Haxey Hood
Encyclopedia
The Haxey Hood is a traditional event in at the village of Haxey
in North Lincolnshire
, England
, on the afternoon of 6 January, the Twelfth Day
of Christmas (though if this falls on a Sunday, it is held on 5 January).
It is a kind of large rugby football scrum (called the "sway"), which pushes a leather tube (called the "hood") to 1 of 4 pubs, where it remains until the following year's game.
and the resulting chase, that she donated 13 acres (53,000 m²) of land on condition that the chase for the hood would be re-enacted each year. This re-enactment over the centuries has become known as "The Haxey Hood"
jan2007.jpg)
In folklore
, when a custom is too old for its origins to be remembered, a story is often devised to rationalise what would otherwise be baffling. However the ‘official’ story of the Hood's origins are not that unlikely. There are parallels between the Hood and bog burials in Europe. The game takes place on the border of bogs where naturally-preserved mummies of prehistoric sacrifices have been found.
The nobles mentioned in the story did exist. Records show that John De Mowbray (29 November 1310 - 4 October 1361), the 3rd Baron Mowbray of Axholme, would be the most likely candidate for the husband of the lady. This would date the Hood to about 1359 when a deed granting land to commoners was enacted by the baron. This would make the Hood around 650 years old, making it likely to be the oldest surviving tradition in England (after the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance
).
It has similarities to other village combats, such as Ashbourne's Royal Shrovetide Football
, the Shrove Tuesday Football Games in Sedgefield, Durham and Alnwick, Northumberland and the Hallaton Bottle Kicking contest in Leicestershire
.
Speculation regarding the hood having originally been the head or penis of a sacrificial animal used in a fertility ritual are just that - pure speculation. No evidence can be found for this yet this has not stopped this myth being repeated several times on the internet.
", "Cannons (Drink England Dry)" and "The Farmer's Boy". All wear their full festival costumes, the only exception being that the Fool's face is not marked.
At twelve noon work in the parish comes to a standstill and people start to make their way to Haxey village to gather and take part in the traditional ritual. At about 12:30 the officials start a tour of the ale houses involved, and drink free drinks at each pub, provided by the landlord as a token of good luck to try the bring the Hood its way. Many people follow this tour and consider it a vital part of the day. They start at the Carpenters Arms
where they sing the traditional folk songs and ceremoniously paint the Fool's face. Then they move to the Kings Arms and then up towards the church taking in the Loco and the Duke William on the way, drinking and singing as they go. Around 2:30pm the officials leave the Duke and process up to the church.
jan2007.jpg)
The Fool leads the procession and has the right to kiss any woman on the way. Once at the green in front of Parish Church, at around 2:30pm, the Fool makes his traditional speech of welcome standing on an old mounting block in front of the church known as the Mowbray Stone. During this speech a fire is lit with damp straw behind him. The smoke rises up and around him and this is known as ‘Smoking the Fool’. This is in fact a watered-down version of the earlier custom (abandoned at the beginning of the 20th century due to its obvious danger) in which a more substantial fire was lit with damp straw beneath a tree. The Fool was then suspended over the fire and swung back and forth until he was almost suffocated before being cut down and dropped into the fire, where he had to make his escape as best he could. At the end of the speech, the Fool finishes with the traditional words that the crowd chant along with him. They are:
The Towns being the villages of Westwoodside & Haxey, and Houses being the public houses (pubs) of those villages.
The pubs are:
After the speech, the Fool leads the crowd to the middle of a field where the game is to be played.
jan2007.jpg)
Haxey is a large parish
on the southern border of the Isle of Axholme
. It consists of the villages of Haxey and Westwoodside with the hamlets of High Burnham, Low Burnham, Eastlound and Graiselound. In earlier days, Westwoodside was divided into Park, Newbigg, Nethergate, Upperthorpe (or Overthorpe) and Commonside.
jan2007.jpg)
The thirteen characters from the original story are represented as follows: there is the Lord, the Fool and eleven Boggins, one of the Boggins being the chief Boggin.
The Lord and chief Boggin are dressed in hunting pink (red) coats and top hats decorated with flowers and badges. The Lord also carries his wand of office. This is a staff made from twelve willow wands with one more upside down in the centre. These are bound thirteen times with willow twigs and a red ribbon at the top. The thirteen willow wands are supposed to represent the twelve apostles and the upside down one represents Judas
. The staff is supposed to represent the sword and the blood from when the game was played with a bullock’s head after it had been slaughtered. The Fool has multi-coloured strips of material attached to his trousers and top. He wears a feathered hat decorated with flowers and rags, and his face is smeared with soot and red ochre. He carries a whip and sock filled with bran, with which he belabours anyone who comes within reach. The remaining ten Boggins wear red jumpers. The game is played by locals, although anyone can join in. There are no official teams, but everyone involved tries to push the Hood towards their favoured pub.
Proceedings start at 3pm with the throwing of twelve Sack Hoods. These are rolled hessian sacks sewn up to prevent them unrolling. This is a prequel to the main game, mainly for children. The youngsters in the crowd run for them when thrown and attempt to get them off the field. If they are tackled then they must immediately throw it in the air unless the challenger is a Boggin in which case the hood is ‘boggined’ and it is returned to the Lord who starts it off again.
The first two or three of these are stopped by the Boggins on the edge of the field and the hoods returned to the Lord. After a while the Boggins let the Sack Hoods be taken off the field in which case they can be returned later for a cash reward, currently two pounds.
After this bit of fun to warm up the crowd the Sway Hood is then thrown up in the air. The rugby type scrum (or Sway to give it its official title) then converges on the Hood and the game starts in earnest. The idea is to get the Sway Hood into one of the four pubs in either Haxey or Westwoodside.
The Hood, which cannot be thrown or run with, is moved slowly by 'swaying', that is pushing and pulling the Hood and people within the 'Sway' toward the direction of their pub. Although everyone is trying to push in a particular direction, there are no real organised teams. The Sway makes very slow progress, as it snakes around, stopping quite often when it collapses, in order to pull bodies out, that became crushed into the mud. Safety is of prime concern and the whole thing is supervised by the Boggins. The Lord is referee and sees that the game is played fairly. At any one time there are usually around 200 people in the Sway and about one thousand people watching. Games can last anything from a couple of hours onwards and have been known to go on well into the night. Everything in the path of the Sway goes down before it, including hedges and walls. Another of the Boggins' jobs is to stop the Sway destroying everything in its path.
Nobody parks on the roads where the Sway may go, and for good reason. In 2002, a couple of drivers parked opposite the Duke William. The Sway headed right for them and pushed one of the cars 10 feet down the road and into the other.
The game ends when the Hood arrives at one of the pubs and is touched by the landlord from his front step. The landlord then takes charge of the Hood for the year, and is supposed to give everyone a free drink. The winning pub pours beer over the Hood and then hangs it behind the bar (each pub has two hooks especially for this purpose). According to legend, it used to be roasted on a spit over the pub fire having been doused with ale, which was then drunk by those present.
The Hood hangs in the winning pub until New Year's Eve
when it is collected by the Boggins in time for the next game.
Haxey
Haxey is a village and civil parish within North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated to the northwest of the city of Lincoln and in 2001 had a total resident population of 4,359....
in North Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in the region of Yorkshire and the Humber in England. For ceremonial purposes it is part of Lincolnshire....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, on the afternoon of 6 January, the Twelfth Day
Twelfth Day
Twelfth Day is the twelfth and last day of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas which follow Christmas Day. In western Christianity it falls on 6 January, which is also the feast of the Epiphany....
of Christmas (though if this falls on a Sunday, it is held on 5 January).
It is a kind of large rugby football scrum (called the "sway"), which pushes a leather tube (called the "hood") to 1 of 4 pubs, where it remains until the following year's game.
History
The official story is that in the 14th century, Lady de Mowbray, wife of an Isle landowner, John De Mowbray, was out riding towards Westwoodside on the hill that separates it from Haxey. As she went over the hill her silk riding hood was blown away by the wind. Thirteen farm workers in the field rushed to help and chased the hood all over the field. It was finally caught by one of the farm workers, but being too shy to hand it back to the lady, he gave it to one of the others to hand back to her. She thanked the farm worker who had returned the hood and said that he had acted like a Lord, whereas the worker who had actually caught the hood was a Fool. So amused was she by this act of chivalryChivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...
and the resulting chase, that she donated 13 acres (53,000 m²) of land on condition that the chase for the hood would be re-enacted each year. This re-enactment over the centuries has become known as "The Haxey Hood"
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, when a custom is too old for its origins to be remembered, a story is often devised to rationalise what would otherwise be baffling. However the ‘official’ story of the Hood's origins are not that unlikely. There are parallels between the Hood and bog burials in Europe. The game takes place on the border of bogs where naturally-preserved mummies of prehistoric sacrifices have been found.
The nobles mentioned in the story did exist. Records show that John De Mowbray (29 November 1310 - 4 October 1361), the 3rd Baron Mowbray of Axholme, would be the most likely candidate for the husband of the lady. This would date the Hood to about 1359 when a deed granting land to commoners was enacted by the baron. This would make the Hood around 650 years old, making it likely to be the oldest surviving tradition in England (after the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance
Abbots Bromley Horn Dance
The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is an English folk dance involving reindeer antlers and a hobby horse that takes place each year in Abbots Bromley, a small village in Staffordshire, England.-Origins:...
).
It has similarities to other village combats, such as Ashbourne's Royal Shrovetide Football
Royal Shrovetide Football
The Royal Shrovetide Football Match occurs annually on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday in the town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire, England. It has been played since at least the 12th century, though the exact origins of the game are unknown due to a fire at the Royal Shrovetide Committee office in the...
, the Shrove Tuesday Football Games in Sedgefield, Durham and Alnwick, Northumberland and the Hallaton Bottle Kicking contest in Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
.
Speculation regarding the hood having originally been the head or penis of a sacrificial animal used in a fertility ritual are just that - pure speculation. No evidence can be found for this yet this has not stopped this myth being repeated several times on the internet.
Preparations
In the weeks before the event, the Fool and the Boggins tour nearby villages in order to collect money (traditionally to pay for the event, but now to raise money for local charities). Traditionally they sing a number of well-known folk songs including "John BarleycornJohn Barleycorn
"John Barleycorn" is an English folksong. The character of John Barleycorn in the song is a personification of the important cereal crop barley and of the alcoholic beverages made from it, beer and whisky...
", "Cannons (Drink England Dry)" and "The Farmer's Boy". All wear their full festival costumes, the only exception being that the Fool's face is not marked.
At twelve noon work in the parish comes to a standstill and people start to make their way to Haxey village to gather and take part in the traditional ritual. At about 12:30 the officials start a tour of the ale houses involved, and drink free drinks at each pub, provided by the landlord as a token of good luck to try the bring the Hood its way. Many people follow this tour and consider it a vital part of the day. They start at the Carpenters Arms
Carpenter Arms
Carpenters Arms is a common British pub name.The Carpenters Arms are today an unrelated series of public houses informally referred to as "Pubs" within the United Kingdom. Historically the first such named "Carpenter Arms" was based on a forfeit Carpenter Coat of Arms patent and supported by the...
where they sing the traditional folk songs and ceremoniously paint the Fool's face. Then they move to the Kings Arms and then up towards the church taking in the Loco and the Duke William on the way, drinking and singing as they go. Around 2:30pm the officials leave the Duke and process up to the church.
- "Hoose agen hoose, toon agen toon, if a man meets a man knock 'im doon, but doan't 'ot 'im"
The Towns being the villages of Westwoodside & Haxey, and Houses being the public houses (pubs) of those villages.
The pubs are:
- Carpenter's Arms - Newbigg, Westwoodside
- Duke William Hotel - Church St Haxey
- The Loco - 31 Church St, Haxey
- Kings Arms - Low St, Haxey
After the speech, the Fool leads the crowd to the middle of a field where the game is to be played.
Venue
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
on the southern border of the Isle of Axholme
Isle of Axholme
The Isle of Axholme is part of North Lincolnshire, England. It is the only part of Lincolnshire west of the River Trent. It is between the three towns of Doncaster, Scunthorpe and Gainsborough.- Description:...
. It consists of the villages of Haxey and Westwoodside with the hamlets of High Burnham, Low Burnham, Eastlound and Graiselound. In earlier days, Westwoodside was divided into Park, Newbigg, Nethergate, Upperthorpe (or Overthorpe) and Commonside.
Playing the game
The Lord and chief Boggin are dressed in hunting pink (red) coats and top hats decorated with flowers and badges. The Lord also carries his wand of office. This is a staff made from twelve willow wands with one more upside down in the centre. These are bound thirteen times with willow twigs and a red ribbon at the top. The thirteen willow wands are supposed to represent the twelve apostles and the upside down one represents Judas
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
. The staff is supposed to represent the sword and the blood from when the game was played with a bullock’s head after it had been slaughtered. The Fool has multi-coloured strips of material attached to his trousers and top. He wears a feathered hat decorated with flowers and rags, and his face is smeared with soot and red ochre. He carries a whip and sock filled with bran, with which he belabours anyone who comes within reach. The remaining ten Boggins wear red jumpers. The game is played by locals, although anyone can join in. There are no official teams, but everyone involved tries to push the Hood towards their favoured pub.
Proceedings start at 3pm with the throwing of twelve Sack Hoods. These are rolled hessian sacks sewn up to prevent them unrolling. This is a prequel to the main game, mainly for children. The youngsters in the crowd run for them when thrown and attempt to get them off the field. If they are tackled then they must immediately throw it in the air unless the challenger is a Boggin in which case the hood is ‘boggined’ and it is returned to the Lord who starts it off again.
The first two or three of these are stopped by the Boggins on the edge of the field and the hoods returned to the Lord. After a while the Boggins let the Sack Hoods be taken off the field in which case they can be returned later for a cash reward, currently two pounds.
After this bit of fun to warm up the crowd the Sway Hood is then thrown up in the air. The rugby type scrum (or Sway to give it its official title) then converges on the Hood and the game starts in earnest. The idea is to get the Sway Hood into one of the four pubs in either Haxey or Westwoodside.
The Hood, which cannot be thrown or run with, is moved slowly by 'swaying', that is pushing and pulling the Hood and people within the 'Sway' toward the direction of their pub. Although everyone is trying to push in a particular direction, there are no real organised teams. The Sway makes very slow progress, as it snakes around, stopping quite often when it collapses, in order to pull bodies out, that became crushed into the mud. Safety is of prime concern and the whole thing is supervised by the Boggins. The Lord is referee and sees that the game is played fairly. At any one time there are usually around 200 people in the Sway and about one thousand people watching. Games can last anything from a couple of hours onwards and have been known to go on well into the night. Everything in the path of the Sway goes down before it, including hedges and walls. Another of the Boggins' jobs is to stop the Sway destroying everything in its path.
Nobody parks on the roads where the Sway may go, and for good reason. In 2002, a couple of drivers parked opposite the Duke William. The Sway headed right for them and pushed one of the cars 10 feet down the road and into the other.
The game ends when the Hood arrives at one of the pubs and is touched by the landlord from his front step. The landlord then takes charge of the Hood for the year, and is supposed to give everyone a free drink. The winning pub pours beer over the Hood and then hangs it behind the bar (each pub has two hooks especially for this purpose). According to legend, it used to be roasted on a spit over the pub fire having been doused with ale, which was then drunk by those present.
The Hood hangs in the winning pub until New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
when it is collected by the Boggins in time for the next game.
Winners since 2000
| Year | Pub | Time taken | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Carpenters Arms | 3:35 | Once over the hill and onto the road, the Haxey boys accepted defeat, it was then an easy push down to Westwoodside. |
| 2010 | Kings Arms | ??:?? | The Kings Arms took the hood for the third year on the trot in an easy win. |
| 2009 | Kings Arms | ??:?? | The Kings Arms take the title for the second year running, gaining possession of the hood at a respectable 18:23. |
| 2008 | Kings Arms | 3:48 | A late start to the hood saw the main event commencing at 15:50. Both Haxey and Westwoodside supporters were out in force, ensuring that the Sway stayed on the field for over two hours and only made it to the main road at 18:00. After another 15 minutes battle, the sway was soon moving towards Haxey, stopping only momentarily at Church Lane, where a defiant counter attack by Westwoodside occurred at 18:30. This was soon over and the Sway glided virtually unhindered past the Duke William at 18:35 and the Loco at around 18:50. Once past the Loco progress was reasonably swift ending at the Kings Arms with the landlady taking possession at 19:38. |
| 2007 | Carpenters Arms | 4:00 | Westwoodside supporters struggled to get the hood pushed over the hill into Westwoodside, but once done it quickly went down to the Carpenter's Arms, a journey lasting about four hours altogether. |
| 2006 | Kings Arms | ??:?? | The hood made its way slowly towards Haxey, and there was a brief pause whilst outside the Duke William, once it was passed though, there was no real attempt to stop the hood going to the Kings. |
| 2005 | The Loco | ??:?? | The Hood entered the Loco via the side door, the door opened outwards and was subsequently sheared off under the weight of the sway |
| 2004 | Kings Arms | ??:?? | ???? |
| 2003 | Duke William | 1:50 | For over an hour the Sway went nowhere, but then a concerted effort made it move to the road and on its way to Haxey. It lingered around the Duke William for about 30 minutes while a fierce battle took place over whether it should pass the Duke or not. At one point it actually passed the Duke on the other side of the road, but after several stops it finally headed backwards and to the other side of the road and eventually to the Duke. |
| 2002 | King's Arms | 2:15 | The Hood made a very fast journey to the Kings Arms. It took 2 hours and 15 minutes—the same time it took just to reach the Duke William the year before. |
| 2001 | Duke William | 2:15 | ???? |
| 2000 | Carpenters Arms | ??:?? | ???? |
External links
- Peacock, M. "The Hood-Game at Haxey, Lincolnshire" Folk-Lore. Volume 7, 1896. 3:330-49
- Article Source
- Haxey Hood Art
- Haxey Parish Council
- Haxey Hood in the Isle of Axholme