Infolklore, ahobby horse is a costumed character that features in some traditional seasonal customs, processions and similar observances around the world. InEngland, they are particularly associated withMay Day celebrations,mummers' plays and theMorris dance.
The wordhobby is glossed by theOED as "a small or middle-sized horse; an ambling or pacing horse; a pony". The word is attested in English from the 14th century, asMiddle Englishhobyn.Old French hadhobin orhaubby, whence Modern Frenchaubin and Italianubino. But the Old French term is apparently adopted from English rather than vice versa. OED connects it to "the by-nameHobin,Hobby", a variant ofRobin" (compare the abbreviationHob forRobert). This appears to have been a name customarily given to a cart-horse, as attested byWhite Kennett in hisParochial Antiquities (1695), who stated that "Our ploughmen to some one of their cart-horses generally give the name of Hobin, the very word whichPhilippe de Commines uses, Hist. VI. vii." Another familiar form of the same Christian name,Dobbin, has also become a generic name for a cart-horse.
Samuel Johnson,Dictionary of the English Language, 1755, glosses: "A strong, active horse, of a middle size, said to have been originally from Ireland; an ambling nag."
Hoblers or Hovellers were men who kept a light nag that they may give instant information of threatened invasion. (Old French, hober, to move up and down; our hobby, q.v.) In medieval times their duties were to reconnoitre, to carry intelligence, to harass stragglers, to act as spies, to intercept convoys, and to pursue fugitives.Henry Spelman (d. 1641) derived the word from "hobby".
Hobblers were another description of cavalry more lightly armed, and taken from the class of men rated at 15 pounds and upwards.
— John Lingard,The History of England, (1819), vol. iv, ch. ii, p. 116
The Border horses, called hobblers orhobbies, were small and active, and trained to cross the most difficult and boggy country, "and to get over where our footmen could scarce dare to follow", according toGeorge MacDonald Fraser,The Steel Bonnets, The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers.
Hobby horses may be constructed in several different ways. The types most frequently found in theUnited Kingdom have been categorised as follows:[1]
Not all hobby horses fit into these categories, even within the UK. The famous May Day horses atPadstow andMinehead are large constructions, suspended at shoulder level, with only the performer's head emerging; they wear tall, pointed hats and their faces are masked. The Padstow horses have circular frames, with fairly small, snapping-jawed heads on long, straight necks;[3] the Minehead horses are more boat-shaped, with pointed ends and, since about 1880, have had no heads, though they have long, trailing tails, about 2.2 m (7 ft) long.[4]
In theSouth of France, in Belgium (theOmmegang deTermonde) and elsewhere, large hobby horses are carried by multiple performers; their hollow frameworks are constructed in various ways. TheDanse du Baiar at Esquièze the dancers wear a wooden horse head in their breasts when dancing.
In Indonesia, flatsilhouettes of horses are suspended between the dancers' legs (see individual entries, below).
The most famous traditional British hobby horses are probably those of the May Day'Obby 'Oss festival inPadstow,Cornwall. They are made from a circular framework, tightly covered with shiny black material, carried on the shoulders of a dancer whose face is hidden by a grotesque mask attached to a tall, pointed hat. A skirt (made from the same material) hangs down from the edge of the frame to around knee-height. There is a small, wooden, horse's head with snapping jaws, attached to a long, straight neck, with a long mane, which sticks out from the front of the frame. On the opposite side there is a small tail of horsehair.
There are two rival horses and their fiercely loyal bands of supporters at Padstow: theOld 'Oss is decorated with white and red, and its supporters wear red scarves to show their allegiance; theBlue Ribbon 'Oss (or "Peace 'Oss") is decorated with white and blue and its supporters follow suit. A "Teaser" waving a padded club dances in front of each 'Oss, accompanied, as they dance through the narrow streets, by a lively band ofmelodeons, accordions and drums playing Padstow's traditional May Song. The 'Osses sometimes capture young women beneath the skirt of the hobby horse; often they emerge smeared with black.[5]
Children sometimes make "Colt" 'Osses and hold their own May Day parades.
AtMinehead inSomerset there are three rival hobby horses, theOriginal Sailor's Horse, theTraditional Sailor's Horse and theTown Horse. They appear onMay Eve (called "Show Night"), on May Day morning (when they salute the sunrise at a crossroads on the outskirts of town), 2 May and 3 May (when a ceremony called "The Bootie" takes place in the evening at part of town called Cher)New Page 1. Each horse is made of a boat-shaped wooden frame, pointed and built up at each end, which is carried on the dancer's shoulders. As at Padstow, his face is hidden by a mask attached to a tall, pointed hat. The top surface of the horse is covered with ribbons and strips of fabric. A long fabric skirt, painted with rows of multicoloured roundels, hangs down to the ground all round. A long tail is attached to the back of the frame. Each horse is accompanied by a small group of musicians and attendants. The Town Horse is accompanied by "Gullivers", dressed similarly to the horse but without the large frame; as at Padstow, smaller, children's horses have sometimes been constructed[2]. The horses' visits are (or were) believed to bringgood luck.
In the past there was also a similar hobby horse based at the nearby village ofDunster, which would sometimes visit MineheadObby Oss. The Minehead horse has also visited Dunster Castle on May Day.[5]
AtCombe Martin in Devon a custom called "The Hunting of the Earl of Rone" took place onAscension Day until 1837, when it was banned. It was revived in 1974 and now takes place over the four days of SpringBank Holiday. Afool and a hobby horse, accompanied bygrenadiers, search the village for the Earl, who is finally captured, mounted onto a (real) donkey and paraded through the village. He is frequently shot at by the soldiers, falls from his mount, and is revived by the hobby horse and the fool, and returned to his mount. Finally, on reaching the beach, the Earl is executed and thrown into the sea.The Hunting of the Earl of Rone[6]
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there is evidence of an association between morris dancing and hobby horses.[7] A hobby horse is depicted in a stained-glass window, dating from between 1550 and 1621, fromBetley Hall, Staffordshire, now in theVictoria and Albert Museum, London, directly below amaypole and surrounded by what appear to bemorris dancers (accession no. C.248-1976).[8]
A painting from c.1620, by an unknown artist, now in theFitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, shows Morris dancers by the Thames atRichmond; their party includes a hobby horse.[9][10]
The 1621 playThe Witch of Edmonton, byWilliam Rowley,Thomas Dekker andJohn Ford, features a group of Morris dancers with a hobby horse.[11]
Several morris teams formed or revived from the late nineteenth century onwards have incorporated a hobby-horse into their side, though there is no evidence that this is a continuation of the historic association which largely ceased in the seventeenth century.[12] Early revival teams such as those fromBidford-upon-Avon andIlmington incorporated a hobby-horse despite the lack of evidence of the morris tradition there including one.[13] Some modern revival sides have extended their animal repertoire in various imaginative and appropriate ways, e.g. Pig Dyke Mollymolly dancers, who wear black and white costumes and makeup, have a hobbyzebra.
A hobby horse takes part in the ancientAbbots Bromley Horn Dance. The old original horse (see gallery, above) has been replaced by a more realistic carving in recent years.
A custom which took place at, or in the lead-up to, Christmas in eastern Kent, involving a group of ploughmen or other farmworkers leading aHooden Horse (a horse's head made of wood, set on a short pole, with snapping jaws (sometimes set with nails for teeth) operated by a person hidden under a piece of sacking or a stable-blanket to represent the animal's body). The custom, described as "only just extinct" by folkloristViolet Alford in 1952, has since been revived in various places.[14][15]
A Christmas andNew Year custom from theIsle of Man, involving a white-painted wooden horse's head with red-painted snapping jaws, with a white sheet attached.[16] Draped in the sheet, a man would carry the head, racing unexpectedly into the room and chase any girls present out of the house, followed by the rest of the company. When theLaair Vane (white mare) caught a girl she would take his place under the sheet to carry the horse back into the house, sitting away from the others while a kind ofsword-dance was performed with sticks by six male dancers to the tune "Mylecharane's March" played on the fiddle. As the climax of the dance the fiddler would enter the circle of dancers and be imprisoned by their intertwined sticks; the dancers then, with wild cries, "cut off his head" and he fell to the ground. The "dead" fiddler was then blindfolded and led to theLaair Vane, and knelt with his head in her lap. Another person would question the fiddler about events in the coming year (particularly who would becomeValentines) and his replies were believed to be true predictions.[17]
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A similar creature, theMari Lwyd ("Grey Mare" in English), also made from a horse's skull, with a white sheet attached, took part inNew Year house-visiting, luck-bringing rituals in south-east Wales. Gaining access to the house was a challenge; theMari Lwyd party and those in the house took turns to improvise verses of a song. If the household failed to come up with a final verse theMari was allowed to enter; if not, it was turned away. The custom has been revived in recent years.[18]
In parts of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and around Sheffield there existed, into the early 20th century (and until 1970 atDore[19]) a Christmas and New Year custom of going from house to house performing a short play or dramatised song calledThe Old Horse,T'Owd 'Oss orPoor Old Horse. TheOld Horse was of the "mast" type, constructed in a similar way to the Wild Horse of the Soul-cakers and the hooden horses of Kent. The earliest record is from 1840, atAshford-in-the-Water, Derbyshire.[20]
This type of performance still continues atRichmond, Yorkshire, at Christmas. Three men dressed in hunting pink lead a horse "made from the stuffed skin of a horse's head on a pole" and the man who plays it hidden under a horse-blanket. The men sing thePoor Old Horse song and the horse snapped its jaws at the end of each verse.[20] The custom as now performed in Richmond Market Place around midday on Christmas Eve involves the horse's "death and resurrection" (he crouches down and then rises up when ahunting horn is blown).[21]
The name of this creature fromCornwall translates as "grey head". It was a "hooden" or "mast" type of horse, either carved from wood or made from a horse's skull, like the WelshMari Lwyd, and accompanied the ChristmasGuisers. Its body was a horse's hide or horse cloth. Sometimes it was led or ridden by Old Penglaze, a man with a blackened face who carried a staff. The animal has been revived inPenzance in recent years asPenglaz the Penzance 'Obby 'Oss and now appears on "Mazey Eve" and 23 June (St John's Eve) as part of a modernMidsummer festival, instead of around midwinter.
In Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire and some other parts of the East Midlands of England, mummers' plays were performed, on or aroundPlough Monday in early January, by teams known variously as Plough Stots, Plough Jags, Plough Jacks, Plough Bullocks or Plough Witches. In North Lincolnshire, large teams of elaborately costumed mummers, often having some of the characters duplicated, paraded through the village streets, sometimes splitting up into smaller groups to enter houses and perform extracts from their traditional play. Photographs of teams fromScunthorpe, Burringham, Scotter,Burton-upon-Stather and elsewhere showed double gangs with two hobby horses. They were of the sieve type, made by hanging the wooden frame of a large sieve, with a small wooden horse's head and horsehair tail attached, around the performer's waist, However, in an unusual variation, the "rider" was then disguised by wearing a horse-cloth which covered his head and body to the knees, so that he appeared to be a horse riding a horse.[5]
The Salisbury Giant, a 12 ft-tall (3.5m) figure sometimes said to representSaint Christopher, is a processional figure unique in Britain. The current figure's wooden frame was rebuilt c. 1850 although it is probable that he existed in the 15th century. It rarely appears nowadays, being kept in theSalisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, along with its companionHob-Nob, a tourney-type hobby horse, a mischievous character which used to clear the way for the Giant in the processions that were held by the Tailor'sGuild onMidsummer's Eve.[22][23] Hob-Nob's rider's face and body were disguised with a substantial veil. The first clear mention of the hobby horse is in 1572 (along with a "mayde Marrians Coate") in the records of the Tailors' Guild (who, in 1873, finally sold both hobby-horse and Giant to the Museum). The processions, which also involvedmorris dancers until around 1911, continued sporadically on various occasions into the mid 20th century.[24]
Some regional variants of themummers play, performed aroundAll Souls' Day inCheshire, included a non-speaking character called the "Wild Horse", made from a horse's skull mounted on a short pole. The horse was played by a man, hidden under a cloth attached to the pole, who bent forward to rest the pole on the ground. He could usually snap the horse's jaws loudly to frighten onlookers.[25]
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A possibly unique custom involving three hobby horses is known only from a photograph taken atWinster Hall, Derbyshire, in about 1870.[26] (The picture appears to have been taken in winter, as the climbing plants on the wall are leafless.) Eight or nine performers are involved; all (bar one?) have facial disguise.
The performers are grouped around a mast horse (possibly 'Snap Dragon'; see below) with a shiny black head made from a painted skull set on a short pole. Behind it are two men in threatening postures, one is waving a long stick like the handle of a brush or rake, the other probably abesom broom (blurred).
Two more men wearing military-looking jackets, buttoned to the neck, and white trousers stand astride small hobbyhorses of an apparently unique design: a cylindrical body, "about three inches diameter and two feet long", held between the rider's legs (supported at the front by a cord or narrow strap around the rider's neck), with a flat, curved wooden neck and a small, stylised head with snapping jaws (apart from their mouths, the horses look almost like simplerocking horses with the legs removed). The horsemen are masked in light-coloured cloth.
Another character wears a rather voluminous, tattered, long, dark dress; busily brushing the ground with a besom broom, "she" is reminiscent of the character Besom Bet who appears in somemummers plays. The last two characters are playingrough music onbladder fiddles.
The performance may have been arranged byLlewellynn Jewitt, who lived at the hall between 1868 and 1880. In 1931, Stanley Evans ("Folk Dancing in Derbyshire",Derbyshire Countryside, vol 1, no. 2, April 1931, p. 29) suggested the performers may have been performing a mumming play.E. C. Cawte dismissed this suggestion: "if so it is a most unusual one, there is no sign of the combatants, the pair of horses is of an unusual design, and the mast horse seems to be the centre of attention."[27]
In his field notes, made in 1908, folkloristCecil Sharp referred to a hobby horse "without a curtain" being connected with themorris dance at Winster; he also mentions a "Snap Dragon" made from "a real horse's head" (skull?) dug up for the purpose, but does not say whether it was associated with the morris. It seems he did not see them himself and his account published in 1924, long after his visit to Winster, is confusing. In 1966, Winster morris dancers stated that there had never been a hobby horse associated with their morris, but that there had been a separate horse ceremony involving a skull that was reburied each year.[28]
In notes published after his death, Llewellynn Jewitt noted how, in 1867, a dozen or so groups of traditional performers (several groups of guisers, the Wensley mummers, 'The Hobby Horse' and the 'Snap Dragon') called at Winster Hall in just four days between Christmas and New Year. He noted that, on 27 December, "In the evening the Winster 'Snap Dragon' and 'Hobby Horse' conjoined came to us — ten men, one as Snap Dragon, two with Hobby Horses, two devils, etc., etc. We had them in the kitchen and gave them money."[29] The photograph may well show one such "conjoined" team.
Similar customs includeThe Broad in theCotswolds andOld Ball in theForest of Rossendale in Lancashire.
Originally created in the same way as a mast horse or hooden horse, theDerby Tup (ram) represented a male sheep. It took part in a dramatised version of theDerby Ram folksong, which was performed in northernDerbyshire and aroundSheffield during the Christmas season by teams of boys. It is "killed" by a butcher and its "blood" is collected in a large bowl. In some versions it is brought back to life by a quack doctor, like a character in theMummers play.
TheFasnacht (carnival) procession in Sankt Lorenzen im Lesachtal, south-west Austria, features a large band of musicians, some in fancy dress, and is led by a large, rather frisky hobby horse. It has a hollow body, covered by a long white sheet that almost reaches the ground, with a long neck and head apparently made of cardboard or papier-mâché; it is carried by two people who are hidden beneath the sheet. The horse has a few coloured ribbons attached to its mane, bridle and tail. Its reins are held by a man dressed in a red jacket, and it is closely followed by a boy (who occasionally prods it with a wooden hay-fork) and a blacksmith in an apron (who carries a bag containing a hammer). Other stock characters in the parade include four masked, smartly dressed "old men" with walking sticks. From time to time the horse falls to the ground and is then "shod" (the smith hammers the shoe soles of one or other of the carriers, who kick out, wildly). The man who leads it sometimes breathes into its mouth or nostrils. It then revives and continues through the village.[30]
AtEzpeize the formal dancing is suddenly interrupted by a wild invasion. An unruly gang of rustically dressed characters, wearing masks or facial disguise, rushes into the dancing area in pairs, with loud cries. Some wave clubs. Some have furry tails. There is a doctor and a nurse, in white coats with a red cross on the back. They all race around the dancing space in an anti-clockwise direction and then fall to the ground in a writhing heap.[31]
Also known as the "Doudou", the Ducasse de Mons is a festival that takes place onTrinity Sunday in the town ofMons and consists of two parts. The first is a procession with theshrine ofSaint Waltrude. The second part, called theLumeçon, depicts the combat ofSt George and the Dragon and features a large processional dragon with an enormously long, stiff tail. Saint George's attempts to kill the dragon with his lance all fail, so he then dispatches it with apistol. An illustration from the 19th century clearly shows the dragon with three hobby-horses of the "tourney" type, but modern photographs and descriptions of the event show these animals are made of cow-hide and look more like dogs; they are known asChinchins orChins-Chins (a corruption ofchien, dog) and their role is to aid St. George.[32]
The festival has been recognised byUNESCO since 2005 as one of theMasterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity under the general heading of "Processional Giants and Dragons in Belgium and France".[33]
The finale to theShrovetide processions in the town ofHlinsko, in theCzech Republic, and six nearby villages (includingHamry,Blatno,Studnice andVortová), in the Hlinecko region of easternBohemia, is a ritual called "Killing the Mare".
Accompanied by abrass band, men and boys wearing colourful costumes representing traditional characters spend a whole day going from door to door, visiting every household in their community (except those known to be inmourning). Details differ slightly from place to place, but there are usually two or three hobby-horses (of the tourney type). Other characters include the Straw Men, dressed in costumes made of rice-straw, with blacked faces, and tall, pointed straw hats; they embrace women and roll with them on the ground, which is said to confer fertility. Housewives gather straw from the Straw Men's skirts as a good luck charm, taking it home to feed their geese and chickens.
With the "Little Wife" (a man dressed as a woman) and the "dotted man", four dancers representingTurks perform a ritual dance in front of each house, to ensure wealth for the family and a good harvest. They must lift their legs as high as possible to ensure tall crops offlax. They wave handkerchieves, as in the Englishmorris dance but originally wieldedsabres instead.
At the end of the day the men perform a ritual called "Killing the Mare". One of the group's hobby horses, is judged and then "killed" for its alleged sins. It is then "brought back to life" (with alcohol) and a dance ensues, involving the onlookers. This custom has survived despite being banned in the 18th and 19th centuries by theCatholic Church and in the 20th by theSocialist government. It has now been recognised byUNESCO as an element of mankind'sIntangible Cultural Heritage.[34]
Several hobby-horse customs exist in theLanguedoc area of southwest France, which is a stronghold for "totem" animals, with many towns and villages having their own particular creature; most appear atcarnival time and/or their local patronal festivals, saint's days and other festivities.[35]
AtPézenas there is a huge creature calledLe Poulain orLo Polin (Occitan for "the colt"), carried by nine men and led by another, accompanied by a band of musicians. ThePoulain has a realistically carved wooden head, with a snapping jaws and an extending neck that can reach up to first-floor windows; money or other offerings put into its mouth tumble down inside its neck. Its semi-cylindrical body is covered with a dark blue cloth, now decorated with stars and thecoat of arms of Pézenas. Below the frame it has a tricolor skirt.[36]
ThePoulain carries two effigies on its back, one male, one female, calledEstieinou andEstieinette (orEstieineta). Although the first written reference to thePoulain is from 1615, the creature is supposed to commemorate a visit to the town in 1226 byLouis VIII, during which the king's favourite mare fell ill. She had to be left behind in Pézenas while Louis continued with theAlbigensian Crusade. On his return he was astonished to find that not only was his mare now fully recovered, but she had also given birth to a fine colt, which was duly presented to him, adorned with ribbons. In return he decreed that the town should construct a wooden colt to be used to celebrate all its public festivities (this legend was first recorded in 1701).[37]
Its early appearances were on the public feast days ofSaint Blaise (3 February), SaintJohn the Baptist (24 June) and theFeast of the Assumption (15 Aug). As a symbol of power, it also appeared at times when the town'sprévôt distributed bread to the poor (the last such was in 1911), as well as visits by royalty or other dignitaries. ThePoulain was burned in 1789, during theFrench Revolution, because of its royal associations, but was revived in 1803. Since then it has appeared atMardi Gras and other festive occasions. Its framework, once a weighty construction ofchestnut, has been made of aluminium since 1989.[38]
Originally thePoulain had no riders;Estieinou andEstieinette (sometimes spelledEstiénon andEstiéneta in the French manner) are meant to recall another royal occasion whenLouis XIII visited the town in 1622; the Maréchal de Bassompierre, following the King, was crossing the river Peyne on horseback. He saw a peasant-woman having difficulty making the crossing on foot and gallantly offered her a seat on his horse. Their merry arrival in the town caused great amusement and so the two effigies were made to remember the event.[39]
There have been smaller, juniorPoulains in Pézenas, made by or for children; the Pézenasfadas also have a full-sized version of their own. There have also been similar creatures or imitations elsewhere, some of which still continue. There is a very livelyPoulain atSaint-Thibéry and others are (or have been) known atAdissan,Alignan-du-Vent,Florensac,Montblanc andVias (where it is linked to a local legend of a medieval famine and is known aslo Pouli de la Fabo – the colt of the bean). They have also been recorded atAgde,Caux,Montagnac,Castelnau,Valros andNizas, all in theLanguedoc. An outlier in theAriège, at St Pierre deSoulan, was instigated by a former inhabitant of Pézenas.[35][40]
Hobby horses of the tourney type, with a frame suspended around the dancer's waist, can also appear at various festivities in the Languedoc. An illustration of thechivalet dance, and its traditional tune, and an old photograph of an animal of this type, are on show in the folk museum at Agde. It is particularly associated with Florensac, where it is calledle chevalet, and is considered the town's totem.[41]
The Chevalet ofCournonterral in the Hérault died out around 1980 but was revived in March 2011 as part of the annual carnival.[42]
The Donkey or Ass of Bessan is another of the Languedoc's "totem" animals. Much smaller than the Poulain, it is made from a frame covered in cloth and decorated with crepe paper flowers and painted motifs. Under its skirt it is carried by four men, led by another who dresses in white, with a tricolor sash, and cracks a whip. TheÂne dances from side to side and backwards and forwards to traditional tunes played nowadays on various instruments, although until the 1970s it was only the traditionalhautbois (a type of oboe) and drums. Sometimes the beast bucks its hindquarters into the air, supported only by the leader and the first dancer, who twirls around; the other three stand ready to catch the frame as it descends. TheÂne is brought out to open the feast ofSt Laurent, appearing first at 5pm on the Saturday closest to the saint's day, accompanied by firecrackers and bells, then again on the Sunday morning when it goes to aMass to be blessed, before its final dance.[41]
There is also anÂne atGignac.[35]
Le Cheval-Bayard de Clermont-l'Hérault was revived in 1988, after more than a century and a half. The town's originalcheval-bayard was burned in 1815; known as theBayard (baiard in Occitan), meaning abay horse, its origins have been traced back to the 9th century.[41]
Perhaps the best-known is theChameau (Camel) ofBéziers, which dates from 1613, two years earlier than the Poulain of Pézenas. There is a large and impressiveBoeuf (Bull) atMèze, with a huge mouth; it is said to date back to at least 1229.Lo Picart, atSaint-Jean-de-Fos, is a ferocious ram; it has existed since at least 1683.Montagnac has a goat. Sometimes the choice of animal is based on a play on words:Loupian has, unsurprisingly, a wolf (Loup). (One of the most recent, and possibly the most bizarre, "totems" isLe Porquet ofPinet, a caterpillar, created in the early 1970s.)[35]
Several "frisky horses", tourney hobby horses, accompany the traditional groupLes Tambourinaires de Sant-Sumian, fromBrignoles, a folklore revival group founded in 1942.[43][44] Their performances are faithfully based on authentic traditions, such as theChivau Frusc cited by authorFrederic Mistral at Aix-en-Provence[45] and folklorist Violet Alford, principally at Brignoles but also "all over southern Provence".[46]
Various creatures used to appear in theOdenwald around Christmas,[47] includingstraw bears[48] andbock figures(variations of which can also be found in Sweden and other parts of Scandiniavia around Midwinter and Christmas time perhaps having links to the Germanic God Thor and perhaps even older fertility rites). Thebock (the name can be translated as "goat", "buck", "ram" or "stag") was made in a similar way to a mast horse, but using a long, two- or three-pronged hayfork that formed from its horns, covered in a white sheet, partly stuffed to form a head with a face painted onto it; these were sometimes held up outside windows to frighten the householder. Sometimes two people stood under the sheet to form a longer-bodied creature.[49]Weihnachtsesels (Christmas donkeys) were made in a similar way, usually with two people bending over under a darker coloured blanket, rather like apantomime horse.[50]
Theschimmelreiter was a more elaborate construction, made from two (or more) large sieves or riddles fastened in an upright position in front of and behind the "rider" at chest level. The front sieve had a stuffed fabric head and neck attached. The whole was covered with a sheet with a small hole in the centre to allow just the rider's head to show.[51]
The teams of Irish mummers known asWrenboys who perform onSaint Stephen's Day (26 December) in pubs and private houses have been known to include a white hobby horse (Láir Bhán – cf.Laair Vane, above) of the tourney type, and this has survived into the present century, atDunquin inCounty Kerry for example.[52] At Ballycotton, in Co. Cork, aLáir bhán led a procession of horn-blowing youths atHalloween who collected money "in the name of Muck Olla" (a legendary giant boar).[53]
The city ofKraków has a hobby-horse called theLajkonik which traditionally appears on the first Thursday after the religious feast ofCorpus Christi and parades through the streets, collecting money, accompanied by musicians and costumed followers, some in traditional Polish costume, others in oriental dress, who carry horsetail insignia. The colourful costume of theLajkonik represents a beardedTatar warrior, who carries a golden mace and is mounted on a white horse. To be touched by the mace is said to bring good luck. The custom is said to have been carried on for 700 years, and various stories are told to explain its origins. The hobby horse has become an unofficial symbol of Kraków, and versions often appear as tourist attraction in the Market Square.[54]
The Basque country on the borders ofFrance andSpain has a strongdance tradition. Several dances are linked to seasonal festivals. Thezamaltzain, a hobby horse of the "tourney" type, with a small wooden head and a short, lacy skirt, takes part in some dances and processions in Zuberoa (LaSoule, the easternmost part of the Basque country in Southern France) in places such asEzpeize,[31]Maule,Urdiñarbe,Barkoxe,Altza,Altzürükü andAtarratze.[55] The "rider" wears elaborate costume of red or black including akoha', a tall, beribboned hat, which always has a mirror on the front.[55]Zamaltzain means muleteer or mule-keeper.[56] The dance in which the "mules" take part is danced by two teams, one dressed in red, the other in black, and is said by some scholars (such as Eugène Goyhénèche of the University of Pau) to represent an attack on a village by the men of another.[55]
A more rustic-looking horse of similar basic construction is part of the celebrations of the Carnival atLantz, Spain. Called thezaldiko, it forms an essential part of the carnival procession, together with theziripot, a strange character in an enormous straw-stuffed costume.[55]
Dressed in red trimmed with yellow, six tourney horses (xaldiko[55] orzaldiko) take part in thecomparsa degigantes y cabezudos inPamplona (Iruña) inNavarre, Spain (Nafarroa). More realistic than the other Basque examples, they replicate the whole upper part of a horse's body from head to tail, with a skirt attached below. Each "rider" wears a pointed cap with a tassel and used to wield an inflated bladder on a stick; now, like thetricorned big-heads calledkilikis who parade with them, they carry a phallic pizzle made of foam-rubber which they use to belabour the onlookers.
There are many festivals in theCatalonia region of north-east Spain which involve processions withgiants and outsize animals; some also involve hobby horses (of the "tourney" type, but with a more-or-less realistic head and body, nowadays often constructed from fibreglass).
Larger figures ofmules are also found in several places, carried by two performers whose legs are visible beneath a skirt hanging from the animal's hollow body. In addition,dragons of various sorts are also popular, as are bulls, eagles and lions; many havefireworks attached to them, or set off around them.
TheSanta Tecla Festival takes place atTarragona from 15 to 24 September and includesthe saint's day, 23 September.[57] A number of animals, real and mythical, are impersonated in the parades that form a major part of the festivities. Among them is a larger-than-lifeMulassa (mule) carried by two dancers who are hidden under its skirts, apart from their legs.
The other creatures that take part are theàliga (eagle),bou (bull),cucafera (coco, a mythical monster),drac de Sant Roc (dragon ofSaint Roch),lleó (lion), andvíbria (a femalewyvern with prominent breasts). Several of these have fireworks attached to their extremities, or are showered with sparks by their attendants, and are a spectacular sight.
Kuda Lumping (woven bamboo horses, also known asKuda Kepang orJaran Kepang) is a traditionalJavanese dance depicting a group of horsemen from island ofJava,Indonesia. Dancers "ride" horses made from woven bamboo and decorated with colorful paints and cloth. Generally, the dance portrays troops riding horses, but another type of Kuda Lumping performance also incorporates trances and magic tricks.
The art has been introduced into neighbouringJohore andSingapore byJavanese migrants where it is performed at weddings by special dancing troupes. Led by aDanyang, a typical troupe today comprises 9 horsemen, 2 medicine men, 5gamelan musicians and 9–15 'guardians'.[58]
Modern performances re-enact the stories of the legendary nine Muslim saints (Wali Songo) who brought Islam to Java, but nowadays they are often kept brief and intended simply for entertainment; they may even be performed by women.[58] The gamelan percussion orchestra is made up of 2 drums, a hanging gong, two knobbed gongs on a wooden frame, and 5 tubular bamboo chimes calledangklung.[59]
Details of the fuller, more elaborate performances, however, include states ofshamanistictrance-like possession, and the custom may have originally been a form oftotemic worship.[60]
Photographs from the early 20th century, in the collection of Amsterdam'sTropenmuseum (Museum of the Tropics), show another ritual dance, theReog Ponorogo, involving a huge tiger mask and costume (Singa Barong), accompanied byJatil riding woven bamboo hobby horses who perform the Jaran Kepang dance.
InNewfoundland, hobby horses of the "mast" type were sometimes used by the mummers or 'janneys' who wentmummering around the Christmas season; they also took aChristmas bull, made in a similar manner, on their house-to-house visits. The mischievous horse was not intended to be malevolent, but its appearance and antics often frightened those it visited or encountered.[61] Mummering was dying out but has enjoyed a recent revival, and the first Mummers Festival (held in St John's in December 2009) even had workshops on making hobby horses.[61][62]
A May-Day procession including a Teaser, a Fool, and a Hobby Horse that tries to capture women under its skirts features in the climactic scenes of the 1973 British cult-horror flickThe Wicker Man.
From the term "hobby horse" came the expression "to ride one's hobby-horse", meaning "to follow a favourite pastime", and in turn, the modern sense of the termhobby.[63]
The term is also connected to thedraisine, a forerunner of thebicycle, invented by BaronKarl von Drais. In 1818, a London coach-maker named Denis Johnson began producing an improved version, which was popularly known as the "hobby-horse".[64]
The artistic movement,Dada, is possibly named after a French child's word for hobby horse.[65]
The term is also nautical. A vessel that ispitching forward and backward into the sea harmonically is said to be hobby horsing.
