Saturday, February 21, 2009

Weird England

This I why I love England- it is full of nutters!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/derby/places/ashbourne_shrovetide_football/ashbourne_shrovetide_latest_news_feature.shtml

2 comments:

steve said...

Never heard of Shrove Tuesday before. Growing up with a Polish mother, we always celebrated "Paczki Day". She was an expert at creating those delicious deep fried polish donuts.

But in 1992, BR introduced me to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I haven't been the same since.

Richie said...

Herrad is a Trinidadian by birth (and nature) so Carnival is a big thing from her tradition. Port of Spain goes crazy for a few days every year. It is a focus of pride for the Island and they boast it is better than Rio or New Orleans
We live in the Protestant North of the Netherlands so no Carnival here- in the Catholic South of the country (Limburgh and such places) people are putting on funny costumes and prepare their livers for an ordeal.
In the drive to turn us English lazy drunken peasants into a disciplined industrial working class many of English traditions were banned- this is one survivor of a game that most villages played. The Protestant revivalists saw strange pointless rituals from the past as Satanic at best and Romanist at worst.
The only tradition that survived to my generation was eating tasteless pancakes served with sugar and lemon juice. I love folk music, art, dance and ritual. Britain has some weird pre-Christian traditions that survive- I will post on "Morris Dancing" soon- wow that is weird!