A massive wooden head with snapping jaw mechanism, real horns and hair. Photo from 1883-1891.  The Dorset Ooser has possible connections to the horned costumes sometimes worn by participants in English Mummers plays. The etymology of Ooser is also disputed, with various possibilities available, but I think it's most likely the same as the Oss, a snapping skull paraded around during midwinter. The pronunciation is very similar, and it's simply a way of saying "horse" without pronouncing the h. These teeth-gnashing heads are also known as 'obby 'oss or hobby horse.  One use of the Dorset Ooser was to strike fear into villagers who were perceived as shameful. Usually the target was an unruly wife who had disobeyed her husband by raising her voice, scolding him, beating him, or cheating on him. A woman who was perceived as a bad wife was forced to ride backwards on a donkey or horse while the angry Ooser snapped his jaw at her and a crowd of villagers beat their...

My trees, real and fake! What is Christmas/Yule without a twinkling fir tree, laden with baubles? It has been a custom to decorate spaces with greenery for festivals since pre-Christian times. Medieval churches purchased holly and ivy for Christmas decorations. In the town of Rye, holly twigs were wound up with broom and candles placed among them. Private homes were decorated likewise, with holly inside and ivy on the porch, and anything else that could be found green at that time of year, like rosemary, bay laurel, yew, box, broom, and mistletoe. The Protestant reformers weren't keen on all this "paganism" and sought to ban Yuletide festivities altogether. Christmas decorations disappeared between 1645 and 1660 when Christmas was actually illegal in England. When Christmas made a comeback, the 'kissing bush' was invented. The custom of kissing under a bush of foliage, five or six feet round, spread across the whole of England by the nineteenth century. Elab...

I feel like this year I am extra excited about Christmas... Yule.... Winter Solstice.... New Year..... New Moon.... all of the above! I wrap the whole lot up into one festive bundle, because to me it's all about new beginnings and celebrating the growing light of the sun. It is terribly dark in Dorset right now. The sun goes down at 4pm, and the little sunlight there is has to fight its way through layers upon layers of knitwear. It's cold. I know that right now it is only going to get colder and darker. But after the Winter Solstice, the days will actually increase in daylight hours, and by the end of February, the temperature will actually be getting warmer! And there will be little flowers! And buds of fresh leaves on the trees! All we have to do is hold on and wait it out... ok, it's not like we're in a blizzard, it's doubtful we'll get any snow before the new year, and even then it's just a light dust on coastal towns. But when the beach is glitteri...