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| The Egg Dance |
Very few times of pleasure and joy existed. Love, sex, family, and successful amounts of food to eat were about it. But there had to be more to life.
Communities pulled together in whatever hell was going on around them. With this unity and great imagination, they found other ways to raise their joy in different ways.
The English are truly creative in this. I know that all countries are as well, but the information on the English is readily available. Crazy people, them.
Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake: Competitors must race down a steep hill, chasing and trying to catch a round of cheese (preferably a double Gloucester cheese) as it rolls and plummets to the bottom of the hill.
Dwile Flonking: Competitors use a pole to launch beer-soaked cloth at opponents. Missing a target twice results in the flonker must quickly down a pot/pint of ale before the opposing team can pass a soaked cloth to each other.
Ferret Legging: Ferrets are trapped in trousers worn by the participant. The winner is the last one to release his/her ferret.
Wellie Wanging: Competitors must hurl a Wellington boot as far as possible within boundary lines from a running or standing start.
Shin-Kicking or hacking or purring (from the early 17th century): Two contestants attempt to kick each other in the shins, to force their opponent to the ground.
Numerous YouTube videos are available to elaborate on these games. Although these community games date back centuries, interest has resurged and have developed a following along with rules and awards.
YouTube Shin Kicking Championship 2019
hosted by Glouscester
History has taken some detours and games have evolved. Good or bad. But people have always known how to party.
Love the English celebration of eccentricity. Bog snorkelling (while more modern) has always made me smile.
ReplyDeleteI didn't put that one down. there were sooo many crazy games.
DeleteI'll have to simulate a Dwille Flonking contest with my son! The ferret thing had me humming, "the day the squirrel went berserk, in the First Self-Righteous Church, in that sleepy little town of Pascagoula..."
ReplyDeleteRay Stevens was brilliant! I listened to that many times, giggled each time.
DeleteGreat post. The past was indeed a bad time. These diversions were so interesting. For some reason the cheese roll sounds appealing. I would love to give it a try!
ReplyDeleteI think you'd need life and injury insurance. This game has gotten pretty brutal. It is all those millennials.
Deletehaha I think I'd pass on the ferret in my pants.
ReplyDeleteProbably a wise decision.
DeleteI've heard of the Cheese Rolling event and the Wellie Tossing event, but the others are new to me. The Ferret Down the Pants one sounds terrifying!
ReplyDeleteOne would think. A guy would have to be pretty darn drunk.
DeleteIt is good that people can find diversions, especially when they can get their children to put down their electronics.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that amazing in itself.
DeleteI draw the line at the ferret thing. The rest have a certain charm!
DeleteFerrets must have developed when a bunch of men were rip roaring drunk.
DeleteHighly recommended: http://www.bouncethemovie.com/
ReplyDeleteIt's about 1 hour, 15 minutes long. One of the best documentaries I've ever seen, all about this sort of stuff and more.
No Ferret-Legging, though.
Then I must watch it.
DeleteFerret-Legging. Now I have heard everything. At least they aren't flinging the ferrets at the other team's faces.
ReplyDeletethat might be less painful.
DeleteOh my gosh! The ferret thing! Just the thought is terrifying. If coerced into participating, I'd let my ferret loose straightaway, and yell, "I LOSE!" I saw the cheese-rolling on The Amazing Race. I laughed so hard I cried.
ReplyDeleteWhy people would create the ferret event is beyond me.
DeleteThey still do that cheese thing. I saw a video of it not too long ago.
ReplyDeleteThat gets pretty wild now.
DeleteThere are quite a few of such celebrations. There are also burning of old man winter in effegy, a burry man celebration or two, and horn dances are still popular. What's really fun is to research which of these traditions have been going on almost uninterrupted for anywhere from a hundred to almost a thousand years.
ReplyDeletethat would be interesting reading, for sure.
DeleteMany of those remind me of games we played as children. They might have been altered a bit but they are still the same.
ReplyDeleteSame here. Seeing the write up from Wikipedia, I can see the similarities.
DeleteI had no idea the aim of the cheese rolling was to catch the cheese. I thought the winner was the cheese which reached the bottom of the hill first with the least amount of damage. Some of the other games sound pretty dangerous, but so is football.
ReplyDeleteIn Switzerland, big wheels of cheese are brought down from the mountains on a small sled. that became a game where those wheels are rolled down with competitors doing all sorts of things.
DeleteSo sad that these traditions are disappearing, together with the character of our villages, Susan. There are so many people settling here and bringing with them different ways of life. I now know what those Anglo-Saxons felt when William 1 arrived with his new tangled ideas 🤗
ReplyDeleteIsn't that true. The face of the villages are changing. Next thing you'll know, someone will build a WalMart.
DeleteWilliam 1 also changed the face of the country.
These games sound mostly male oriented as I can’t imagine a woman putting a ferret up her pants. We have more sense, besides, we would be needed to bandage up all these “fun loving” daredevils.
ReplyDeleteWomen are the ones who clean up after. Can't imagine women doing anything so stupid.
DeleteAmazing you can come up with this. I think the Ferret Legging has the 'toughest' mental picture to handle. HA! Great read lady, But I must admit I would prefer a 'Shin-dig' to the shin kicking.!!!!
ReplyDeleteOUCH
Sherry & jack
The ferret game is the most insane. Ferrets are wild animals, not pets!
DeleteOh, my word! That shin-kicking was crazy! And the names! Flonk that dwile!
ReplyDeleteOh, those English.
DeleteThose games sound interesting and fun. I would skip the shin-kicking game. That sounds rough and not fun like. :)
ReplyDeleteAh, well. It's the English for you.
DeleteYou know the British well.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
British mystery show "Midsomer Murders" shows many towns where fete' and annual gatherings show many of the unique games that fascinate me.
DeleteFrom the time they created a weapon, man always been at war. It's only now until the age of nuclear weapons, that men aren't being forced to fight a rich man's war.
ReplyDeleteThat is true. Ferret legging came about because the wealthy valued ferrets as keeping rats out of dwellings. So, the game happened.
DeletePicture this, two of us sit down and I make a statement about your past. I've always been a good judge. If I get it right you take a drink, wrong I take a drink and we take turns. Whoever is sober enough to stand up at the end is the winner.
ReplyDeleteWorks for me.
DeleteHi Susan,
ReplyDeleteSo true! Interesting bit of information.
No dearth of conflict and bloodshed even now.
Not surprising that these games are getting sort of resurrected and reformatted.
Thanks for your comment, and for stopping by.
Deletei loved this post dear Susan :)
ReplyDeletehubby and me often discuss about human suffering caused by wars and epidemics specially when we watch historical shows
we find that man of this planet has hardly seen a peaceful time after two world wars
social and all other kind of stability has taken place and people can take breath and focus on enjoyment
haha i find video interesting ,new game ,it was nice to know that players hit on grass lol
Games do reflect the pain of the times.
DeleteHmmm, sounds like boxing:)
ReplyDeleteNasty, isn't it.
DeleteOne of my least notable actions in life is to have taken part in a wellie wanging competition, in which I did not even come close to winning.
ReplyDelete