In folklore, a hobby horse is a costumed character that features in some traditional seasonal customs, processions and similar observances around the world. In England, they are particularly associated with May Day celebrations, mummers' plays and the Morris dance. Etymology The word hobby is glossed by the OED as "a small or middle-sized horse; an ambling or pacing horse; a pony". The word is attested in English from the 14th century, as Middle English hobyn. Old French had or , whence Modern French and Italian . But the Old French term is apparently adopted from English rather than vice versa. OED connects it to "the by-name Hobin, Hobby", a variant of Robin" (compare the abbreviation Hob for Robert). This appears to have been a name customarily given to a cart-horse, as attested by White Kennett in his Parochial Antiquities (1695), who stated that "Our ploughmen to some one of their cart-horses generally give the name of Hobin, the very word which Philippe 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.
Types of hobby horse Hobby horses may be constructed in several different ways. The types most frequently found in the United Kingdom have been categorised as follows:Cawte, EC, Ritual Animal Disguise, pp. 8–9, London, DS Brewer for the Folklore Society (1978) Tourney horses are meant to look like a person riding a small horse that is wearing a long cloth coat or caparison (as seen in medieval illustrations of jousting knights at a tourney or tournament). A circular or oval frame is suspended around their waist, or chest, with a skirt draped over it hanging down to the ground. The frame has a carved wooden head, often with snapping jaws (operated by pulling a string) attached to it at one end, and a tail at the other. The "rider" may wear a cape or other flowing costume to help cover the frame. In the most elaborate versions, fake legs, meant to be those of the rider, hang down the sides of the skirt, though this seems to be a fairly recent development.Cawte, EC, Ritual Animal Disguise, p. 187, London, DS Brewer for the Folklore Society (1978) Sieve horses are a simpler version of the tourney horse. Known only in Lincolnshire, they are made from a farm sieve frame, with head and tail attached, suspended from the performer's shoulders. The performer wears a horse blanket (the kind that includes a headpiece with holes for the eyes and ears) that covers them and the sieve. Mast horses are meant to represent the horse (or other animal) itself. They have a head made of wood, or sometimes an actual horse's skull is used; it usually has hinged jaws that can be made to snap. The head is attached to a stick about 1 m (3 ft) long. The person acting the creature is covered by a cloth attached to the back of its head; he (or, rarely, she) bends over forwards or crouches, holding the head in front of their own and resting the other end of the stick on the ground. A tail may be attached to the back of the cloth. When the cloth is long enough, such as the sheet used by the Welsh Mari Lwyd, the performer can also stand up, lifting the head in front of their face or above their head.
Not all hobby horses fit into these categories, even within the UK. The famous May Day horses at Padstow and Minehead 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;Cawte, EC, Ritual Animal Disguise, pp. 157–158, London, DS Brewer for the Folklore Society (1978) 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.Cawte, EC, Ritual Animal Disguise, p. 169, London, DS Brewer for the Folklore Society (1978)
In the South of France, in Belgium (the Ommegang de Termonde) and elsewhere, large hobby horses are carried by multiple performers; their hollow frameworks are constructed in various ways. The Danse du Baiar at Esquièze the dancers wear a wooden horse head in their breasts when dancing.
In Indonesia, flat silhouettes of horses are suspended between the dancers' legs (see individual entries, below).
Customs
Britain
May Day hobby horses
Padstow
The most famous traditional British hobby horses are probably those of the May Day 'Obby 'Oss festival in Padstow, 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: the Old 'Oss is decorated with white and red, and its supporters wear red scarves to show their allegiance; the Blue 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 of melodeons, 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.Hole, Christina (1978). A Dictionary of British Folk Customs, pp. 199–201, Paladin Granada,
Children sometimes make "Colt" 'Osses and hold their own May Day parades.
Minehead
At Minehead in Somerset there are three rival hobby horses, the Original Sailor's Horse, the Traditional Sailor's Horse and the Town Horse. They appear on May 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 . The horses' visits are (or were) believed to bring good luck.
In the past there was also a similar hobby horse based at the nearby village of Dunster, which would sometimes visit Minehead . The Minehead horse has also visited Dunster Castle on May Day.
Hunting the Earl of Rone At Combe Martin in Devon a custom called "The Hunting of the Earl of Rone" took place on Ascension Day until 1837, when it was banned. It was revived in 1974 and now takes place over the four days of Spring Bank Holiday. A fool and a hobby horse, accompanied by grenadiers, 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.Hole, Christina (1978). A Dictionary of British Folk Customs, pp 159–161, Paladin Granada,
Morris and other ritual dance
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there is evidence of an association between morris dancing and hobby horses. A hobby horse is depicted in a stained-glass window, dating from between 1550 and 1621, from Betley Hall, Staffordshire, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, directly below a maypole and surrounded by what appear to be morris dancers (accession no. C.248-1976).
A painting from c.1620, by an unknown artist, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, shows Morris dancers by the Thames at Richmond; their party includes a hobby horse.Fitzwilliam Museum - OPAC Record
The 1621 play The Witch of Edmonton, by William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford, features a group of Morris dancers with a hobby horse.
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. Early revival teams such as those from Bidford-upon-Avon and Ilmington incorporated a hobby-horse despite the lack of evidence of the morris tradition there including one. Some modern revival sides have extended their animal repertoire in various imaginative and appropriate ways, e.g. Pig Dyke Molly molly dancers, who wear black and white costumes and makeup, have a hobby zebra.
The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, once a Christmastime custom but by the late nineteenth century performed in September, features a tourney-style hobby horse. The horn dance seems to have begun as a hobby horse custom but has developed over time to emphasis the horn dance aspect – the first known mention of a hobby horse at Abbots Bromley predates the first record of the horns by 150 years, and the earliest source to mention the horns describes the custom as a hobby horse dance.
Other customs including hobby horses
Hodening or Hoodening 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 a Hooden 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 folklorist Violet Alford in 1952, has since been revived in various places.Hole, Christina (1978). A Dictionary of British Folk Customs, pp. 148–150, Paladin Granada, Alford, Violet (1952). Introduction to English Folklore, p. 57, Bell (no ISBN)
Laair Vane A Christmas and New Year custom from the Isle of Man, involving a white-painted wooden horse's head with red-painted snapping jaws, with a white sheet attached. 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 the Laair 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 of sword-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 the Laair Vane, and knelt with his head in her lap. Another person would question the fiddler about events in the coming year (particularly who would become Valentines) and his replies were believed to be true predictions.
Mari Lwyd