Summer: village greens and other public spaces become the venue for residents to hold parties, feasts, and fetes. Although village fetes are thought of as having been an established tradition for centuries, they mostly began just after the First World War, and replaced older feast times such as May Day when Morris Dancers and Maypole Dancing continued pagan traditions which had probably been celebrated since pre-Christian times. The season of outdoor gatherings continued from May to October, when, following the end of harvesting, Mop Fairs were established to enable landowners to recruit workers for the coming year. This year’s Cirencester Mops take place on Monday 9th and Monday 16th of October.
You’d be forgiven for thinking Harvest Festivals have been a part of the calendar for Parish Churches since Christianity began, but the first recorded festival took place in 1843 when The Reverend Robert Hawker in Morwenstow, Cornwall, established the ‘tradition’.
Right back to the beginning of the thirteenth century, charters were issued for markets and travelling fairs, and a thousand years later the charters continue to operate. Alongside the licensed outdoor parties, we have many extra distractions; there are countryside shows, with animals and horticultural exhibits, charity fundraisers, church bazaars, school and church fetes, agricultural shows and – as we almost had last month – raves!
It seems no costume drama is complete without some kind of outdoor gathering. Even radio soaps have their annual community events which represent the sense of local relationships and individuality. The Cheese Rolling on Cooper’s Hill began as a peculiarly quirky demonstration of the unique qualities of a place and its people, as also was the phenomenon of the ‘Cotsul Olimpicks’, which has now been an annual fixture each May for over 400 years, complete with the noble sport of shin-kicking.
Even for city dwellers, country pursuits have always held a special charm. A working holiday picking hops or fruit showed just how true it is that “a change is as good as a rest” and now laborious holidays are almost unknown, community events are becoming tourist attractions in their own right.
Back when the series started in 1950, BBC Radio’s “The Archers” presented “an everyday tale of countryfolk” and the fictional village of Ambridge gave city folk a vision of a rural paradise which was probably long gone even before the Second World War. The character of Walter Gabriel appeared to be untouched by any innovation which had entered life in farming communities since the sixteenth century. As a child, I pictured him as the character depicted on the Quaker Oats packet, and yet part of the intention behind the series was to encourage progressive farming technology; a mission which remains over seventy years later, as the series employs an agricultural story editor.
Last month The Archers seemed to get somewhat excited over a village fete featuring a ‘ferret wheel’, which failed to convince me that Ambridge was keeping up with current trends in village fetes. The ambitions of village fete organisers seem boundless, and even dressing up a bunch of polecats and sticking them on a small replica of the London Eye does not (as Shania Twain might sing, if booked for a celeb appearance at Little Bugging village fete) impress me much.
Jethro has – having reached the age of 14 – had a bad village fete season 2023 and has not yet won a single rosette in the fun dog shows. So, I console myself that here in Ciren we have Aerosuperbatics Wingwalkers from Rendcomb giving us all a free taste of the star attraction of many of the best outdoor festivals of the country. And I’m delighted to see Stratton’s yarn bombers chose them to adorn the post box last month.
To keep up to date with what´s going on in town, feel free to join our Facebook group by clicking here.
0 comments on “Country Matters by Arrowsmith: Village Pride”