Books
Discordant Comicals:
The Hooden Horse of East Kent
Hoodening is an ancient calendar custom unique to East Kent, involving a wooden horse’s head on a pole, carried by a man concealed by a sack.
The earliest reliable record is from 1735, but other than Canterbury solicitor Percy Maylam’s seminal work The Hooden Horse, published in 1909, little serious research has gone into the tradition.
George Frampton has rectified this, by taking Maylam as a starting point then cross-referencing dozens of newspaper reports, census records and other accounts – including several from Archæologia Cantiana – to build a comprehensive picture of who the Hoodeners were, why (and where) they did it, how it related to other folk traditions, and why the custom appeared to die out from time to time.
He then goes beyond Maylam to look at the ‘demise’ of Hoodening in around 1921, its widely heralded ‘revival’ in 1966 and discovers that this narrative is quite misleading, as several Hooden Horses were still active throughout that period. He includes descriptions of the current teams and supplies plentiful appendices detailing past participants, but the article explains that dowsing is all about a nervous reaction and nothing more. The scientist in question told me off the record that he believed dowsing worked, but the article in question would not have been published if he had said as much.
Nevertheless, these days, I am a professional water diviner, and last year alone I carried out more than sixty assignments for clients. Interestingly, these clients, all of whom are successful in their fields, all know about the potential efficacy of dowsing.
If any members of the KAS would like to be introduced to this fascinating subject, please get in touch at J.Baker864@btinternet.com, and I will happily arrange a workshop.
Yours sincerely,
John Baker
Full indices make it easy for modern Men and Maids of Kent to check whether their ancestors might have been involved, and detailed references make this an invaluable resource for social historians too. The book features over 70 full-colour illustrations.
Format: Royal Octavo hardback
Published: 1 December 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9931587-7-3
Length: 250 pages
Available: All good booksellers (offline and online), or direct from the publisher (see www.ozaru.net)
