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.