Three hares sharing three ears,Yet every one of them has two (Ancient German riddle) Before the three hares made their way onto my new T-Shirt,T-which I bought at the Hastings Jack in the Green Festival, May 2022, they had a very long and curious journey through history. The earliest motif of
What is the song about? The Girl I Left Behind Me (Brighton Camp) is sung by a soldier going to war, who remembers the beautiful girl whom he left back home, hoping to return to her soon. Where did it start? As with many folk songs, no one knows for
Today we hang out the Union Jack, dress up and sing patriotic songs – it VE Day! Unlike Russia, which celebrates Victory Day on 9th May, here it is commemorated on the 8th. It was on this day 75 years ago that Winston Churchill officially announced on the radio that
With the sun shining brightly, today is the day to welcome the summer! People have been celebrating this since the Roman times. Floralia, a Roman festival lasting a week around this time, celebrated Flora, the goddess of flowers and fruit, with theatrical performances, spectacles, throwing beans and seeds and hares
We were very lucky yesterday to see a performance by Croxley Mummers. A Mummers’ play is a long standing English tradition of amateur actors performing short plays, often associated with Morris dancing, at festivals, events, pubs or even people’s homes. Traditionally there are two opponents having a fight, and the doctor
The weekend of 1 -2 July 2017 saw the little Norfolk Town of Sheringham bustling with folk dance performances. It all started in the 1990s, when the local Morris Dance group the Sheringham Lobster Potties started an annual festival with just a few visiting sides (a Morris dance group is
Going round stately homes on a fine holiday weekend you can come across Jousting – re-enactment of knights in colourful armour tackling each other on horseback. This has been a popular summer theatrical entertainment from 1970s. During Middle Ages jousting had a practical purpose – preparing knights (and their horses)
