails, pins, and other things. This bullock's heart, in exactly the same state in which it was removed from the chimney of the cottage at Hawkchurch, is now, or was, in the Literary Institute at Bridport, and was exhibited at the meeting of the Dorset Field Club at that town in July, 1889, when I myself saw it. It presented a very dry, shrivelled, and almost mummified appearance, evidently having been in the smoke for many years. A correspondent suggested that as the late occupant was a bachelor, possibly he might have used the " charm " to ward off the attacks of the ladies and to prevent " witches " from getting access to the house by means of the chimney! This correspondent is undoubtedly right in conjecturing that the obstacle in the chimney was intended to act as a charm, for a bullock's heart so placed was always considered by superstitious Dorset folk to be the most effective way of keeping witches or fairies out of a house, as it was by the chimney they were generally supposed to effect an entrance. More especially is the charm to be depended upon if the animal's heart (as in this case) be previously studded with prickles of thorns, nails, or pins, in the same way as Mr. Roberts mentioned with regard to pieces of bacon used for the similar purpose. In order to make the charm more efficacious, " maiden " thorns should be used ; that is, thorns that have been grown the same year in which they were picked.

The same paper in April, 1901, mentions a similar case as occurring at Shipton Gorge, which carries the belief in such practices in West Dorset up to the beginning of the present century. It says :—

" A week or two ago the son of Mr. Fowler, sweep, of Bridport, while sweeping a chimney in one of the cottages in Ship ton came upon a curious relic of past days. He had reason to go up the chimney, and about eight or ten feet from the ground he found an old canvas bag, hanging or fixed in a cranny of the wall, and inside this was discovered, wrapped in paper, a hard and dried bullock's heart, stuck through and through with thorns and pins. This is the fourth heart of the kind found in chimneys in the neighbourhood within the last few years. This was one of the charms against the witch's spell in days gone by, and was hung in the chimney with the idea that the pins and thorns added torment to the witch and broke her spell."

The late Mr. Bosworth Smith, in his Bird Life and Bird Lore (1909), p. 366, spoke of the belief in the " evil eye ", and in the bewitching of cattle and persons, as still lingering on in Bingham's Melcombe and the surrounding villages. And he mentioned the practice of sticking pins into a bullock's or other animal's heart as still followed in that neighbourhood. But in the instance he there gave of this having been carried out only a year or two before, the " charm " would seem to have been used rather as a remedy or cure for the bewitching or overlooking than as a preventive against the spell being cast. In this case the heart, " bestuck with pins till it bristled all over with them ", was set before a fire ; and then " as it begins to glow and frizzle the power of the witch or wizard gradually diminishes, and when at last it burst with the heat the spell is broken and the witchcraft over."

A Bullock's Heart
impaled with Hawthorns

At Wyke Regis, Weymouth, there once lived an old woman who was suspected of practising witchcraft, for it was believed she had overlooked a young girl. A gypsy informed the girl's mother to hang a bullock's heart stuffed with pins inside the chimney, which in time would break the spell. The mother did this and when the heart dried out, it fell into the fire and was burnt to a cinder. Later when her daughter recovered, the old witch was seen in a fit of rage claiming that some one had been meddling in her affairs.

Mentioned in the 'Dorset Year Book 1942-3'. The Police station at Frampton, near Dorchester found a Bullock’s heart in their chimney.

‘During the fitting of a new firegrate at the Police Station nearly forty years ago my mason dislodged a bullock’s heart stuffed full of pins’

At Marshwood, near Lyme Regis another bullock’s heart placed up chimney. J.B. Lang paper on ‘Charming of cattle’, 'Procceedings of the Dorset Natural. History. & Archaeology. Society. 91 (1969)'

"A farmer complained his cattle had been ‘overlooked’ and were all gradually dying off. He was told to take the heart out of the last animal which had died and push the heart, stuck all over with pins and nails, up the chimney so that the ‘overlooking’ would pass back again where it had come from."

Hermann Lea wrote in his paper on 'Some Dorset Superstitions' published in ‘Memorials of Old Dorset’ by T. Perkins and H. Pentin, 1907, with regards to this strange folk superstition.

"In a case where the horses were dying from some obscure complaint, the victim was told to cut out the heart of the next animal that died and boil it in water containing sage, peppermint, and onions; when cold, it was to be stuck full of new pins on the one side, and on the other with "maiden" thorns — i.e., thorns of the present year's growth — picked by a maiden — woman or girl — and inserted by her. This done, it was to be hung up on a nail in the chimney of a neighbour — the one accused of being the witch."

Source: Dark Dorset Website: Bullock's Heart stuffed with Thorns

Winter Solstice: The Dark Days of Winter

2011-12-22T00:00:00.000Z

Today is the Winter Solstice also known as St. Thomas' Day .

The ‘Winter Solstice’ occurs on either the 21st or 22nd December and observes the lowest point of the sun in the sky at midday as well as the most southerly sunrise and sunset in the year. The Romans called it ‘Sol Invictus’, meaning, ‘the Undefeated Sun’.

Symbolically, it is the rebirth of the sun, and the chief gods in many religions are born at this time. The birthdays of the Babylonian ‘Queen of Heaven’ and ‘Osiris’, ‘Dionysus’, ‘Adonis’, ‘Mithras’,‘Balder’ and ‘Jesus’ are celebrated on 25th December, the old date of the Winter Solstice. All are associated with concepts of rebirth and eternal life.

The Solstice was played a huge part in the Roman midwinter holiday, Saturnalia (17th December). Riotous merry-making took place at home, and the halls of houses were decked with boughs of laurel and evergreen trees. Lamps were kept burning to ward off the spirits of darkness. Schools were closed, the army rested, and no criminals were executed. Friends visited one another, bringing good-luck gifts of fruit, cakes, candles, dolls, jewellery, and incense. Temples were decorated with evergreens symbolizing life's continuity, and processions of people with masked or blackened faces and fantastic hats and costumes danced through the streets.

The custom of mummers visiting their neighbours in costume, which is still alive in Dorset and the rest of Britain, is descended from these masked processions.

Roman masters feasted with slaves, who were given the freedom to do and say what they liked (the medieval custom of all the inhabitants of the manor, including servants and lords alike, sitting down together for a great Christmas feast, came from this tradition). A Mock King was appointed to take charge of the revels (the Lord of Misrule of medieval Christmas festivities had his origin here).

In northern tradition, the Winter Solstice is the feast of ‘Yule’, which means, ‘yoke of the year’, and is the midwinter festival associated with fertility and continuing life. Starting at the solstice Yule continues until ‘Twelfth Night’, 5th January, when the Christmas decorations are removed.

As it is also St. Thomas' Day weather lore states that if there is frost on this day, a bad winter is predicted.

St Thomas divine, Brewing, baking, and killing of fat swine.

Below, Extract taken from the Chambers Book of Days December 21st 1864, details the traditions of St. Thomas' Day day.

St. Thomas Day

The festival of St. Thomas was instituted in the twelfth century, and, as an old author alleges, was assigned an early place in the ecclesiastical calendar from this apostle having been vouchsafed the most indisputable evidence of the resurrection. In pictorial art, St. Thomas is represented holding a builder's square, and in accordance with the following legend, he is regarded as the patron saint of architects and builders. When St. Thomas was at Caesarea, our Lord appeared unto him, and said: 'The king of the Indies, Gondoforus, hath sent his provost, Abanes, to seek for workmen well versed in the science of architecture, who shall build for him a palace finer than that of the emperor at Rome. Behold now, I will send thee to him.' And St. Thomas went, and Gondoforus commanded him to build a magnificent palace, and gave him much gold and silver for the purpose. The king went to a distant country, and was absent for two years; and St. Thomas, meanwhile, instead of building a palace, distributed all the treasures intrusted to him among the poor and sick; and when the king returned he was full of wrath, and commanded that St. Thomas should be seized and cast into prison, while he meditated for him a horrible death. Meantime, the brother of the king died, and the king resolved to erect for him a magnificent tomb; but the dead man, after that he had been dead four days, suddenly rose, sat upright, and said to the king:

'The man whom thou wouldst torture is a servant of God; behold, I have been in Paradise, and the angels chewed unto me a wondrous palace of gold, silver, and precious stones; and they said: This is the palace that Thomas the architect has built for thy brother King Gondoforus.'
And when the king heard those words, he ran to the prison, and delivered the apostle, and then St. Thomas said to him: 'Knowest thou not that they who would possess heavenly things have little care for the goods of this world! There are in heaven rich palaces without number, which were prepared from the beginning of the world for those who purchase the possession thereof through faith and charity. Thy riches, 0 king, may prepare thy way to such a place, but they cannot follow thee thither.' Like many other of the old saintly legends, this was never meant or assumed to be a matter-of-fact relation, but simply a parable or religious fiction, invented for the instruction of the people, and rendered the more impressive and striking by an exalted apostle being made the hero of the tale.
It is said that after the dispersion of the apostles, St. Thomas preached the gospel to the Medes, Persians, Bactrians, Ethiopians, and Indians, among the latter of whom he suffered martyrdom at Melapoor, and was buried in a church, which he had caused to be erected in that city. Marco Polo, who travelled in the thirteenth century, says: ' In that province of Malabar, is the body of the glorious martyr St. Thomas, the apostle, who there suffered martyrdom. It rests in a small city, not frequented by many merchants, because unsuited for the purposes of commerce; but, from devotional motives, a vast number both of Christians and Saracens resort thither. The Christians who perform this pilgrim-age collect earth, which is of a red colour, from the spot where he was slain, and reverentially carry it away with them, often employing it afterwards in miracles, and giving it with water to the sick, by which many disorders are cured. A variety of miracles are daily performed at the tomb of St. Thomas, through the interposition of the blessed apostle.'

Sir John Mandeville in his travels, describes the same country as 'a great kingdom containing many fair cities and towns. In that kingdom lies the body of St. Thomas the apostle in flesh and bone, in a fair tomb, in the city of Calamy; for there he was martyred and buried. But men of Assyria carried his body into Mesopotamia, into the city of Edessa; and afterwards he was brought thither again. And the arm and the hand that he put to our Lord's side, when he appeared to him after his resurrection, is yet lying in a vessel without the tomb. By that hand they there make all their judgments. For, when there is any dissension between two parties, and each of them maintains his own cause, both parties write their causes on two bills, and put them in the hand of St. Thomas; and, anon, the hand casts away the bill of the wrong cause, and holds still the bill with the right cause, and therefore men come from far countries to have judgments of doubtful causes.'
The accompanying engraving, from an illumination in an ancient manuscript of Mandeville's travels, preserved in the Bibliothèque Imperiale of Paris, represents the judgment of St. Thomas. And if the story be considered incredible, the writer can only quote Mandeville's own lines addressed to unbelievers thus:
'If scanty be my laud and praise,
And witless folk should call me liar,
For that my hook contains strange lays,
I will not storm nor burst with ire.
Let him who credits not my tales,
Travel as far as I have been,
Then, may he tell if truth prevails,
In what I say that I have seen.'
St. Thomas's Day falls on the winter solstice, the shortest day in the year, as expressed in the following couplet:
'St Thomas gray, St. Thomas gray,
The longest night and the shortest day.'
In some parts of the country the day is marked by a custom, among poor persons, of going a gooding, as it is termed—that is to say, making the round of the parish in calling at the houses of their richer neighbours, and begging a supply either of money or provisions to procure good things, or the means of enjoying themselves at the approaching festival of Christmas. From this circumstance St. Thomas's Day is in some places designated 'Doleing Day,' and in others 'Mumping [begging] Day.' In Warwickshire, the custom under notice used to be called going a corning, from the poor people carrying with them a bag in which they received a contribution of corn from the farmers.
By a correspondent of Notes and Queries, in 1857, we are informed that the custom of 'Gooding' exists in full force in Staffordshire, where not only the old women and widows, but representatives from every poor family in the parish, make their rounds in quest of alms. The clergyman is expected to give a shilling to each person, and at all houses a subsidy is looked for either in money or kind. In some parts of the same county a sum of money is collected from the wealthier inhabitants of the parish, and placed in the hands of the clergyman and churchwardens, who on the Sunday nearest to St. Thomas's Day, distribute it in the vestry under the name of ' St. Thomas's Dole.' We learn also from an-other communication of the writer just quoted, that at Harrington, in Worcestershire, it is customary for children on St. Thomas's Day to go round the village begging for apples, and singing
'Wassail, wassail, through the town,
If you've got any apples, throw them down;
Up with the stocking, and down with the shoe,
If you've got no apples, money will do;
The jug is white and the ale is brown,
This is the hest house in the town.'
In return for the alms bestowed during these 'gooding' peregrinations, it was customary for the recipients, in former times, to present to their benefactors a sprig of holly or mistletoe. A liberal dole was distributed at the 'great house,' or the mansion of the principal proprietor in the parish; and at the kitchens of all the squires and farmers' houses, tankards of spiced-ale were kept for the special refection of the red-cloaked old wives who made in procession these foraging excursions on St. Thomas's Day. It is said that the hospitality shewn on such occasions proved sometimes rather overpowering, and the recipients of this and other charitable benefactions found themselves occasionally wholly unable to find their way back to their own habitations, having been rendered, through the agency of John Barleycorn, as helpless as the ' Wee bit Wilkie' immortalised in Scottish song.

Events: Frome Valley Morris Mummers Winter Solstice Tour - 22nd December 2011

2011-12-21T07:57:00.000Z

Every year since 1978 the Frome Valley Morris Mummers have performed an action packed mummers play which up until 1936 was originally performed at Broadwey near Weymouth. Their bright costumes with colourful streamers hanging down over the face for disguise are based on the actual costumes worn at the time. The Frome Valley Morris based their costumes, on the ones used by the Hardy Players in their production of Thomas Hardy's 'The Return of the Native' .

The Frome Valley Morris Mummers specialise in turning up at a venue, entering and performing the play. The first the surprised audience knows is the unexpected entrance of the Announcer, followed by each character in turn introducing themselves Father Christmas, Saint George, A Turkish Knight, A Doctor, Beelzebub, Jack Vinney (A Village Idiot). This does not usually stop anyone watching joining in with the spirit of the play with interactive cheers and good humour.

In 2007 Dark Dorset followed the Frome Valley Morris Men as they performed there end of year Mummers Play at a variety of venues in Dorset. The video below was taken at The White Horse, Litton Cheney on 22nd of December 2007.

Click Here to read more about Christmas Mummers on our website

This year the Frome Valley Morris Mummers will be appearing tomorrow at the following venues:

Winter Solstice - Thursday 22nd December 2011

7.00pm - The Elm Tree Inn, Langton Herring

7.45pm - The Crown, Puncknowle

8.30pm - The White Horse, Litton Cheney

~~9.15pm - The Tiger Inn, Barrack Street, Bridport~~

10.00pm - The New Inn, Shipton Gorge

More information about the Frome Valley Morris and there performances visit:

www.fromevalleymorris.co.uk

N.B. The information above has been compiled with the best of intentions and I am afraid we cannot accept any responsibility for any of these events being cancelled or venue changed. Always phone before you set out on your journey, especially if you are travelling long distances.

Events: Wessex Morris Men Christmas Tour

2011-12-17T15:32:00.001Z

The Wessex Morris will be performing over the festive period once again, with traditional singing, dancing and mumming plays

Their Christmas programme for 2011:

Saturday 17th December

Dancing in Sherborne as part of the Sherborne at Christmas celebrations

Sunday 18th December

The Wessex Morris Men will be joining the carol singing at Halsey Arms, Pulham, near Dorchester around 8.00pm

Monday 19th December

The Wessex Morris Men present their Christmas Party at the Royal Oak, Cerne Abbas, near Dorchester from 7.30pm. They will be dancing in the street and then don a range of colourful guises to present the traditional mumming play.

Mummers' plays have been performed in England since the late 1700s and most Dorset villages would have had their own play. It is very likely that there was a play in Cerne Abbas but, unfortunately, all traces of it have been lost, so Wessex Morris Men have "imported" a play from Quidhampton, near Salisbury. Nevertheless, since their play has been performed regularly in Cerne Abbas for over 30 years it has come part of Cerne Abbas' Christmas tradition.

The evening will be rounded off with traditional songs, music and entertainment.

Below: The Wessex Morris Men perform there mummers play in the The Royal Oak, Cerne Abbas, Dorset in 2006.

Monday 26th December

The Wessex Morris Men return to the Royal Oak, Cerne Abbas, near Dorchester to dance on Boxing Day around 12.00pm

If you like what you see at these events, come and join them to learn morris dancing and dance out next season. They practice at the Halsey Arms, Pulham, on Monday evenings from 8pm-10pm. Ask any team member for details or Telephone Mike Phelan on 01305 786754 or alternatively visit their website at www.wessexmorrismen.co.uk

N.B. The information above has been compiled with the best of intentions and I am afraid we cannot accept any responsibility for any of these events being cancelled or venue changed. Always phone before you set out on your journey, especially if you are travelling long distances.

Events: Stourvale Mummers Yuletide Tour 2011

2011-12-16T07:57:00.001Z

The Stourvale Mummers

The Stourvale Mummers was formed in 1979 by members and friends of the Bourne River Morris Men. The object of the performance is to raise funds for local needy children, as well as keeping alive a colourful local tradition. During the Christmas season they perform a traditiona l Mummers' play from Sixpenny Handley.

Here is their 2011 Touring Programme:

Friday 16th December

8.00pm Horton Inn - Horton

8.30pm Drucilla's Inn - Horton

9.30pm Barley Mow - Colehill

10.00pm Cross Keys - Mannington

Saturday 17th December

8.00pm Roebuck Inn - Sixpenny Handley

8.30pm - Inn on the Chase

9.00pm The Drovers - Gussage All Saints

9.30pm Grand Christmas Ceilidh the Village Hall, Tarrant Keynston, Dorset

Sunday 18th December

12.30pm Red Lion - Sturminster Marshall

1.00pm Botany Bay - Winterbourne Zelston

1.30pm Lambs Green Inn - Corfe Mullen

2.00pm Holme Bush - Corfe Mullen

Tuesday 20th December

8.00pm Albion - Verwood

8.30pm Churchill Arms - Alderholt

9.15pm The Horse & Groom - Woodgreen

9.45pm Elm Tree - Hightown, nr Ringwood

Wednesday 21st December

8.30pm Curlew - West Parley

9.00pm Kings Arms - Longham

9.30pm Dudsbury - West Parley

10.00pm Owl's Nest - West Parley

Thursday 22nd December 2011

8.30pm The Vine - Pamphill

9.00pm The Horns - Colehill

9.30pm Olive Branch - Wimborne

10.00pm Royal British Legion - Wimborne

More information can be found via their website www.bournerivermorris.org.uk

Events: Anonymous Morris Mummers Play at Poole

2011-12-13T20:04:00.000Z

Anonymous Morris as the PooleMummers

Anonymous Morris (Border Morris side based in Poole) double up as Poole Mummers and perform their ownversion of the traditional 250 year old Christmas Mummers Play.

Mumming plays last around ten minutes and historically were performedby working men in pubs and private houses in order to raise a bit ofmoney for Christmas. They're played for laughs and involve swordfights and people being raised from the dead!

This feastive season the Anonymous Morris are going mumming around Poole's Pubs:

16th December

8:00pm - Spotted Cow

8:30pm - Queen Mary

9:00pm - King Charles (basement)

9:30pm - Portsmouth Hoy

23rd December

8:00pm - Brewhouse

8:30pm - Lord Wimborne (Weatherspoons)

9:00pm - Cockleshell

9:30pm - Foundry Arms

Visit the website at www.anonymousmorris.co.uk for more information about the group and upcoming events.

Event: BBC Radio 2 'It's Got Bells On'

2011-12-11T00:00:00.000Z

As part of BBC Radio 2's Dance Season, Morris Dancing will be featured on tomorrows programme (12th December 2011) at 10.00pm.

'Strictly'; 'Britain 's Got Talent'; 'So You Think You Can Dance'... there is extraordinary enthusiasm for dance in many forms. But there's one dance that never gets featured, and its England's own - the Morris.

Stewart Lee puts this to rights in 'It's Got Bells On' and the usual scornful jibes (such as,"There's a morris side crossing the road; which do you run over, the dancers or the accordion player? The accordionist, because you should always put business before pleasure") won't appear because though he's a comedian Stewart is an enthusiast for English traditional music and dance. This is the stand up who had the Black Swan Rappers (dancers not MCs) open for him at a gig in Yorkshire, and the Forest of Dean Morris Men at his wedding reception.

A couple of years back even The Morris Ring said the tradition would have come to an end in 20 years because no young people were joining. But Stewart discovers that the best young folk musicians, such as Jim Moray, Tim van Eyken and Laurel Swift all dance and all develop the form, that hip hop and morris merge in the work of The Demon Barbers and that contemporary choreographers are turning to the tradition. When danced by athletic young men, or women such as the Belles of London City (in their corsets) the morris becomes as sexy as salsa, as fearsome as flamenco.

Stewart hears from Ashley Hutchings and John Kirkpatrick, who gave a boost to the revival in the 1970s with classic albums 'Morris On' and 'Battle of the Field', when morris went electric. There is lots of fantastic music, including some from William Kimber, from whom Cecil Sharp collected his first morris tunes in 1899. All this, and a quick glance at rapper and clog dancing, too.

Source: BBC Radio 2 It's Got Bells On 12th December 2011 at 10.00pm.

Events: Wassail with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and New Scorpion Band - 17th December 2011

2011-12-10T16:06:00.000Z

The New Scorpion Band

Following last year’s successful combining of folk and classical music at the the Lighthouse, Poole, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra will once again present ‘Wassail’ - an amazing musical experience that combines the music of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with folk sensation ‘The New Scorpion Band’ for a lively festive concert of traditional music and carols.

The New Scorpion Band are a professional accoustic group who perform worldwide. Its five members can play more than 30 musical instruments and have worked with an impressive host of successful musicians including; Annie Lennox, Hans Zimmer, John Williams and Russell Watson.

The concert, led by guest conductor Pete Harrison, will feature a variety of combined pieces including; On Christmas Night (A Sussex Carol), Dulci Jubilo and The Holly and the Ivy, where the orchestra and the The New Scorpion band will play together to produce a fantastic unique sound. Additionally; the orchestra will perform Tomlinson’s English Folk Dances, Warlock’s Bethlehem Down and Vaughan Williams’ Folksong Suite; and The New Scorpion Band will also perform a selection of traditional pieces including A christmas Goose and The Carnal and the Crane.

The concert will take place at Lighthouse, Poole on Saturday 17th December, 7.30pm. Tickets are available in advanced from September by contacting the Lighthouse Box office on 0844 406 8666. For further information, visit www.bsolive.com

The Customs and Traditions of St Nicholas's Day

2011-12-06T07:10:00.000Z

St. Nicholas

Of all the supernatural being freed by the winter season the best known is ‘St Nicholas’, alias ‘Santa Claus’, or ‘Father Christmas’. Originally Santa was not the gift bringer as he is today, but the actual ‘Soul of Winter’. He owes some of his character to the Norse god, ‘Odin’, who flew through the winter skies with his terrifying ‘Yule Tide Host’ of ghosts and fairies, distributing punishments to the wicked and rewards to the worthy. He also has an affinity with ‘Bacchus’, the Roman god of wine and revelry, but perhaps more surprising is his connection to the ‘Wild Man’; (Dorset Ooser) the horned beast god, so powerful that Pope Gregory the Great, in the sixth century chose him to be Christianity’s poster child for evil, - the cloven-hoofed, goatish figure we recognise as the Devil. (see previous blog entry Krampus Day: The Traditions and Customs of Saint Nicholas Eve)

Below, Extract taken from the Chambers Book of Days December 6th 1864, details the traditions of St. Nicholas' day.

ST. NICHOLAS

St. Nicholas belongs to the fourth century of the Christian era, and was a native of the city of Patara, in Lycia, in Asia Minor. So strong were his devotional tendencies, even from infancy, that we are gravely informed that he refused to suck on Wednesdays and Fridays, the fast-days appointed by the church! Having embraced a religious life by entering the monastery of Sion, near Myra, he was in course of time raised to the dignity of abbot, and for many years made himself conspicuous by acts of piety and benevolence. Subsequently he was elected archbishop of the metropolitan church of Myra, and exercised that office with great renown till his death. Though escaping actual martyrdom, he is said to have suffered imprisonment, and otherwise testified to the faith under the persecution of Dioclesian.

As with St. Cothbert, the history of St. Nicholas does not end with his death and burial. His relics were preserved with great honour at Myra, till the end of the eleventh century, when certain merchants of Bari, on the Adriatic, moved by a pious indignation similar to what actuated the Crusaders, made an expedition to the coast of Lycia, and landing there, broke open the coffin containing the bones of the saint, and carried them off to Italy. They landed at Bari on the 9^th of May 1087, and the sacred treasure, which they had brought with them, was deposited in the church of St. Stephen . On the day when the latter proceeding took place, we are told that thirty persons were cured of various distempers through imploring the intercession of St. Nicholas, and since that time his tomb at Bari has been famous for pilgrimages. In the ensuing article a description is given of the annual celebration of his. festival in that seaport.

Perhaps no saint has enjoyed a more extended popularity than St. Nicholas. By the Russian nation, he has been adopted as their patron, and in England no fewer than three hundred and seventy-two churches are named in his honour. He is regarded as the special guardian of virgins, of children, and of sailors. Scholars were under his protection, and from the circumstance of these being anciently denominated clerks, the fraternity of parish clerks placed themselves likewise under the guardianship of St. Nicholas. He even came to be regarded as the patron of robbers, from an alleged adventure with thieves, whom he compelled to restore some stolen goods to their proper owners.

But there are two specially celebrated legends regarding this saint, one of which bears reference to his protectorship of virgins, and the other to that of children. The former of these stories is as follows: A nobleman in the town of Patara had three daughters, but was sunk in such poverty, that he was not only unable to provide them with suitable marriage-portions, but was on the point of abandoning them to a sinful course of life from inability to preserve them otherwise from starvation. St. Nicholas, who had inherited a large fortune, and employed it in innumerable acts of charity, no sooner heard of this unfortunate family, than he resolved to save it from the degradation with which it was threatened. As he proceeded secretly to the nobleman's house at night, debating with himself how he might best accomplish his object, the moon shone out from behind a cloud, and shewed him an open window into which he threw a purse of gold. This fell at the feet of the father of the maidens, and enabled him to portion his eldest daughter. A second nocturnal visit was paid to the house by the saint, and a similar present bestowed, which procured a dowry for the second daughter of the nobleman. But the latter was now determined to discover his mysterious benefactor, and with that view set himself to watch. On St. Nicholas approaching, and preparing to throw in a purse of money for the third daughter, the nobleman caught hold of the skirt of his robe, and threw himself at his feet, exclaiming: '0 Nicholas! servant of God! why seek to hide thyself?' But the saint made him promise that he would inform no one of this seasonable act of munificence.

From this incident in his life is derived apparently the practice formerly, if not still, customary in various parts of the continent, of the elder members and friends of a family placing, on the eve of St. Nicholas's Day, little presents, such as sweetmeats and similar gifts, in the shoes or hose of their younger relatives, who, on discovering them in the morning, are supposed to attribute them to the munificence of St. Nicholas. In convents, the young lady-boarders used, on the same occasion, to place silk-stockings at the door of the apartment of the abbess, with a paper recommending themselves to 'Great St. Nicholas of her chamber.' The next morning they were summoned together, to witness the results of the liberality of the saint who had bountifully filled the stockings with sweetmeats. From the same instance of munificence recorded of St. Nicholas, he is often represented bearing three purses, or three gold balls; the latter emblem forming the well-known pawnbrokers' sign, which, with considerable probability, has been traced to this origin. It is true, indeed, that this emblem is proximately derived from the Lombard merchants who settled in England at an early period, and were the first to open establishments for the lending of money. The three golden balls were also the sign of the Medici family of Florence, who, by a successful career of merchandise and money-lending, raised themselves to the supreme power in their native state. But the same origin is traceable in both cases—the emblematic device of the charitable St. Nicholas.

The second legend to which we have adverted is even of a more piquant nature. A gentleman of Asia sent his two sons to be educated at Athens, but desired them, in passing through the town of Myra, to call on its archbishop, the holy Nicholas, and receive his benediction.

The young men, arriving at the town late in the evening, resolved to defer their visit till the morning, and in the meantime took up their abode at an inn. The landlord, in order to obtain possession of their baggage, murdered the unfortunate youths in their sleep; and after cutting their bodies to pieces, and salting them, placed the mutilated remains in a pickling tub along with some pork, under the guise of which he resolved to dispose of the contents of the vessel. But the archbishop was warned by a vision of this horrid transaction, and proceeded immediately to the inn, where he charged the landlord with the crime.

The man, finding himself discovered, confessed his guilt, with great contrition, to St. Nicholas, who not only implored on his behalf the forgiveness of Heaven, but also proceeded to the tub where the remains of the innocent youths lay in brine, and then made the sign of the cross, and offered up a supplication for their restoration to life. Scarcely was the saint's prayer finished, when the detached and mangled limbs were miraculously reunited, and the two youths regaining animation, rose up alive in the tub, and threw themselves at the feet of their benefactor. We are further informed, that the archbishop refused their homage, desiring the young men to return thanks to the proper quarter from which this blessing had descended; and then, after giving them his benediction, he dismissed them with great joy to continue their journey to Athens. In accordance with this legend, St. Nicholas is frequently represented, as delineated in the accompanying engraving, standing in full episcopal costume beside a tub with naked children.

An important function assigned to St. Nicholas, is that of the guardianship of mariners, who in Roman Catholic countries regard him with special reverence. In several seaport towns there are churches dedicated to St. Nicholas, whither sailors resort to return thanks for preservation at sea, by hanging up votive pictures, and making other offerings. This practice is evidently a relic of an old pagan custom alluded to by Horace:

Me tabulâ, sacer
Votivâ paries indicat uvida
Suspendisse potenti
Vestimenta marls Deo.
The office of protector of sailors, thus attributed in ancient times to Neptune, was afterwards transferred to St. Nicholas, who is said, on the occasion of making a voyage to the Holy Land, to have caused by his prayers a tempest to assuage, and at another time to have personally appeared to, and saved some mariners who had invoked his assistance.

THE FEAST OF ST. NICHOLAS

St. Nicholas Statue, Studland
The Feast of St. Nicholas, at Bari, is one of the chief ecclesiastical festivals of Southern Italy. It is attended by pilgrims in thousands, who come from considerable distances. From the Tronto to Otranto, the whole eastern slope of the Apennines sends eager suppliants to this famous shrine, and nowhere is there more distinctly to be seen how firm and deep a hold the faith in which they have been educated has on the enthusiastic nature of the Italian peasantry, than at this sanctuary, and on this occasion.

Bari is a city of considerable importance, being the second in population of those belonging to the Neapolitan provinces. It is situated on the Adriatic coast, half-way between the spur, formed by Monte Gargano, and the heel of the boot. It contains some 40,000 inhabitants, and is capital of the province of the same name, which contains half a million of population. The city occupies a small peninsula, which escapes, as it were, into the blue waters of the Adriatic, from the bosom of the richest and most fertile country in Italy. The whole sea-board, from the mouths of the Ofanto to within a few miles of the magnificent but neglected harbour of Brindisi, recalls the descriptions given of Palestine in its ancient and highly-cultivated state. The constant industry of the people—in irrigation, in turning over the soil, in pruning the exuberant vegetation—is rewarded by a harvest in every month of the year, and the wealth of the soil is expressed by the contented aspect, the decent clothing, and the personal adornment with rings, chains, and ear-rings, of both men and women. Stockings and even gloves are commonly worn, and that not as being needed for defence against the climate, but as marks of decent competence. At Barletta, the great grain-port, which is situated between this garden of Italy and the great pastoral plain of Apulia, there is a labour-market held daily, during the summer months, at four A.M. There the labourers meet, before going to their daily toil, to settle the price of labour, and to arrange for the due distribution of workmen through the country. Each man is attended by his dog, and most of them mount their asses, at the conclusion of this ancient and admirable congress, to ride to the scene of their occupation.

The harvests of this fertile country commence, in the latter part of April and earlier portion of May, by the gathering of the pulse crops, those of beans especially, on which the people subsist for some weeks, and of vetches. Oranges and lemons succeed during the month of May, and the country affords many species of these fruit, one at least of which, as large as a child's head, and with a thick and edible rind, is unknown in other parts of Europe. In June, succeeds the harvest of oats, barley, and wheat, and the gathering of flax. In July, the maize is harvested; a plant which has been regarded as of American origin, but which is represented in the frescoes of Pompei as boiled and eaten precisely as we see it used at the present day. July is also the chief month for the making of cheese, as well as for the silk crop, or the tending of the silk-worm till it forms its cocoons.

August produces cotton, tobacco, and figs. September yields grapes and a second shearing of wool, the first having taken place in May. The next five months, in fertile years, supply a constant yield of olives; and the plucking and preserving of the fruit, as well as the manufacture of oil, afford continual occupation. The olive, which, in the south of France, appears as a small shrub, covers the hills to the south of the Ofanto, with trees about the size of the apple-trees of the Gloucestershire and Herefordshire orchards; and yet further south, in the Terra di Otranto, it rises into the magnitude of a forest-tree, and covers large districts of country with a rich and shady woodland. The culture and the varieties of the olive are the same with those that are so minutely described by Virgil, and the flavour of the edible species, and the delicacy and filbert-like aroma of the new-made oil, can only be appreciated by a visit to a country like Apulia. In March, the latest addition to the production of the country, the little Mandarin orange, becomes ripe; a delicious fruit, too delicate to export. Introduced into Italy during the present generation, it has already much increased in size, at the expense, it is said, of flavour. In April is the season for the slaughtering of fatted animals, which brings us round again to the wool-crop.

Bari is an archiepiscopal city, but its ancient cathedral, with its almost picturesque architecture, is outshone by the splendour of the Church of St. Nicholas, the 'protector of the city.' The grand prior of St. Nicholas is one of the chief ecclesiastical dignitaries in Italy, claiming to rank with the bishop of Loretto, the archbishop of Milan, and the cardinal of Capua. The king of Naples for the time is, when he enters the precincts of St. Nicholas, a less person than the grand prior, ranking always, however, as the first canon of the chapter, and having a throne in the choir erected for his occupation in that capacity. The present grand prior is a man every way fitted to sustain such a dignity —courteous and affable, erect and vigorous in form and gait, and clear and bright in complexion, although hard on fourscore years of age. He is the very counterpart of the pictures of Fenelon, but of Fenelon unworn by the charge of the education of a dauphin.

It so chanced that the writer was in Bari, and was the guest of this respectable prelate, on the two great festivals that are distinctive of the city that of St. Mark, and that of St. Nicholas. On St. Mark's Day, the chief peculiarity is the procession of the clergy and municipality to the walls of the ancient castle that overlook the sea, and the solemn firing of a cannon thrice in the direction of Venice, in acknowledgment of the relief afforded by the Venetian fleet when Bari was besieged by the Saracens in 1002 A.D. The ricochet of the cannon-ball over the surface of the Adriatic is watched with the greatest interest by the people, and the distance from the shore at which the water is struck appears to be regarded as ominous.

But on the festa of St. Nicholas, in addition to the rejoicings of the citizens, and to the influx of the contadini, the city is absolutely invaded by an army of pilgrims. With staves bound with olive, with pine, or with palm, each bearing a suspended water-bottle formed out of a gourd, frequently barefoot, clothed in every variety of picturesque and ancient costume, devotees from every province of the kingdom of Naples seek health or other blessings at the shrine of the great St. Nicholas. The priory gives to each a meal, and affords shelter to many. Others fill every arch or sheltered nook in the walls, bivouac in the city, or spend the night in devotion. The grand vicar of the priory said that on that morning they had given food to nine thousand pilgrims, and there are many who never seek the dole, but travelling on horseback or in carriages to within a few miles of Bari, assume the pilgrim habit only to enter the very precincts of the shrine.

The clergy composing the chapter of St. Nicholas are not slow to maintain the thaumaturgic character of their patron, and seem to believe in it. The bones of the saint are deposited in a sepulchre beneath the magnificent crypt, which is in itself a sort of subterranean church, of rich Saracenic architecture. Through the native rock which forms the tomb, water constantly exudes, which is collected by the canons on a sponge attached to a reed, squeezed into bottles, and sold to the pilgrims, as a miraculous specific, under the name of the `Manna of St. Nicholas.' As a proof of its supernatural character, a large bottle was shewn to me, in which, suspended from the cork, grew and floated the delicate green bladder of one of the Adriatic ulvae. I suppose that its growth in fresh water had been extremely slow, for a person, whose word I did not doubt, assured me that he remembered the bottle from his childhood, and that the vegetation was then much less visible. 'This,' said the grand vicar, a tall aquiline-featured priest, who looked as if he watched the effect of every word upon a probable heretic-

'this we consider to be conclusive as to the character of the water. If vegetation takes place in water that you keep in a jar, the water becomes offensive. This bottle has been in its present state for many years. You see the vegetation. But it is not putrid. Taste it, you will find it perfectly sweet. Questa è prodigiosa.'
I trust that all the water that was sold to the pilgrims was really thus afforded by St. Nicholas, if its efficacy be such as is asserted to be the case; but on this subject the purchasers must rely implicitly on the good faith of the canons, as mere human senses cannot distinguish it from that of the castle well.

The pilgrims, on entering the Church of St. Nicholas, often shew their devotion by making the circuit once, or oftener, on their knees. Some are not content with this mark of humility, but actually move around the aisles with the forehead pressed to the marble pavement, being generally led by a child, by means of a string or handkerchief, of which they hold the corner in the mouth. It is impossible to conceive anything more calculated to stir the heart with mingled feelings of pity, of admiration, of sympathy, and of horror than to see these thousands of human beings recalling, in their physiognomy, their dialects, their gesticulations, even their dresses, the Magna Graecia of more than two thousand years ago, urged from their distant homes by a strong and intense piety, and thinking to render acceptable service by thus debasing themselves below the level of the brute. The flushed face, starting eyes, and scarred forehead, fully distinguish such of the pilgrims as have thus sought the benediction of the saint.

The mariners of Bari take their own part, and that a very important one, in the functions of the day, and go to a considerable expense to perform their duty with eclat. Early in the morning, they enter the church in procession, and receive from the canons the wooden image of the saint, attired in the robes and mitre of an archbishop, which they bear in triumph through the city, attended by the canons only so far as the outer archway of the precincts of the priory. They take their charge to visit the cathedral and other places, and then fairly embark him, and carry him out to sea, where they keep him until nightfall. They then return, disembark under the blaze of illumination, bon-fires, and fireworks, and the intonation, by the whole heaving mass of the population, of a Gregorian Litany of St. Nicholas; parade the town, visit by torchlight, and again leave, his own church; and finally, and late in the night, return the image to the reverend custody of the canons, who, in their purple robes and fur capes turned up with satin, play only a subordinate part in the solemnity. 'It is the only time,' said a thickly-moustached bystander—

'it is the only occasion, in Italy, on which you see the religion of Jesus Christ in the hands of the people.'
The conduct of the festa was, indeed, in the bands of the mariners and of the pilgrims; the character of the religion is a different question.

Those who have witnessed the festa of St. Januarius, at Naples, will err if they endeavour thence to realise the character of the festa of St. Nicholas at Bari. The effect on the mind is widely different. Without the frantic excitement that marks the Neapolitan festival, there is a deep, serious, anxious conviction that pervades the thousands who assemble at Bari, which renders the commemoration of St. Nicholas an event unique in its nature. The nocturnal procession, the flashing torches, the rockets, the deep-toned litany, the hum and surge of the people through the ancient archways, the thousands of pilgrims that seem to have awakened from a slumber of seven centuries, all tend power-fully to affect the imagination. But the chief element of this power over the mind is to be found in the deep earnestness of so great a mass of human beings, while the stars look down calm and solemn on their time-honoured rite, and a deep bass to their litany rolls in from the waves of the Adriatic.

THE BOY-BISHOP

On St. Nicholas's Day, in ancient times, a singular ceremony used to take place. This was the election of the Boy-bishop, or Episcopus Puerorum, who, from this date to Innocents', or Childermas Day, on 28^th December, exercised a burlesque episcopal jurisdiction, and, with his juvenile dean and prebendaries, parodied the various ecclesiastical functions and ceremonies. It is well known that, previous to the Reformation, these profane and ridiculous mummeries were encouraged and participated in by the clergy themselves, who, confident of their hold on the reverence or superstition of the populace, seem to have entertained no apprehension of the dangerous results which might ultimately ensue from such sports, both as regarded their own influence and the cause of religion itself.

The election of the Boy-bishop seems to have prevailed generally throughout the English cathedrals, and also in many of the grammar-schools, but the place where, of all others, it appears to have specially obtained, was the episcopal diocese of Salisbury or Sarum. A full description of the mock-ceremonies enacted on the occasion is pre-served in the Processional of Salisbury Cathedral, where also the service of the Boy-bishop is printed and set to music. It seems to have constituted literally a mimic transcript of the regular episcopal functions; and we do not discover any trace of parody or burlesque, beyond the inevitable one of the ludicrous contrast presented by the diminutive bishop and his chapter to the grave and canonical figures of the ordinary clergy of the cathedral. The actors in this solemn farce were composed of the choristers of the church, and must have been well drilled in the parts which they were to per-form. The boy who filled the character of bishop, derived some substantial benefits from his tenure of office, and is said to have had the power of disposing of such prebends as fell vacant during the period of his episcopacy. If he died in the course of it, he received the funeral honours of a bishop, and had a monument erected to his memory, of which latter distinction an example may be seen on the north side of the nave of Salisbury Cathedral, where is sculptured the figure of a youth clad in episcopal robes, with his foot on a lion-headed and dragon-tailed monster, in allusion to the expression of the Psalmist:

'Conculcabis leonem et draconem—
[Thou shalt tread on the lion and the dragon].'
Besides the regular buffooneries throughout England of the Boy-bishop and his companions in church, these pseudo-clergy seem to have perambulated the neighbourhood, and enlivened it with their jocularities, in return for which a contribution, under the designation of the 'Bishop's subsidy,' would be demanded from passers-by and householders. Occasionally, royalty itself deigned to be amused with the burlesque ritual of the mimic prelate, and in 1299, we find Edward I, on his way to Scotland, permitting a Boy-bishop to say vespers before him in his chapel at Heton, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, on the 7^th of December, the day after St. Nicholas's Day. On this occasion, we are informed that his majesty made a handsome present to this mock-representative of Episcopacy, and the companions who assisted him in the discharge of his functions. During the reign of Queen Mary of persecuting memory, we find a performance by one of these child-bishops before her majesty, at her manor of St-James-in-the-Fields, on St. Nicholas's Day and Innocents' Day, 1555. This queen restored, on her accession, the ceremonial, referred to, which had been abrogated by her father, Henry VIII, in 1542.

We accordingly read in Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, quoted by Brand, that on 13^th November 1554, an edict was issued by the bishop of London to all the clergy of his diocese to have the procession of a boy-bishop. But again we find that on 5^th December, or St. Nicholas's Eve, of the same year, ' at even-song time, came a commandment that St. Nicholas should not go abroad or about. But notwithstanding, it seems so much were the citizens taken with the mock of St. Nicholas—that is, a boy-bishop—that there went about these St. Nicholases in divers parishes, as in St. Andrew's, Holborn, and St. Nicholas Olaves, in Bread Street. The reason the procession of St. Nicholas was forbid, was because the cardinal had, this St. Nicholas Day, sent for all the convocation, bishops, and inferior clergy, to come to him to Lambeth, there to be absolved from all their per-juries, schisms, and heresies.' Again Strype informs us that, in 1556, on the eve of his day,

'St. Nicholas, that is, a boy habited like a bishop in pontifcalibus, went abroad in most parts of London, singing after the old fashion, and was received with many ignorant but well-disposed people into their houses, and had as much good cheer as ever was wont to be had before, at least, in many places.'
With the final establishment of Protestantism in England, the pastime of the Boy-bishop disappeared; but the well-known festivity of the Eton Montem appears to have originated in, and been a continuance under another form, of the medieval custom above detailed. The Eton celebration, now abolished, consisted, as is well known, in a march of the scholars attending that seminary to Salt Hill, in the neighbourhood [AD MONTEM—' To the Mount '—whence the name of the festivity], where they dined, and afterwards returned in procession to Eton in the evening. It was thoroughly of a military character, the mitre and ecclesiastical vestments of the Boy-bishop and his clergy of former times being exchanged for the uniforms of a company of soldiers and their captain. Certain boys, denominated salt-bearers, and their scouts or deputies, attired in fancy-dresses, thronged the roads in the neighbourhood, and levied from the passersby a tribute of money for the benefit of their captain.

This was supposed to afford the latter the means of maintaining himself at the university, and amounted sometimes to a considerable sum, occasionally reaching as high as £1000. According to the ancient practice, the salt-bearers were accustomed to carry with them a handkerchief filled with salt, of which they bestowed a small quantity on every individual who contributed his quota to the subsidy. The origin of this custom of distributing salt is obscure, but it would appear to have reference to those ceremonies so frequently practised at schools and colleges in former times, when a new-comer or freshman arrived, and, by being salted, was, by a variety of ceremonies more amusing to his companions than himself, admitted to a participation with the other scholars in their pastimes and privileges. A favourite joke at Eton in former times was, it is said, for the salt-bearers to fill with the commodity which they carried, the mouth of any stolid-looking countryman, who, after giving them a trifle, asked for an equivalent in return.

About the middle of the last century, the Eton Montem was a biennial, but latterly it became a triennial ceremony. One of the customs, certainly a relic of the Boy-bishop revels, was, after the pro-cession reached Salt Hill, for a boy habited like a parson to read prayers, whilst another officiated as clerk, who at the conclusion of the service was kicked by the parson downhill. This part of the ceremonies, however, was latterly abrogated in deference, as is said, to the wishes of Queen Charlotte, who, on first witnessing the practice, had expressed great dissatisfaction at its irreverence. The Eton-Montem festival found a stanch patron in George III, who generally attended it with his family, and made, along with them, liberal donations to the salt-bearers, besides paying various attentions to the boys who filled the principal parts in the show. Under his patronage the festival flourished with great splendour; but it afterwards fell off, and at last, on the representation of the master of Eton College to her Majesty and the government, that its continuance had become undesirable, the Eton Montem was abolished in January 1847. This step, however, was not taken without a considerable amount of opposition.

In recent times, the Eton-Montem festival used to be celebrated on Whit-Tuesday, but previous to 1759, it took place on the first Tuesday in Hilary Term, which commences on 23^rd January. It then not unfrequently became necessary to cut a passage through the snow to Salt Hill, to allow the pro-cession to pass. At a still remoter period, the celebration appears to have been held before the Christmas holidays, on one of the days between the feasts of St. Nicholas and the Holy Innocents, the period during which the Boy-bishop of old, the precursor of the 'captain' of the Eton scholars, exercised his prelatical functions.

Krampus Day: The Traditions and Customs of Saint Nicholas Eve

2011-12-05T00:00:00.000Z

The Krampus

December 5th, Saint Nicholas Eve is known as Krampus Day in some parts of Austria and the run of the Krampuses is preserved both in the Tarvisio area, in Italy near the Austrian border, and in Südtirol/Alto Adige. Krampus is an evil demon that has a long tail, fur, rattling chain, birch branch, and big black bag. Children and adults go to the village square and throw snowballs to scare him off. On Saint Nicholas Eve children place their shoes on the window sill or outside their bedroom door to be filled with fruits, nuts, and sweets.

A Chocolate Krampus

The many legends and traditions surrounding the saintly Nikolaus' often wild companions are more diverse than those of the saint. The pagan origin of all of these figures is evident although difficult to trace. The best known companion is Knecht Ruprecht, "Knecht" meaning servant. Historically, Ruprecht was a dark and sinister figure clad in a tattered robe with a big sack on his back in which, legend has it, he will place all naughty children. However, Knecht Ruprecht also became the servant and companion of the Christchild. In this role Ruprecht became the patron saint of Christmas and was called "Weihnachtsmann," Father Christmas or Santa Claus.

This is quite in contrast to Bavaria, where St. Nikolaus may be followed by the hideous Klaubauf, a shaggy monster with horns. In Austria the saint is followed by a similar horned creature, called Krampus, covered with bells and dragging chains.

Who is Krampus?

St. Nicholas and the Krampus

The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen). The Krampus is a sort of devil who accompanies Saint Nicholas on the eve of December 6, in Styria this attendant is named Bartel. He accompanies Saint Nicholas, who visits every home during the night and leaves small gifts in the shoes of children who have been good during the past year. Those who have misbehaved, however, may get punished by his helper. He might take back the gifts that St. Nicholas left for them, and leave them a lump of coal instead. He might give them a birching with the switch he carries with him. Really bad children might even get carried off in his sack and taken along, or even put into an ink-well by St. Nick himself, as told in the Struwwelpeter: "Da kam der grosse Nikolas Mit seinem grossen Tintenfass.... Er tunkt sie in die Tinte tief, Wie auch der Kaspar "Feuer" rief. Bis "bern Kopf ins Tintenfass Tunkt sie der grosse Nikolas."

Krampus is also known in Austria as Kneckt Ruprecht and Black Peter. In Germany he may be called Pelzebock, Pelznickel (or Belznickel), Hans Muff, Bartel, Gumphinkel, Stoppklos, Black Pit, or Knecht Ruprecht. To this day, the Running of the Krampus (Krampuslauf) happens during the first week of December. In Salzburg, young men put on dark animal-skin suits, red carved masks with horns or antlers, and mismatched shoes. They stomp down the Getreidegasse, the main shopping street, ringing cowbells, pretending to snatch little children, and hitting people on the leg with the switches they use for tails. St. Nicholas follows behind, handing out candies.

Events: Songs & Music of the English Village Bands and Choirs with The Mellstock Band

2011-12-03T15:53:00.000Z

The Mellstock Band

On Saturday 10 December 2011, a day of singing and instrumental music making, led by The Mellstock Band, followed by an evening concert in the heart of Thomas Hardy’s Dorset will be held at the Cranborne Village Hall.

West Gallery music has unique vigour and excitement, as well as being accessible to singers and musicians of all abilities. It is rhythmic, full-voiced, and has a fascinating combination of wild harmonies and unorthodox counterpoint. The choirs and their music are unforgettably portrayed by Thomas Hardy in 'Under the Greenwood Tree' and some of the pieces we will be singing and playing come from the Hardy family's own collection of manuscript books, and from other Dorset sources.

Singers and musicians will find it helpful to have a basic knowledge of written music. The intention is to do as the village bands did, and welcome whatever suitable instruments are available, whether in modern or historical forms. The only instruments not suited to this repertoire are keyboard instruments and chordal instruments such as guitar. Followed at 7:30 by a concert "The Leaves of Life".

Venue: Village Hall, Cranborne, Dorset, BH21 5QB
Time: Workshop 10.30am – 4.30pm. Concert: 7:30pm
Cost: £45.00
book or make enquiry now!

Workshop Only
Time: 10.30am – 4.30pm
Cost: £35.00
book or make enquiry now!

Concert Only
Time: 7.30pm.
Cost: £10.00
book or make enquiry now!

For more information on venues and booking prices visit www.joyousisle.com or telephone 01202 885294 or 01258 840097

More information about the performers visit the Mellstock Band at www.mellstockband.com

Events: Christmas Customs by Sue Herman

2011-12-02T13:34:00.001Z

On Thursday 15th December 2011, National Trust Local Group talk given by Sue Herman on 'Christmas Customs' at 2.30pm at the St. Georges Hall, Fordington, Dorchester. Sue is the Talks Organiser for the National Trust Golden Cap Association. Her talk will give an interesting and seasonable insight into how our ancestors celebrated Christmas, the history and origins or Christmas customs and how we continue these customs today.

Talk arranged by The National Trust Local Group. No Booking Required. Tickets are £2.50 for members and £3.00 for non-members. For more information call Pat Woodley 01305 832198

Dorsetarian: Folklore, Customs and Ghost Stories in Sherborne

2011-12-01T19:59:00.001Z

Contributing to the Dark Dorset online journal the 'Dorsetarian' this month. Elisabeth Bletsoe of Sherborne Museum explores the folklore, customs and hauntings of this ancient Dorset market town.

Click here to read - Folklore, Customs and Ghost Stories in Sherborne

Film: The Spirit of Portland with Gary Biltcliffe

2011-11-30T18:07:00.001Z

The Spirit of Portland
by Gary Biltcliffe
Click Here

The recent screening of The Light and Energy Channel film 'The Spirit of Portland with Gary Biltcliffe' (Events: The Spirit of Portland – Film night at the The Light and Energy Centre,Friday, 11 November 2011). Is now available to view on The Light and Energy Channel website: http://www.thelightandenergychannel.tv/the-spirit-of-portland-with-gary-biltcliffe/It will also be screened on Edge Media TV, Sky Channel 200 in a few weeks time.

Events: The Great Fire of Wareham 1762 by Anne King

2011-11-30T12:07:00.001Z

The Great Fire of Wareham plaque

Learn about the Great Fire of 1762 in Wareham at a National Trust talk. The talk by Anne King, will be held at United Church in South street, Dorchester, tomorrow Thursday 1st December.

Talk arranged by The National Trust Local Group. No Booking Required. Tickets are £2.50 for members and £3.00 for non-members. For more information call Pat Woodley 01305 832198

St. Andrew's Fire

2011-11-29T00:00:00.000Z

The Burning Barrow

In Scottish tradition, on this night, the eve of St. Andrew's, mysterious lights appear, hovering above the ground believed to be the burial site of hidden treasure.

Barrows or earthworks are often regarded as places, where hidden treasure can be found. On the Ridgeway Hill, near the Dorset village of Bincombe there is a bowl barrow that has been given the curious name of The Burning Barrow.

It was given this name due to an inexplicable event one night in the early 1980's. A woman told him in 1984, that she was riding pillion on her boyfriend’s motorbike travelling along the top road of Came Down. When they were both startled to see flames shooting upward and a bright orange glow emitting from one of the many barrows upon the Ridgeway.
Both the rider and the woman thought the area had some sinister air about it and didn't stop to find out what caused this unusual phenomenon.

The flames seen at the Burning Barrow could have been some form of luces del dinero (or Money Lights) as the are called in Mexico. Theses flames or ignis fatuus appear to hover above the ground, are said to mark the spot of treasure.

News Clipping: Roman ring and Viking fragment found in North Dorset declared treasure

2011-11-27T19:15:00.000Z

A Roman ring and a silver Viking fragment found on farmland have been declared treasure and seized for the Queen. Both pieces of ancient jewellery were found last year on farmland in North Dorset.

READ MORE - Source: Bournemouth Daily Echo Sunday 27th November 2011

Review: Haunted Weymouth by Alex Woodward

2011-11-25T10:03:00.001Z

Haunted Weymouth
by Alex Woodward
Click Here

Drawing on historical and contemporary sources, 'Haunted Weymouth' by local ghost tour guide Alex Woodward, is sure to send a shiver down the spine of anyone daring to learn more about the haunted history of the area. Including many previously unpublished stories, this book will appeal to both serious ghost hunters and those who simply want to discover what frights lurk beneath the surface of this once royal seaside resort.

Click Here for full review by Andrew May

DARK DORSET - Dorset's premier website devoted to local folklore and the unexplained

News Clipping: Bournemouth resident mystified by 'blue sphere shower'

Events: Bonny Sartin's "The Banks Of Newfoundland" with special guests - Nick Wyke and Becki Driscoll

The Year of the Dragon: Dragons and Wyverns of Dorset

New Book: Souls, Spirits and Deities by Bob Thrubshaw

Old Twelfth Night and The Burning of the Ashen Faggot

Events: Mystery Big Cats Of Britain - A talk by Merrily Harpur

13 Reasons to be Fearful - Superstitions about Friday 13th

News Clipping: Plough Monday making a comeback

Plough Sunday - The blessing of the plough

News Clipping: New museum role for Victorian Hall

Wassail!! The customs and traditions of Twelfth Night.

The 'New Year' Mummers at Symondsbury

2012 - A Happy New Year from Dark Dorset

Dorset's Weird and Wonderful Year of 2011

News Clipping: Dorset 'beast' sighting near Batcombe sparks further mystery

News Clipping: UFO files: "flying saucers" over coastline sparked full scale alert

News Clipping: 'Wareham's monument is not Excalibur'

News Clipping: Mystery over circles on Studland heath

News Clipping: Channel 4 show 'Four Rooms' in bidding for Gruesome Artifact

News Clippings: Fang-tastic! Viking remains reveal warriors filed their teeth to appear more ferocious to enemies.

Mapperton villagers pay tribute to 'Posy Tree'

Dark Dorset learnt of the sad news that the 'Posy Tree' of Mapperton has been removed due to health and safety fears. Residents from Mapperton gathered last Saturday at the tree, with glasses of cider, to toast the historic landmark.

Source: www.darkdorset.co.uk - The Posy Tree

On this day 11th September 1685, The Bloody Assizes were opened at Lyme Regis

News Clipping: Records reveal lives of Dorset's smugglers

Dorsetarian: Folklore, Customs and Ghost Stories in Sherborne

The Night of the Winter Bull: The customs and traditions of New Year's Eve

Events: New Year's Day Nurdling Tourney 2012

Boxing Day! The customs and traditions of St. Stephen's Day

A Dorset Christmas 1880: The customs and traditions of this festive season

A Dorset Ghost Story for Christmas

A Dorset folk charm to combat the recession 19th Century style

Winter Solstice: The Dark Days of Winter

Events: Frome Valley Morris Mummers Winter Solstice Tour - 22nd December 2011

Events: Wessex Morris Men Christmas Tour

Events: Stourvale Mummers Yuletide Tour 2011

Events: Anonymous Morris Mummers Play at Poole

Event: BBC Radio 2 'It's Got Bells On'

Events: Wassail with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and New Scorpion Band - 17th December 2011

The Customs and Traditions of St Nicholas's Day

Krampus Day: The Traditions and Customs of Saint Nicholas Eve

Events: Songs & Music of the English Village Bands and Choirs with The Mellstock Band

Events: Christmas Customs by Sue Herman

Dorsetarian: Folklore, Customs and Ghost Stories in Sherborne

Film: The Spirit of Portland with Gary Biltcliffe

Events: The Great Fire of Wareham 1762 by Anne King

St. Andrew's Fire

News Clipping: Roman ring and Viking fragment found in North Dorset declared treasure

Review: Haunted Weymouth by Alex Woodward