Hobby Horse Dance Research Paper
The Hobby-Horse Dance is a form of ceremonial dance found in the West Country of England. The central figures of the dance include a man covered with a cloak and wearing a horse mask. The most famous example I read about from Rippon was this, ”In England the hobby-horse is very much alive still at Padstow and Minehead celebrating the coming of spring. And throughout all the written references we can't fail to perceive in all the animal guisers bringers in of fertility at the turn of the year” (Rippon 12). I found it very interesting that there are so many different customs and variants that include this sort of traditional hobby-horse dance, ranging from England, Austria, Belgium, France, and many more. In terms of folklore and how
traditional customs are passed through a community via word of mouth and through actions made me think of the uprising of horsehead masks in in the United States around 2003, in which an influx of horsehead masks started being bought and worn by people and eventually morphed from a novelty into an internet-meme. I initially had this thought simply because of the horse costume resemblance, but more importantly as I continued to analyze this subject, I genuinely find it compelling how trends like this arise and hold significance in our current culture. Similar to how Rippon and others claim to not know the exact meaning or purpose of these traditions other than being a part of ceremonial dances, celebrating the change in seasons, and mainly bringing about joy - we can say the same thing about the trend of the horsehead mask in the United States – we aren’t sure as to why their popularity happened, all we are sure of is that it generates feelings of mirth and provides a distraction from everyday life within our culture. In the end, regardless of what these ceremonial music and dance traditions true purpose is, these traditions ultimately promote positive thinking and lift up people’s spirits and for that alone they deserve to be appreciated and examined.
traditional customs are passed through a community via word of mouth and through actions made me think of the uprising of horsehead masks in in the United States around 2003, in which an influx of horsehead masks started being bought and worn by people and eventually morphed from a novelty into an internet-meme. I initially had this thought simply because of the horse costume resemblance, but more importantly as I continued to analyze this subject, I genuinely find it compelling how trends like this arise and hold significance in our current culture. Similar to how Rippon and others claim to not know the exact meaning or purpose of these traditions other than being a part of ceremonial dances, celebrating the change in seasons, and mainly bringing about joy - we can say the same thing about the trend of the horsehead mask in the United States – we aren’t sure as to why their popularity happened, all we are sure of is that it generates feelings of mirth and provides a distraction from everyday life within our culture. In the end, regardless of what these ceremonial music and dance traditions true purpose is, these traditions ultimately promote positive thinking and lift up people’s spirits and for that alone they deserve to be appreciated and examined.