93-572: In English folklore , grindylow or grundylow is a creature in the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire . The name is thought to be connected to Grendel , a name or term used in Beowulf and in many Old English charters where it is seen in connection with meres , bogs and lakes . Grindylows are supernatural creatures that appear in the folklore of England, most notably the Lancaster area. They are described as diminutive humanoids with scaly skin,
186-499: A mum(en)schanz , a game of dice. This custom was practised by commoners as well as nobility. On Shrove Tuesday of 1557 Albert V, Duke of Bavaria went to visit the archbishop of Salzburg and played a game of dice with him. A similar incident, involving an Englishman, is attested for the French court by the German count and chronicler Froben Christoph von Zimmern: during carnival 1540, while
279-451: A sword dance wearing masks and visors covering their faces in the churchyard and in the courtyard of a house. They were fined 40 shillings each. In 1604 Tyberius Winchester was fined for "guising" through the town of Elgin with a pillowcase as a disguise and William Pattoun was accused of singing " hagmonayis ". In January 1600, Alexander Smith's daughter was accused of guising in Elgin dressed as
372-447: A 15th-century physician using a golden artifact to heal his patients, their failures were attributed to the fickleness of magic. As for English folktales, some such as Weber argue that they were passed down for the purpose of reflecting the grim realities of a child's life and hence instilled valued English morals and aesthetics. Others such as Tatar would counter that these folktales' fantasies were so removed from reality that they were
465-598: A brutal outlaw, ballads revelling in his violent retaliation to threats. Robin Hood fought to protect himself and his group the Merry Men , regardless the class, age, or gender of their enemy. In stories such as ' Robin Hood and the Widow's Three Sons ' and ' The Tale of Gamelyn ', the joyful ending is in the hanging of the sheriff and the officials; in ' Robin Hood and the Monk ' , Robin Hood kills
558-454: A child was happy, healthy, and good. English folklore also included beliefs of the supernatural , including premonitions , curses , and magic , and was common across all social classes. It was not regarded with the same validity as scientific discoveries, but was made to be trusted by the repeated accounts of a magician or priest's clients who saw the ritual's spectacle and so believed in its efficacy. Even when such rituals failed, such as
651-498: A collection of money. The practice may be compared with other customs such as those of Halloween, Bonfire Night , wassailing , pace egging and first-footing at new year . Although the term mummer has been in use since the Middle Ages, no scripts or details survive from that era and the term may have been used loosely to describe performers of several different kinds. The earliest evidence of mummers' plays as they are known today
744-506: A decrepit horse that is close to death. In Lincolnshire , similar traditions were known as 'plough plays', many of these were collected by the folklorist Ethel Rudkin . All known Irish play scripts are in English though Irish custom and tradition have permeated mumming ceremony with famous characters from Irish history: Colmcille, Brian Boru, Art MacMorrough, Owen Roe O'Neill, Sarsfield and Wolfe Tone. The mummers are similar but distinct from
837-409: A demon. Lob , also called loby, looby, lubbard, lubber, or lubberkin, is the name given to a fairy with a dark raincloud as a body. It has a mischievous character and can describe any fairy-like creature from British folklore. It can be confused with Lob Lie-By-The-Fire , a strong, hairy giant which helps humans. Beowulf is an anonymous Old English historical epic of 3182 lines which describes
930-489: A dramatised version of the well-known Derby Ram folksong, known as the Derby Tup (another word for ram), has been performed, since at least 1895, by teams of boys. The brief play is usually introduced by two characters, an old man and an old woman ("Me and our owd lass"). The Tup was usually represented by a boy, bent over forwards, covered with a sack, and carrying a broomstick with a rough, wooden sheep's head attached. The Tup
1023-729: A few surviving traditional teams of mummers in England and Ireland, but there have been many revivals of mumming, often associated nowadays with morris and sword dance groups. These performances are comparable in some respects with others throughout Europe . Broadly comic performances, the most common type features a doctor who has a magic potion able to resuscitate the vanquished character. Early scholars of folk drama, influenced by James Frazer 's The Golden Bough , tended to view these plays as descendants of pre-Christian fertility ritual, but modern researchers have subjected this interpretation to criticism. The characters may be introduced in
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#17328520777851116-524: A form of escapism, imaginative expression, and linguistic appreciation. Most folklorists would agree that the purpose of English folklore is to protect, entertain, and instruct on how to participate in a just and fair society. Folklorists have developed frameworks such as the Aarne–Thompson-Uther index which categorise folktales first by types of folktales and then by consistent motifs. While these stories and characters have differences according to
1209-473: A game of hide-and-seek during her wedding breakfast, hid in a chest in an attic and was unable to escape. She was not discovered by her family and friends, and suffocated. The body was allegedly found many years later in the locked chest. Standing stones are man-made stone structures made to stand up. Some small standing stones can also be arranged in groups to form miniliths. Similar to these geological artefacts are hill figures . These are figures drawn into
1302-458: A game or throw ( schanz ) of dice. Ingrid Brainard argues that the English word "mummer" is ultimately derived from the Greek name Momus , a god of mockery and scoff. Mummers' and guisers' plays were formerly performed throughout much of English-speaking Great Britain and Ireland , spreading to other English-speaking parts of the world including Newfoundland and Saint Kitts and Nevis . There are
1395-538: A greenish complexion, sharp claws and teeth, and long, wiry arms with lengthy fingers at the end. They dwell in ponds and marshes waiting for unsuspecting children, which they grab with their shockingly strong grip, and then drag under the surface of the waters. Grindylows have been used as shadowy figures to frighten children away from pools, marshes, or ponds where they could drown. Peg Powler , Nelly Longarms , and Jenny Greenteeth are similar water spirits . English folklore English folklore consists of
1488-410: A holed stone or adder stone, is a type of stone, usually glassy, with a naturally occurring hole through it. Such stones have been discovered by archaeologists in both Britain and Egypt. In England it was used as a counter-charm for sleep paralysis , called hag-riding by tradition. A petrifying well is a well which, when items are placed into it, they appear to be covered in stone. Items also acquire
1581-538: A lasting impact on English culture , literature , and identity . Many of these traditional stories have been retold in various forms, from medieval manuscripts to modern films and literature. To this day, traditional folk festivals such as May Day , Plough Monday , Bonfire Night , Allhallowtide , and Harvest festival continue to be practised. Morris dancing , Mummers' plays , and Maypole dancing remain popular forms of folk traditions, often depicting or echoing themes or stories from English folklore. Before England
1674-408: A local school, Scoil Seamus Ennis, which has hosted mummering troupes from across Ireland and England. The group, The Armagh Rhymers , have been performing mummers' plays and other performances inspired by the traditional form since the 1970s. The Kirk Session records of Elgin name women who danced at New Year 1623 to the sound of a trumpet. Six men, described as guisers or "gwysseris" performed
1767-413: A malevolent genius loci inhabiting fields, marshes or other topographical features. The household boggart causes objects to disappear, milk to sour, and dogs to go lame. They can possess small animals, fields, churches, or houses so they can play tricks on the civilians with their chilling laugh. Always malevolent, the boggart will follow its family wherever they flee. In Northern England, at least, there
1860-541: A man. This kind of dance and disguised "guising" through the town can be traced in various records. When Anne of Denmark came to Scotland in May 1590, twelve Edinburgh men performed a sword dance in costume with white shoes and floral hats, and other performed a Highland dance in costume. James VI himself wore a costume with a Venetian mask and danced at a wedding at Tullibardine in June 1591. In 1831, Sir Walter Scott published
1953-573: A monk and his young helper. Paradoxical to English values of strict adherence to the law and honour, Robin Hood was glorified in ballads and stories for his banishment from society. Robin Goodfellow , or Puck, is a shape-changing fairy known for his tricks. Since some English superstition suspected that fairies were demons, 17th century publications such as 'Robin Good-Fellow, his Mad Prankes and Merry Jests' and 'The Anatomy of Melancholy' portrayed him as
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#17328520777852046-611: A moral imperative stemming from Christian values . They frequently explore the relationship between humans and the natural world, as seen in the legends of the Green Man or Herne the Hunter , or the consequences of human actions, as illustrated in tales like the Lambton Worm . Additionally, English folklore has been influenced by historical events, such as the witch trials of the early modern period, which are reflected in stories like that of
2139-488: A quack Doctor who comes to restore the dead man to life. Other characters include: Old Father Christmas , who introduces some plays, the Fool and Beelzebub or Little Devil Doubt (who demands money from the audience). In Ynysmeudwy near Swansea groups of four boys dressed as Crwmpyn (hunchback) John, Indian Dark, Robin Hood and Doctor Brown took the play from house to house on Bonfire Night and were rewarded with money. Despite
2232-588: A rhyme which had been used as a prelude to the Papa Stour Sword Dance , Shetland in around 1788. It features seven characters, Saint George, Saint James, Saint Dennis, Saint David, Saint Patrick, Saint Anthony and Saint Andrew, the Seven Champions of Christendom . All the characters are introduced in turn by the Master, St. George. There is no real interplay between the characters and no combat or cure, so it
2325-593: A series of short speeches (usually in rhyming couplets) or they may introduce themselves in the course of the play's action. The principal characters, presented in a wide variety of manners, are a hero, most commonly Saint George , King George, or Prince George (but Robin Hood in the Cotswolds and Galoshin in Scotland), and his chief opponent (known as the Turkish Knight in southern England, but named Slasher elsewhere), and
2418-800: A stony texture when left in the well for an extended period of time. Examples in England include Mother Shipton's Cave in Knaresborough and Matlock Bath in Derbyshire . Mummers%27 play Mummers' plays are folk plays performed by troupes of amateur actors, traditionally all male, known as mummers or guisers (also by local names such as rhymers , pace-eggers , soulers , tipteerers , wrenboys , and galoshins ). Historically, mummers' plays consisted of informal groups of costumed community members that visited from house to house on various holidays. Today
2511-404: A term used to refer to male and female healers, magicians, conjurers, fortune-tellers, potion-makers, exorcists, or thieves. Such people were respected, feared and sometimes hunted for their breadth of knowledge which was suspected as supernatural. The wild hunt was a description of a menacing group of huntsmen which either rode across the sky or on lonely roads. Their presence was a hallmark of
2604-560: Is a combination of Odysseus ' Argos and Hades ' Cerberus from Greek mythology , and Fenrir from Norse mythology . The first collection of sightings of the black dog around Great Britain, Ethel Rudkin's 1938 article reports that the dog has black fur, abnormally large eyes, and a huge body. The black dog is a common motif in folklore and appears in many traditional English stories and tales. They often denote death and misfortune close at hand and appear and disappear into thin air. A boggart is, depending on local or regional tradition,
2697-528: Is a folk explanation of strange, flickering lights seen around marshes and bogs . Some perceive them as souls of unbaptized infants which lead travellers off the forest path and into danger, while others perceive them as trickster fairies or sprites . King Arthur is the legendary king of the Britons, the Once and Future King and True Born King of England. The origins of King Arthur and his exploits are vague due to
2790-486: Is depicted differently according to where he is engraved and who carves him; on a church he may symbolise either inspiration or lust, or he may symbolise an ancient protector of travellers in a forest. The phrase originated from 'whifflers' who dressed in leaves or hair to make way for processions during pageants from the 15th to 18th centuries. There was a belief that those born at the chime hours could see ghosts. The time differed according to region, usually based around
2883-493: Is from the mid- to late 18th century. Mummers' plays should not be confused with the earlier mystery plays . Mumming spread from the British Isles to a number of former British colonies. Ireland has its own unique history of mummers' play, and adopted the term for the tradition from the English language. The word mummer is sometimes explained to derive from Middle English mum ("silent") or Greek mommo ("mask"), but
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2976-633: Is more likely to be associated with Early New High German mummer ("disguised person", attested in Johann Fischart ) and vermummen ("to wrap up, to disguise, to mask one's face"), which itself is derived from or came to be associated with mummen (first attested already in Middle High German by a prohibition in Mühlhausen , Thuringia , 1351) and mum(en)schanz , ( Hans Sachs , Nuremberg , 16th century), these latter words originally referring to
3069-411: Is more of a "calling-on song" than a play. Some of the characters dance solos as they are introduced, then all dance a longsword dance together, which climaxes with their swords being meshed together to form a "shield". They each dance with the shield upon their head, then it is laid on the floor and they withdraw their swords to finish the dance. St. George makes a short speech to end the performance. In
3162-599: Is set around a particular version of the Guiser play / Sword Dance, the fictional "Dance of the Five Sons", performed on the "Sword Wednesday" of the Winter Solstice . The characters used in that dance are describes in great detail, in particular "The Fool", "The Hobbyhorse" and "The teaser" (called "Betty"). George RR Martin 's A Song of Ice and Fire often features and references mummers, with characters regularly referring to
3255-402: Is unknown). Robin Hood was a vicious outlaw who expressed the working-class' disenchantment with the status quo. Through Robin Hood, the forest (called the "greenwood" by folklorists) transformed from the dangerous, mystical battleground of Arthur to a site of sanctuary, comradery, and lawlessness. Rather than a philanthropic thief of the rich, Robin Hood's tales began in the 15th century as
3348-467: The Green Man and Black Shuck . These tales and traditions have been shaped by the historical experiences of the English people, influenced by the various cultures that have settled in England over centuries, including Celtic , Roman , Anglo-Saxon , Norse , and Norman elements. The stories within English folklore often convey themes of justice, loyalty, bravery, and the supernatural, and often contain
3441-545: The Pendle witches . During the Renaissance in the 16th century, England looked to more European texts to develop a national identity. English folklore has continued to differ according to region, although there are shared elements across the country. The folktales, characters and creatures are often derived from aspects of English experience, such as topography , architecture , real people, or real events. English folklore has had
3534-637: The Scottish Storytelling Centre . In 2019 they performed at the Scots Music School in Barga , Italy. First recorded in 1832, the Manx White Boys play features a song and a sword dance at its conclusion. Although the key traditional characters include St. George, St. Patrick and others, modern versions frequently adapt the play to contemporary political concerns. Characters featured since
3627-669: The Wild Hunt which originates from wider Europe, and Herne the Hunter which relates to the Germanic deity Woden . The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance may represent a pre-Christian festival and the practice of Well dressing in the Peak District , which may date back to Anglo-Saxon or even Celtic times. May Day celebrations such as the Maypole survive across much of England and Northern Europe . Christmas practices such as decorating trees ,
3720-463: The myths and legends of England , including the region's mythical creatures , traditional recipes , urban legends , proverbs , superstitions , dance , balladry , and folktales that have been passed down through generations, reflecting the cultural heritage of the country. This body of folklore includes a diverse array of characters, such as heroic figures like Beowulf or Robin Hood , legendary kings like Arthur , and mythical creatures like
3813-465: The "Lady bright and gay"). Tradition has it that ploughboys would take their plays from house to house and perform in exchange for money or gifts, some teams pulling a plough and threatened to plough up people's front gardens or path if they did not pay up. Examples of the play have been found in Denmark since the late 1940s. Around Sheffield and in nearby parts of northern Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire
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3906-453: The 18th century, had lost its association with gambling and dice. Other than this association there is no clear evidence linking these late medieval and early modern customs with English mumming. Although there are earlier hints (such as a fragmentary speech by St George from Exeter , Devon, which may date from 1737, although published in 1770), the earliest complete text of the "Doctor" play appears to be an undated chapbook of Alexander and
3999-399: The 1950s, A.L. Taylor collected surviving fragments of seasonal Scottish folk plays he described as "Galoshens" or "Galatians". Later, Emily Lyle recorded the oral history of fourteen people from the lowlands of Scotland recounting their memories of "Galoshin" dramas. Galoshin is the hero in a drama in the tradition of Robin Hood plays. Building on this research, Brian Hayward investigated
4092-628: The 1990s include Sir MHK, Sir Banker, Expert and Estate Agent. A a book on the White Boys compiled and edited by Stephen Miller was published in 2010; "Who wants to see the White Boys act?" The Mumming Play in the Isle of Man: A Compendium of Sources . It continues to be performed on the Saturday before Christmas each year. In Philadelphia every New Year's Day there is a Mummers' Day Parade that showcases pageantry and creativity. This grand parade has history in
4185-507: The Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador around Christmas. Mumming was used as a means of entertaining at feasts and functions, particular mention is made of one feast where 150 torch bearers lead the same number of mummers in, who would do acrobatics in a variety of costumes, including animal costumes. At certain feast days (e.g. saint's days), a lot of the populace would put on masks, and in practices that vary with geography, celebrate
4278-516: The English revival in the 19th century. During the English folksong revival , English artists scrambled to compose a national identity consisting of England's past folksongs and their contemporary musical influences. Authors such as Francis James Child , Arthur Hugh Clough , and Chaucer made English folksong supranational due to the willingness to import other languages' words, pronunciations, and metres. Other examples of non-Christian influences include
4371-457: The French king Francis I was residing at Angers , an Englishman ( ain Engellender ) wearing a mask and accompanied by other masked persons paid a visit to the king and offered him a momschanz (a game of dice). While mum(en)schanz was played not only by masked persons, and not only during carnival, the German word mummenschanz nevertheless took on the meaning "costume, masquerade" and, by
4464-502: The Grimm brothers collected were integrated into the English school curriculum throughout the 19th century as educators of morality. Although English folklore has many influences, its largest are Christian, Celtic and Germanic. Non-Christian influences also defined English folklore up to the eleventh century, such as in their folksongs, celebrations and folktales. An example is the 305 ballads collected by Francis James Child published during
4557-1277: The King of Egypt , published by John White (d. 1769) in Newcastle upon Tyne between 1746 and 1769. The fullest early version of a mummers' play text is probably the 1779 "Morrice Dancers'" play from Revesby, Lincolnshire. The full text ("A petygree of the Plouboys or modes dancers songs") is available online. Although performed at Christmas, this text is a forerunner of the East Midlands Plough Monday ( see below ) plays. A text from Islip, Oxfordshire , dates back to 1780. A play text which had, until recently, been attributed to Mylor in Cornwall (much quoted in early studies of folk plays, such as The Mummers Play by R. J. E. Tiddy – published posthumously in 1923 – and The English Folk-Play (1933) by E. K. Chambers) has now been shown, by genealogical and other research, to have originated in Truro , Cornwall, around 1780. A play from an unknown locality in Cheshire , close to
4650-486: The adventures of its titular character, prince Beowulf of Geats . The story goes that Beowulf slays Grendel , a monster who has tormented the hall of Hrothgar King of the Danes for twelve years. Grendel's mother seeks to gain revenge and Beowulf slays her also, after which Beowulf becomes king of the Danes himself. After 50 years, Beowulf's people are tormented by a dragon and Beowulf dies while slaying her. Original speculation
4743-472: The air, and demanding free drinks in taverns, and generally challenging middle and upper-class notions of order and decorum. Unable to suppress the custom, by the 1880s the city government began to pursue a policy of co-option, requiring participants to join organized groups with designated leaders who had to apply for permits and were responsible for their groups actions. By 1900, these groups formed part of an organized, city-sanctioned parade with cash prizes for
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#17328520777854836-447: The begging done for some charity rather than for the mummers themselves. Although the main season for mumming throughout Britain was around Christmas, some parts of England had plays performed around All Souls' Day (known as Souling or soul-caking ) or Easter ( Pace-egging or Peace-egging ). In north-eastern England the plays are traditionally associated with Sword dances or Rapper dances . In some parts of Britain and Ireland
4929-475: The best performances. About 15,000 mummers now perform in the parade each year. They are organized into four distinct types of troupes: Comics, Fancies, String Bands , and Fancy Brigades. All dress in elaborate costumes. There is a Mummers Museum dedicated to the history of Philadelphia Mummers. Thomas Hardy 's novel The Return of the Native (1878) has a fictional depiction of a mummers' play on Edgon Heath. It
5022-507: The border with Wales , dates from before 1788. Chapbook versions of The Christmas Rhime or The Mummer's Own Book were published in Belfast , c.1803-1818. A mummers' play from Ballybrennan, County Wexford , Ireland, dating from around 1817–18, was published in 1863. It is from the 19th century that the bulk of recorded texts derive. Mumming, at any rate in the South of England, had its heyday at
5115-400: The branches of trees about to bloom to symbolise the birth of new life. Eventually the flowers were replaced with ribbons and May day became a day for celebration and dancing in which a May queen and sometimes a May king would be crowned to also symbolise fertility. A parish ale is a type of party in the parish usually held to fundraise money for a particular purpose. Plough Monday
5208-624: The countryside by digging into the ground and sometimes filling it in with a mineral of a contrasting colour. Examples are the Cerne Abbas Giant , the Uffington White Horse , and the Long Man of Wilmington and are the focus for folktales and beliefs. The Green Man is a description originating in 1939 which describes the engraved sculpture of a face with leaves growing from it in English architecture. His presence symbolises nature, but he
5301-404: The day. One practice in example was for a group to visit a local manor, and 'sing out' the lord. If the lord couldn't match verse for verse the singing group (alternating verses), then that lord would have to provide amenities. The formation of roving mumming groups became a popular practice so common it became associated with criminal or lewd behaviour, as the use of masks allowed anonymity; in
5394-495: The early 19th century, it coalesced with two other New Year customs, shooting firearms, and the Pennsylvania German custom of "belsnickling" (adults in masks questioning children about whether they had been good during the previous year). Through the 19th century, large groups of disguised (often in blackface ) working class young men roamed the streets on New Year's Day, organizing "riotous" processions, firing weapons into
5487-636: The early 20th century, but appears to have continued despite this condemnation. In 1935, the Carne Mummers were arrested for their street performance under the Dance Halls Act. In Fingal, the modern form of mummering was re-established by the Fingal Mummers in the 1980s, and is now documented as part of Ireland's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage . A festival is held each October in Fingal by
5580-501: The early use of the term "mumming" appears to refer specifically to a performance of dicing with the host for costly jewels, after which the mummers would join the guests for dancing, an event recorded in 1377 when 130 men on horseback went "mumming" to the Prince of Wales, later Richard II . According to German and Austrian sources dating from the 16th century, during carnival persons wearing masks used to make house-to-house visits offering
5673-494: The end of the 19th century and the earliest years of the 20th century. Most traditional mummers groups (known as "sides") stopped with the onset of the First World War, but not before they had come to the attention of folklorists. In the second half of the 20th century many groups were revived, mostly by folk music and dance enthusiasts. The revived plays are frequently taken around inns and public houses around Christmas time and
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#17328520777855766-410: The folktale types of English folklore. Dragons are giant winged reptiles that breathe fire, poison and acid. They are usually associated with treasure rooms, waterfalls, and hollowed out tree stumps. A Wyvern is a smaller relative of dragons with two legs rather than four. It also has smaller wings and cannot breathe fire. The black dog is a creature which foreshadows calamity or causes it. It
5859-511: The frequent presence of Saint George, the Dragon rarely appears although it is often mentioned. A dragon seems to have appeared in the Revesby Ploughboys' Play in 1779, along with a "wild worm" (possibly mechanical), but it had no words. In the few instances where the dragon appears and speaks its words can be traced back to a Cornish script published by William Sandys in 1833. In 1418 a law
5952-685: The geographical distribution of the play in Scotland, and published Galoshins: the Scottish Folk Play , which includes several maps showing the locations where each version was performed. These are or were largely across the Central Belt of Scotland, with a strange and unexplained "outlier" at Ballater in Aberdeenshire. The Meadows Mummers are an all-female troupe who perform at local festivals inspired by both these writers, and by folk play workshops at
6045-406: The harvest, or a way to mock nearby farms which had not yet collected their harvest. There has been a recent resurgence in their creation led by Minnie Lambeth in the 1950s and 1960s through her book A Golden Dolly: The Art, Mystery, and History of Corn Dollies . A superstition among children was that, if the first word uttered in the month was " Rabbit !", then that person would have good luck for
6138-427: The homes of their friends and neighbours. They would at times cover their faces with a hood, scarf, mask or pillowcase to keep their identity hidden. In keeping with the theme of an inversion of rules, and of disguise, crossdressing was a common strategy, and men would sometimes dress as women and women as men. Travelling from house to house, some mummers would carry their own musical instruments to play, sing and dance in
6231-649: The house if their gifts are called payments, or if the owners of the house misuse them. Brownies make their homes in an unused part of the house. A dwarf is a human-shaped entity that dwells in mountains and in the earth, and is associated with wisdom, smithing, mining, and crafting. The term had only started to be used in the 19th century as a translation for the German, French, and Scandinavian words which describe dwarfs. Ogres are usually tall, strong, violent, greedy, and remarkably dull monsters and they originate from French culture. In folktales they are likely to be defeated by being outsmarted. The Will-o'-the-wisp
6324-402: The houses they visited. The host and hostess of these 'mummers parties' would serve a small lunch which could consist of Christmas cake with a glass of syrup or blueberry or dogberry wine. Some mummers would drink a Christmas "grog" before they leave each house, a drink of an alcoholic beverage such as rum or whiskey. One important part of the custom was a guessing game to determine the identity of
6417-685: The many reproductions of his character. The Historia Brittonum and the Annales Cambriae reference many battles of an Arthur, Annales Cambriae also referencing Mordred , a rival, and Merlin , a wise mentor. Although these sources have been used as proof for Arthur's origins, their credibility has been disputed as mythology rather than history. As English folklore has progressed, King Arthur's retellings have been classified into romances such as Malory 's Morte Darthur , chronicles such as Geoffrey 's Historia Regum Britanniae , and fantasies such as Culhwch ac Olwen (whose author
6510-694: The old world, and performances in Philadelphia began in the year 1900. The parade traces back to mid-17th-century roots, blending elements from Swedish, Finnish, Irish, English, German, and other European heritages, as well as African heritage. The parade is related to the Mummers' Play tradition from Britain and Ireland. Revivals of this tradition are still celebrated annually in South Gloucestershire, England on Boxing Day along with other locations in England and in parts of Ireland on St. Stephen's Day and also in
6603-571: The other traditions such as wrenboys . The main characters are usually the Captain, Beelzebub , Saint Patrick , Prince George, Oliver Cromwell , The Doctor and Miss Funny. The tradition of the mummers' play is still present in areas of Ireland including County Fermanagh , County Tyrone , County Wexford , and the Fingal area of County Dublin . The practice was discouraged by the Catholic Church in
6696-674: The people of England continued to be passed down through oral tradition . During the Renaissance , artists captured these customs in the written word; such as Shakespearean plays' reflections of English folklore through their witches, fairies, folk medicine, marriage and funeral customs, superstitions, and religious beliefs. The Grimm brothers' publications such as German Legends and Grimms' Fairy Tales were translated from their original German and distributed across Europe in 1816. Their stories inspired publishers such as William Thoms to compile legends from within English folklore and without to compose an English identity. The stories that
6789-401: The perception of the countryside as a wild and mystical place. On May Day , the first day of May, a tall, decorated pole is put up as a symbol of fertility called a maypole . The maypole may represents a phallic object impregnating the earth at the end of spring to ensure a bountiful summer, but this association is very late. The maypoles were decorated originally with flowers and carved from
6882-475: The plays are traditionally performed on or near Plough Monday . These are therefore known as Plough plays and the performers as Plough-jags , Plough-jacks , Plough-bullocks , Plough-stots or Plough witches . The Plough plays of the East Midlands of England (principally Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire ) feature several different stock characters (including a Recruiting Sergeant, Tom Fool, Dame Jane and
6975-431: The region of their origin, these motifs are such that there is a national identity of folktales through which these regions have interacted. There are likely many characters and stories that have never been recorded and hence were forgotten, but these folktales and their evolutions were often a product of contemporary figures, places, or events local to specific regions. The below are only a small fraction of examples from
7068-485: The rest of the month. Variants include: "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!", "rabbit, rabbit, white rabbit!", and "white rabbit!". After a person died, a poor person was hired to take on their sins by eating before or after the funeral over their body- a sin-eater . The sin-eater would hence ensure that the recently deceased would be taken to heaven. Sir Francis Drake's Drum is a legend about the drum of an English admiral who raided Spanish treasure fleets and Spanish ports. He
7161-534: The significance of holly , and Christmas carolling were born from the desire to escape from the harshness of winter around Europe. These combine to form a folklore which teaches that, through an upright and virtuous character, a person can achieve a successful life. Lullabies , songs, dances, games, folktales, and superstitions all imparted a religious and moral education, and form a person's sense of justice and Christianity. Children's games would often contain counting songs or gamifications of manners to ensure that
7254-564: The term refers especially to a play in which a number of characters are called on stage, two of whom engage in a combat, the loser being revived by a doctor character. This play is sometimes found associated with a sword dance though both also exist in Britain independently. Plays may be performed in the street or during visits to houses and pubs . They are generally performed seasonally, often at Christmas , Easter or on Plough Monday , more rarely on Halloween or All Souls' Day , and often with
7347-400: The time of Henry VIII, it was banned for a period. On documents such as receipts and bills from the late medieval, come details of mumming parties organised by English monarchs, Henry VIII being known for taking his court mumming incognito. Later, Henry would ban social mumming, and bring the 'masque' form of entertainment to England. " Mummering " is a Newfoundland custom that dates back to
7440-479: The time of the earliest settlers who came from England and Ireland. It shares common antecedents with the Mummers' Play tradition, but in its current form is primarily a house-visiting tradition. Sometime during the Twelve Days of Christmas, usually on the night of the "Old Twelfth" (17 January; equivalent to 6 January in the old Julian calendar ), people would disguise themselves with old articles of clothing and visit
7533-399: The times of monk's prayer which were sometimes marked by a chime. Crop circles are formations of flattened cereal. While they have been speculated to have mysterious and often extraterrestrial origins, most crop circles have been proven to be hoaxes. Those made by Doug Bower and Dave Chorley across England in 1991 have since started chains of copycats around the world. Cunning folk was
7626-482: The visitors. As each mummer was identified, they would uncover their faces, but if their true identity is not guessed they did not have to unmask. The Mummers Festival takes place throughout December and includes workshops on how to make hobby horses and wren sticks . Mummers' plays were performed in Philadelphia in the 18th century as part of a wide variety of working-class street celebrations around Christmas. By
7719-480: The youngest mummer in the group, first asks for food and then more urgently for money. Johnny Jack's wife and family were either dolls in a model house or sometimes a picture. Mummers and "guisers" (performers in disguise) can be traced back at least to 1296, when the festivities for the marriage of Edward I's daughter at Christmas included "mummers of the court" along with "fiddlers and minstrels". These "revels" and "guisings" may have been an early form of masque and
7812-531: Was a custom in which, on the first Monday after Christmas , men visited people's doorsteps at night and asked for a token for the holiday. They carried whips and a makeshift plough and dug up the house's doorstep or scraper if the house refused to give them an item. Corn dollies are a form of straw work made as part of harvest customs of Europe before the First World War . Their use varied according to region: it may have been decorative, an image of pride for
7905-432: Was based on the author's childhood experiences. Leo Tolstoy 's novel War and Peace (1869) has a depiction of mummers, including Nikolai Rostov , Natasha Rostova , and Sonya Rostova , making house-to-house visits. They are depicted as a boisterous crowd dancing and laughing in outrageous costumes where men are dressed as women and women are dressed as men. Ngaio Marsh 's detective story Off with His Head (1957)
7998-498: Was believed to have white magic which enabled him to turn into a dragon (as hinted by his name, Drake meaning dragon in Latin). When he died, the drum which he brought on his voyage around the world was sung about- that in England's peril, they could strike it and he would come to their aid. Eventually the legend evolved to be that the drum would strike itself in England's peril, and it has been heard struck since. A hagstone , also called
8091-524: Was confined to her chambers until death and roamed the halls of Raynham , named after the brown brocade she wears. Differing versions of the story attest that she was locked in by her husband, Lord Townsend, or by the Countess of Wharton. The Legend of the Mistletoe Bough is a ghost story which has been associated with many mansions and stately homes in England. The tale describes how a new bride, playing
8184-670: Was founded in the year 927, Wessex and its surrounding areas' cultures were transformed by the invasion of the Danish King Guthrum between 865 and 878. The king of Wessex , King Alfred , prevailed against King Guthrum's troops in 878 and King Guthrum was baptised and became the ruler of East Anglia . This continued the process of the assimilation of Norse words into the English language. Eventually English folklore melded with Norse traditions such as in their iconography , which became more Greek, and in their clothing and folktales which adopted more Nordic elements. The folklore of
8277-760: Was killed by a Butcher, and sometimes another boy held a basin to catch the "blood". There is a Sheffield version where the Tup is killed and then brought back to life by the Doctor. This is the main play performed by the Northstow Mummers based in Cambridge . An ' Owd 'Oss play (Old Horse), another dramatised folksong in Yorkshire, was also known from roughly the same area, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, around Christmas. The custom persisted until at least 1970, when it
8370-480: Was passed in London forbidding in the city "mumming, plays, interludes or any other disguisings with any feigned beards, painted visors, deformed or coloured visages in any wise, upon pain of imprisonment". Mumming was a way of raising money and the play was taken round the big houses. Most Southern English versions end with the entrance of "Little Johnny Jack his wife and family on his back". Johnny, traditionally played by
8463-468: Was performed in private houses and pubs in Dore on New Year's Day . A group of men accompanied a hobby horse (either a wooden head, with jaws operated by strings, or a real horse's skull, painted black and red, mounted on a wooden pole so that its snapping jaws could be operated by a man stooping under a cloth to represent the horse's body) and sang a version of The Old Horse or Poor Old Horse , which describes
8556-404: Was that Beowulf was a Scandinavian epic translated to English, theorised due to the story's Scandinavian settings. However, Beowulf was cemented as an Old English epic through the study that heroes of folklore are not ordinarily natives of the country they save. The Brown Lady of Raynham is a story of the ghost of a woman of Norfolk , Lady Dorothy Walpole. After her adultery was discovered, she
8649-530: Was the belief that the boggart should never be named, for when the boggart was given a name, it could not be reasoned with nor persuaded, but would become uncontrollable and destructive. A brownie is a type of hob (household spirit), similar to a hobgoblin . Brownies are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house. However, they do not like to be seen and will only work at night, traditionally in exchange for small gifts or food. Among food, they especially enjoy porridge and honey. They usually abandon
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