Today the Minehead Hobby Horse sleeps until next year
May Day is one of the biggest events in the English folklore calender, with all sorts of great events going on around the country - from maypole dancing to music and bonfires. This day has a special significance in Minehead, Somerset, as the morning echoes with drumbeats and a strange creature stirrs. The Hobby Horse (or 'Oss, if you're from the area) is a man dressed in a large clothed frame and wearing a colourful yet grotesque mask, who dances through the streets with an entourage of musicians, collecting money from passers-by and whipping those who don't cough up with his rope tail.
Historians and folklorists are unsure of how the tradition originated, but it has commonly been put down to being a commemoration ceremony of a wrecked ship. However other hypotheses include the Horse being an attempt to ward off Viking invaders, or even a phantom ship that came to the harbour without a crew or captain. The tradition can be traced back to 1792 from records in Dunster Castle.
The Hobby Horse dances through the streets for three days until on the 3rd May when the celebration culminates in a game where spectators must escape the Horse's tail whip.
Historians and folklorists are unsure of how the tradition originated, but it has commonly been put down to being a commemoration ceremony of a wrecked ship. However other hypotheses include the Horse being an attempt to ward off Viking invaders, or even a phantom ship that came to the harbour without a crew or captain. The tradition can be traced back to 1792 from records in Dunster Castle.
The Hobby Horse dances through the streets for three days until on the 3rd May when the celebration culminates in a game where spectators must escape the Horse's tail whip.
That Minehead horse is brilliant - I came across it in the best possible way - as a child on holiday with my dad, when not expecting it at all - we had cycled into Minehead and where going to go to a cafe for something chocolate to refuel - then met the Os. As I remember it wasn't doing the whole music and prancing and whipping routine, just walking along with a couple of burly mates - there was no crowd at all - this was in the 1980's... I loved that we saw it like that - no plan, no expectation, just a weird folk activity that lived on in my memory and marked out Minehead as 'cool'. The chocolate sundae was good as well. (I also remember a boat museum and being shown around by a slightly distant fat bearded fisherman - fitted how I though the world should be, dark and edgy in my mind - and full of chocolate.)
ReplyDeleteThat sounds brilliant, Ent. I'd really like to go and see the 'Oss sometime and avoid its whipping tail. Thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteScott