Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/370

340 Epworth-hood, is considered to have been originally derived from Haxey, was vigorously carried on, the goals being Churchtown and Westgate, and eventually the hood was carried amid loud cheers to the Wheat-Sheaf Inn in Westgate.

This year (1896) Mr. Bell visited Haxey on the Hood-day with the purpose of seeing the game as it is now played; and the following is his account of the proceedings.

"The hood is now kept up by subscription, or rather by begging. The boggans go round the parish and neighbourhood for a week or a fortnight before the date and collect what they can. This year, I believe, they got thirty or forty shillings. The boggans were originally twelve in number, but have now dwindled down to four or five. I saw only four on Monday. There is also 'My Lord' and a Fool. The company are called together at half-past two p.m. by the ringing of the church-bells, the place of assembly being the green, close by the churchyard. Here there is a stone, round which the people group themselves. On Monday My Lord with his fool and the boggans arrived on the scene at 2.50. The fool was dressed in a suit of old sacking, stitched all over with shreds of gaily-coloured cloth. He carried the hoods under his arm and a stout staff with a rabbit-skin slung to the end of it. Sometimes a bladder is used instead of the skin, and there is a good deal of horse-play with it, the fool being, of course, the butt of the village wit, and allowed to retaliate by hitting right and left with the bladder or whatever he carries. There was very little of this on Monday, however, as the hour was late. The fool was hoisted on the stone by My Lord, and the boggans grouped themselves close round. They were dressed in short red smocks with their caps grotesquely decorated. The fool then opened the proceedings by a speech. Formerly this was a great feature, being made the occasion of a good deal of topical wit and satire, but it is now a very tame affair, lasting only a couple of