tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5034093581611119451.post3012735748242482046..comments2024-02-26T02:28:45.496-08:00Comments on Radical Honey: Of Hares & Hock-days ~ Turning Spring Upside DownJacqueline Durbanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02723922109239845028noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5034093581611119451.post-8282216742981637992018-04-19T06:46:03.759-07:002018-04-19T06:46:03.759-07:00You are so right, and yes, 'holy laughter'...You are so right, and yes, 'holy laughter' is as important as all the serious stuff. I'm sure that we have lost a lot by disconnecting from that way of being. And it is absolutely true that a study of pan-European folklore and tradition does give more of a sense of how our own customs are part of a deeply woven web connecting us to the seasons and to the land. I love it!Jacqueline Durbanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02723922109239845028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5034093581611119451.post-38866287077258302262018-04-10T06:03:55.470-07:002018-04-10T06:03:55.470-07:00what a great post---i love folklore and customs. t...what a great post---i love folklore and customs. these things, mad carnivals and funny ritual behaviours seem so odd and disjointed to modern sensibilities, only begin to make sense with broad study of european (and global) folk customs. the "heaving", by the way, has analogues in other european springtime rituals/games: it was a way of showing off one's strength in the eyes of peers, prospective farm employers, and fair maids; but it also parallels customs such as "jumping", in which people would hop (like hares...hmmm...) as high as they could in place; the idea being that as high as folk could heave or hop, so high would the grain grow...<br /><br />we have forgotten our dependency upon nature, forgotten our kinship with all life. our holidays feel empty because they are commercialised and have come un-moored from the meanings and origins that gave them resonance. and another thing our ancestors knew, which we've forgotten perhaps, is that laughter was sacred! all that horseplay and drinking and silliness, besides being a valuable pressure-valve psychologically and socially, was meant to encourage more growth, more happiness, and more human fertility as well...a divine madness, for a time, that could unleash forces of potency. sounds rather fun, and even sensible, really...nofixedstarshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15514617120008201743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5034093581611119451.post-80711184926233345912018-04-09T15:53:06.552-07:002018-04-09T15:53:06.552-07:00Thank you so much, Roz! And oooooh, fancy going to...Thank you so much, Roz! And oooooh, fancy going to the lunch. It sounds absolutely bonkers. I just found a photo of it in which, some quite respectable looking gentlemen in suits, were rolling about on the floor with their legs in the air and laughing their heads off! We all need more of that!Jacqueline Durbanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02723922109239845028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5034093581611119451.post-12500280796521347142018-04-09T15:44:33.065-07:002018-04-09T15:44:33.065-07:00Such an interesting and well researched article, J...Such an interesting and well researched article, Jacquie. I've been privileged to attend the Hocktide lunch for the last two years in Hungerford and you are quite correct - it is all totally barmy, boozy and British!!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06105515951733066105noreply@blogger.com