Today being St. Ealdhelm's Day, the patron saint of Wessex, we feel its a good opportunity to look at England's traditional regions. Though some may have disputed boundaries, and some present day counties such as Kent and Essex were once kingdoms in their own right, the image below shows basically the traditional regional make up of England, as well as one which could be used for any devolved regional powers. Cultural England will be working to revive regional recognition as well as specific days of celebration within these regions. As already mentioned, Wessex already has its on day, St.Ealdhelm's Day on May 25th, as does Mercia on St. Chad's Day on March 2nd, and East Anglia who share England's original patron saint, St. Edmund with the celebration day being November 20th.
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The counties of England are a significant thread to the cultural make up of England. Growing in popularity are 'County Days', when residents can fly the flag of their county and hold celebrations. Whilst the majority of counties have their own specific day, sadly a number do not. Cultural England has listed these and offered dates when these could take place. We would like to work with people who share our passion and that have pride in their county. In addition to this we will shortly be promoting Regional Days. In this modern age its sometimes hard to forget the England was a number of independent kingdoms, yet there exists much history within these sometimes forgotten realms as well as a sense of regional identity, and it is for this reason we shall be promoting Regional Days and recognition in the not too distant future. In the meantime you can find a list of our county days at the following link https://culturalengland.weebly.com/county-days.html This strange tale of long lost folklore starts over a thousand years ago, probably in the years after the Roman exit from Britain. During this time, it is thought that local pagan priests often performed fertility rituals on local couples looking to conceive. To boost their ‘power’, these priests would wear masks representing pagan gods, although the appearance of these masks would often have been rather grotesque and sometimes even made out of the heads of local animals! Little is known about these strange and ancient rituals, and by the 19th century the Ooser’s original meaning had long been forgotten. Maybe research and a variation of these events could happen in the future, helping to keep alive part of England’s (and that of Wessex) historical cultural thread. In some Dorset towns such as Shillingstone, the Ooser mask had become the ‘Christmas Bull’, representing a terrifying creature that roamed through the streets of Dorset villages at the end of the year demanding food and drink from the local populace. As a further disregard for this once treasured piece of lore, the mask was even used for frightening children or taunting unfaithful husbands! In the 17th century, the mask was being used for a custom known as the ‘Skimmington Riding’. This rather peculiar custom was essentially a rowdy parade of locals, riding through the streets of their local towns demonstrating against immoral acts such as adultery, witchcraft and even for a man’s ‘weakness in his relationship with his wife’. In these cases the perpetrators would be forced to participate in the parade, no doubt causing a rather large amount of humiliation and teaching them a good old lesson! To create a somewhat sinister ambience to the parade, the Dorset Ooser mask was often worn by one of the more senior members of the crowd as a gesture of derision. It is thought that at one time nearly every Dorset town and village would have had their own Ooser, but by the beginning of the 20th century only one was left, at Melbury Osmond. Unfortunately this last Ooser mask disappeared in 1897, with rumours suggesting that it had been stolen and sold to a wealthy American, or perhaps to a Dorset witch coven. There is, however, a replica of the Melbury Osmond mask currently on show in the Dorset County Museum, and every year it is used by Morris dancers as part of the May Day celebrations at the Cerne Abbas Giant. |
AboutLaunched on St.George's Day 2020, Cultural England, was formed to help protect and promote England’s social history and celebrations. Whilst there are organisations such as the National Trust and English Heritage which do a wonderful job in preserving our historic buildings, there has lacked a body which protects the social thread of England through its social history and celebrations. Cultural England intends to fill that gap in an inclusive atmosphere where all who live in England, irrespective of race, creed and colour. Archives
October 2021
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