This book looks at the role of the hero in folklore, ranging from the complex figure of St George to the early heroes of the Old Testament and the West Indian trickster Anansi. The hero is considered not only as a warrior, but as a man possessed. Ideas in difference cultures about the exceptional and...
“a turning point in folklore studies which showed how much could be learned from a systematic investigation of historical evidence” Ronald Hutton, The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain The ‘Jack-in-the-Green’, a dancing figure in a foliage-covered wicker shell, is often centre-stage in contemporary May Day celebrations. Many have chosen...
Eddie Cass’s history of the Lancashire pace- or peace-egg play puts traditional drama into a regional and social context. Pace egging is related to other popular hero-combat plays, but unusually is associated with Easter, not Christmas. Diffused through Lancashire’s burgeoning mill towns in the early nineteenth century, in part by chapbooks, the play was performed...
The pace-egg play is similar to other forms of English traditional drama, but uniquely, it occurs at Easter, rather than Christmas. This book supplements Dr Cass’s The Lancashire Pace-Egg Play in that it deals with the one area of west Yorkshire in which this Easter play was widely known. It covers the history of the...
What is Molly dancing? What did it look like? Who performed it and why? Truculent Rustics shows how Molly dancing developed from Plough Monday and other wintertime communal celebrations. It was boisterous, even riotous, combining elements of rough music, alms-seeking, and guising. An appendix gives details of known troops of Molly dancers, their home village,...
Why is it that imagination seems to run wild where wart-cures are concerned, and why is it that even in the 1990s there are wart-charmers who claim success with both people and animals? In a recent survey of members of the Folklore Society, the variety of wart remedies reported was very surprising. The present leaflet...