Earlham College - Sargasso Yearbook (Richmond, IN)

Page 33 text:

Vijf: ir£t7R (jEese Women It was also customary for the archers to set up their targets and to make trials of their skill. Robin Hood was always adjudged the victor and a prize in the shape of a garland of laurel embellished with ribbons was placed upon his head. The pageant is finished after the archery and the procession moves on to make wav for the villagers who assemble in the square and dance. TeIE Tr.XGIC iXTERLUDE OF PvR. MUS AND ThISBE Page twenty-seven

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r irxxx.x.x xx: M- morris dancers, Robin liood and his bantl, and generally of the villagers anil townspeople. A hobby horse was sent around among the spectators to collect contributions in a ladel stuck in its mouth. The May pole was the center of much of the interest and was usually made of birch and adorned with flowers and ribbons. Most of the May poles were only temporary, but a few of them were permanent. Among these was the famous pole erected in London in 1661 which was of cedar, 134 feet high, and which stood in its place about fifty years. One of the groups of characters which is included in the May Day revels is the milk maids, who dress themselves in their best and in former times called on their customers for some t rifling gift. A group of the maids, garlanded and wreathed with flowers, lead a cow also decorated with flowers while they dance around the animal to the tune of a violin or a clarionet. Young men clothed in jerkins are seen who appear like woodmen with their heads bound with large gar- lands of ivy leaves. Then comes Robin Hood attired in a grass green tunic with his bow in his hand and a sheaf of arrows at his girdle. He is accompanied by his band of outlaws who are also habited in green garments and who also carry bows and arrows. Maid Marian is part of this group and is followed by her retinue of attendants. After this in order, perhaps comes the May pole drawn by oxen and decorated with scarfs, ribbons, and flowers. When the May pole is drawn into the town square the foresters sound their horns and the rustics dance round and round the pole. The revels of the morris dancers follow. It seems that the morris dance came from the Moors in Spain and was introduced into the May Day customs in the sixteenth century. In this dance are the two principal characters, Robin Hood and Maid Marian. To these were added Friar Tuck, the hobby horse, the fool, the musician and sometimes a fiddler and a piper. The chimney sweeps and jacks-in-the-green are also prominent characters of the day. The former parade the streets decked out in finery enriched with strips of gilt and various colored paper. With their faces chalked and their shovels and brushes in hand they caper the chimney sweeps dance to a well known tune. The jack-in-the-green was a man inclosed in a bower of foliage made in the shape of a pyramid about ten feet high out of which peers his face. u K K 5 5 Chimney Sweeps p 9 i i K I Page twenty-six

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