ABBOTS BROMLEY HORN DAY REVISITED
by Sarah Eykyn
(Folklorist, Traditional Singer and Artistic Director to Mr. Fox)

Although F&F is primarily about storytelling we occasionally broaden our range to include other aspects of folklore - ballads, songs, traditions etc.

This is a story about a story and, as with many stories, the opening line is "once upon a time…" But, this once upon a time is lost in the distant past.

The date is Monday 11th September, or as better known in Abbots Bromley terms, the Monday after the first Sunday after the 4th September. The time is five a.m. as we stagger out of bed to make our pilgrimage south. The morning is slightly misty and has the feel and smell of early autumn. Somewhere, a bonfire is smouldering and and the slightly bitter smell fills the air. Half awake, we stumble into the car to travel back in time.

We leave the A38 at Burton on Trent and head west. Pockets of mist fill the dips in the road and hide the woods. And, at this time in the morning, we hardly pass another vehicle. As we arrive in the village the sun breaks through and illuminates a group of men, boys and young girls gathered outside the church. They are dressed in what might best be described as Merry England costumes and at their feet are six sets of Reindeer Horns, six white and six dark brown. As well as the Horn Bearers there are two musicians, a man-woman, a triangle player, a boy with a bow and arrow, and - last, but not least - a Hobby Horse.

Suddenly comes the shout of "off", the horns are shouldered and the dancers start off at a fine pace down the village weaving their serpentine way through the new estates and out into the country where they wind their way between hedgerows hanging heavy with blackberries, rose hips and honeysuckle. At set spots they stop at welcoming houses and farms for "refreshment" and, in return, do their set dance, often involving members of the household. My favourite stop is at Yeatsall Farm, where the very hospitable farmer feeds and waters (or rather beers), not only the performers, but the followers as well!

At lunchtime the dance arrives at Bagot Hall where the performance is seen by the Lady Bagot and the Great and the Good on the lawn. The public, (or, as we were previously known, the peasants) are kept outside, restricted by the hah-hah and the Game Keeper at the gate!

At about three o'clock the dance returns to the village, where the stops are at the (many) pubs, and the landlords and landladies are pressed to carry the horns. The route is followed right through until eight o'clock when the Horns are hung up in the church for another year.

Much has been written about the dance and its history but, when it comes down to it, very little is known. Fact —a set of horns have been carbon dated and are known to be at least 900 years old. Fact — a Hobby Horse at Abbots Bromley was recorded by Dr. Plot in his Natural History of Staffordshire published in 1686. Fact — the dance is in the care of the Fowell family. This year was Doug Fowell's seventieth year of involvement. There is no dialogue. None of the elements are introduced and the music is at the whim of the musician. He plays what he feels like and he often feels like Putting on the Style, When There Isn't a Girl About, Blue Suede Shoes… If you ask the dancers why they do it as often as not the reply you get is "because we do". They are not bound up with "the story" and seem to get a great deal of fun from hearing the interpretations visitors in for the day put on the event.

For me, the joy of Horn Day is the opportunity to be part of this never-ending story. To watch it change and develop over the years. To be a fly on the wall and listen to the "newcomers" and to hear their need to have a reason for every step, for every stop. To me the dance is what I see — what I make of it. It's all about interpretation within one's own mind and creating one's own story from this beautiful, quintessentially English, custom.

So Tellers all, set aside the date next year - go and be part of the story and make of it what you will. And, don't forget, it's the Monday after the first Sunday after the 4th September and the Horns come out at 7:45am (unless one of the bearers has overslept!)

See you in Abbots Bromley?

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Researching this subject is full of false leads and wild statements. We read that it was ‘performed at the Barthelmy Fair in August 1226’ but also that Robert Plot’s description of this event in 1686 is ‘the earliest written record of the Morrice’ in England. James Fowell, the leader in 1954, when asked How old is the custom? said: “I’d say older than history. These are reindeer horns so they must go back before 1066.”

I don’t know when wild reindeer last lived in Britain (I know they’ve been re-introduced) but 1066 seems a strange date to pluck out of history, but the horns have been carbon dated to the 8-11th century CE. Whether it’s possible to tell if they were British reindeer or imported I don’t know?

Plot described the event as ‘a sort of sport’ celebrated at Christmas, New Year and Twelfth Day and that could be very relevant to its beginnings. It was not until the very end of the 19th century that it became established on its current date to fit in with the Wakes.

Dressing up as animals, particularly horned ones, has long been associated with the Christmas/New Year period. In the seventh century St Aldhelm is reported to have been horrified by revellers wearing animal costumes, especially stags and around 700 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore, in his Penitential book, stipulates: 'To those who go about at the Kalends of January garbed as a stag or an old woman, taking the form of beasts, clad in the skin of beasts and assuming the heads of beasts; who transform themselves into animals, three years penance, for the thing is devilish.'

Interestingly, in neighbouring Derbyshire another Christmas custom with a horned beast—the Derby Ram—also continues to exist. Again it is described as ‘unique’ but could they have a common origin in a far older and more widespread custom?
The closest parallel to the horn dance is a ‘hart dance’ noted in Iceland in the 17th century. There the men wore horns surmounted with burning candles. Could that be a clue to a Scandinavian origin? The Derby Ram custom is paralleled in Transylvania using a goat.

A special tune for the horn dance, known as ‘the old tune’ was collected by Cecil Sharp and published in his Sword Dances of Northern England in 1911 but it was always played alongside a mixture of well-known airs and at some time it dropped out of favour so who is to say how specific to the custom it was.

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