The 'Fool', who represents the boy who found the Hood but was too shy to return it to Lady de Mowbray. His face is marked with soot to represent the smoking of the fool: he has a straw fire lit underneath his plinth as he gives his speech (so it's not actually blackface).
It was this Fool's first Game and he'd been drinking for a solid 12 hours at this point!
Haxey village sign, commemorating the game. Featured is the Chief Boggin. The traditional song is also inscribed:
"Hoose agen hoose, toon agen toon. If you see a man in the street, knock im doon. But don't 'ot him."
"But don't (hurt) him" is a relatively modern addition, suggesting the game was more of a mass brawl at one point.
Some more pictures from yesterday's #HaxeyHood game.
1) Local children pose with the Lord of the Hood and the Hood itself.
At some point Lady de Mowbray's hood morphed into this 3ft leather cylinder, presumably to make something strong and durable enough to survive the 'game'. Feel quite proud to have gotten my hand on the Hood in the Sway!
On this day in the Lincolnshire village of Haxey, the tradition of the Haxey Hood takes place.
This local tradition, which is said to be about seven hundred years old, commemorates the fact that in the mid-14th century a hood, worn by the wife of one baron Mowbray, blew away while she was out riding and a number of local labourers chased after it.
Lady Mowbray is said to have given each man half an acre of land on the condition that they re-enact the event every year.
So who was this Lady Mowbray?
John De Mowbray who died in 1361, was the 3rd Baron Mowbray of Axholme, he had three wives, Maud de Holland, Joan of Lancaster and Elizabeth de Vere. His son, the 4th Baron also named John, was the son of Joan of Lancaster, he was born in Epworth in Lincolnshire in 1340, and his wife was Elizabeth Seagrave.
My money's on it being Elizabeth Seagrave.
This modern event has a number of men, who after much roaming around the village, end up in what is known as Haxey Field. Lady Mowbray's hood is thrown high into the air where it must be captured and carried out of the field while others fight to keep it within the fields boundaries.
#lincolnshire #haxey #haxeyhood #tradition #14thcentury #mowbray #notmyphoto
Kenny Kravitz
Andrea Povey