Haxey Hood

Village gathering Lord of the Hood in red with staff

This is a 700 year old winter tradition in our village. It is the oldest tradition still practiced in England.  Lady De Mobray was riding through the fields on Jan 6^th 1359 when the wind blew off her hood. Thirteen laborers ran after it. The one who caught it was too embarrassed to hand it to her.  A fellow laborer took it and returned it to the lady. The original man she called a fool. The group though was rewarded with 13 acres of common land if every 6^th of January they would re-enact the chasing of the hood.

Fool with black face. Lord with hat behind him.

The morning starts with singing in the pub. The main figures are the fool, the lord and 11 boggins.  The fool is dressed and his face is blackened. At 2:00 the fool, the Lord of the Hood, and the boggins (helpers) process to the stone steps by the village church.  The fool tries to run and the boggins chase him down, and carrying him to stone steps by the church.  Straw is then lighted at his feet and he is smoked.

 

Fool being smoked while holding the Hood and giving speech.

While the smoke billows, he makes a speech. It ends with "hoose agen hoose, toon agen toon, if a man meets a man knock 'im doon, but doan't 'ot 'im," which translates as: "house against house, town against town, if a man meets a man, knock him down but don’t hurt him."  The village all chants this part with the fool. The games have officially begun.

Hood Field,  Haxey and St. Nicholas church in background

The village processes to the Hood field.  

Us with the fool

The boggins spread out around the edges in preparation for the kid’s part in the festivities.  There are 12 kids hoods made of burlap about 24 inches long and2 inches in diameter and floppy. The Lord throws out a hood of burlap and the children scramble to pick it up and run it off the field. 

Kids burlap hood. One of 12.

The boggins try and stop them and if caught the hood is taken from them returned to the middle of the field and thrown again.  If a child gets a hood off the field and to a pub they receive 2 pounds.

Our neighbor Susan rethrowing hood when it landed at her feet.

When the kids are done, the real scramble begins. The hood, stiff leather rolled up about 2ft long and 2-3 inches in diameter, is thrown up and when caught the opposing teams form a rugby scrum or sway to get the hood to their pub.

Lords staff is raised just before he throws the hood in the air.

There are 4 pubs vying for the hood.  The middle of the scrum had 4 men each with a hand on the hood.  The people, mostly men, surrounding these 4 them push the scrum the direction they want it to go. If it gets moving too fast the center figures fall over. 

Sway moving quickly

When that happens, hands are raised, pushing stops, the four are stood up while never letting go of the hood, and the pushing starts again.  The hood can’t be thrown or run with.  Occasionally the mob moves quickly, but most of the time it only goes a few feet before it topples over.

Sway near a pub. Pushing gets intense.

Each pub owner waits at their door. They must not go outside. They are waiting for the hood to be passed to them.  When they touch it from their door, they win. It can take until 7 or 8 pm before the hood will make it inside a pub. 

Sway and crowd making its way through the village.

This year it made it to the pub across the street from us by 5:30. The 6^th being a Monday may have lightened the crowds and made the pushing easier.

Hood being passed to the Land lady in the door. Look between the upright hands. 
The landlady is being held up above the crowd in the pub.

Most villages have trouble keeping one pub.  Haxey has 3 and the neighboring village Westwoodside, which also participates in the game, has one.  We were told that the 4 pubs make more money on this one day then the rest of the year. It is what keeps them open.