Old Horse
Old Horse was a folk custom found in an area of north-eastern England. Geographically, the custom was found on the borders of Derbyshire and Yorkshire and stretched into part of Nottinghamshire. The tradition entails the use of a hobby horse that is mounted on a pole and carried by an individual hidden under a sackcloth. It represents a regional variation of a "hooded animal" tradition that appears in various forms throughout the British Isles. In geographical location and style it displays strong similarities with the Old Tup custom, but in the latter the hobby horses was presented as a goat rather than a horse.
The custom is similar to that of the Old Tup, which was largely found in the same area of England.[1] In Derbyshire, the two customs are often recorded as existing in the same village.[1]
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b Cawte 1978, p. 117.
Bibliography
- Cawte, E. C. (1978). Ritual Animal Disguise: A Historical and Geographical Study of Animal Disguise in the British Isles. Cambridge and Totowa: D.S. Brewer Ltd. and Rowman and Littlefield for the Folklore Society. ISBN 978-0-8599-1028-6.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
- Hutton, Ronald (1996). The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1982-0570-8.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)