Discordant Comicals: The Hooden Horse of East Kent

Hoodening is an ancient calendar custom unique to East Kent, involving a wooden horse's head on a pole, carried by a man concealed by a sack. The earliest reliable record is from 1735, but other than Percy Maylam's seminal work "The Hooden Horse", published in 1909, little serious research has gone into the tradition. George Frampton has rectified this, by taking Maylam as a starting point then cross-referencing dozens of newspaper reports, census records and other accounts to build a comprehensive picture of who the Hoodeners were, why (and where) they did it, how it related to other folk traditions, and why the custom appeared to die out from time to time. He then goes beyond Maylam to look at the 'demise' of Hoodening in around 1921, its widely heralded 'revival' in 1966, and discovers that this narrative is in fact quite misleading, as several Hooden Horses were still active throughout that period. He includes descriptions of the current teams, and supplies plentiful appendices detailing past participants, places visited, songs performed, events on Hoodening's timeline, and the horses themselves. Full indices make it easy for modern Men and Maids of Kent to check whether their ancestors might have been involved, and detailed references make this an invaluable resource for social historians too.

Author: George Frampton
Publisher: Ozaru Books (BJ Translations Ltd)
Published: 12/01/2018
Pages: 250
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.16lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.63d
ISBN: 9780993158773

About the Author
Frampton, George: - George Frampton was born in Hampshire, but found himself seduced by Kent culture upon seeing the Seven Champions Molly Dancers at Sidmouth Folk Week in 1979. He joined their team and moved to Kent, continuing to perform as dancer and musician for the next 30 years in groups as diverse as the Fabulous Fezheads (a self-proclaimed unit of sand dancers), Rabble Folk Theatre, the Thomas Clark Quire (singing the music of rural Kentish parish churches, 1780-1830), and Surrey-based barn dance band Stockbroker's Belt. He once even guested as an 'honorary member' with the St Nicholas-at-Wade Hoodeners. He has researched, written and delivered lectures on Plough Monday customs, the Oak Apple Day tradition, numerous other folklore-related topics, and Kent life in general, via journals such as Folk in Kent, Bygone Kent, Morris Matters, and Living Tradition. While in Kent, he was Artistic Director for the Kent Gathering in Frittenden, and he currently chairs the Volunteer Inn 'In the Tradition' music sessions at Sidmouth Festival.Jones, Ben: - Ben Jones won a scholarship to Oxford University to study Japanese, then lived in Japan for a few years. While there he started translating, in fields ranging from business and technology through to avant-garde drama and the Bujinkan martial arts (he was the interpreter for 'Ninja grandmaster' Hatsumi Masaaki at seminars around the world). He has since continued this work in the UK, becoming head of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting's Japanese Network, and now runs a successful languages business from his home in Kent. He also runs the boutique publishing house 'Ozaru Books' and performs as a professional musician.

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