Fairfield Arts & Convention Center in Fairfield, Iowa • December 21, 2022
The traditional winter solstice Abbots Bromley Horn Dance was performed by local dancers under the direction of Jennifer Hamilton and with whistle accompaniment by Tim Britton.
The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is an English folk dance dating back to the Middle Ages. The dance takes place each year in Abbots Bromley, a village in Staffordshire, England. The modern version of the dance involves reindeer antlers, a hobby horse, Maid Marian, and a Fool.
There are no recorded references to the horn dance prior to Robert Plot's Natural History of Staffordshire, written in 1686. However, there is a record of the hobby horse being used in Abbots Bromley as early as 1532, and it is possible that the horn dance component of the custom was also present at that time but not commented upon by the writer. A carbon analysis discovered that the antlers used in the dance date to the 11th century.
According to some, the use of antlers suggests an Anglo-Saxon origin along with other native Anglo-Saxon traditions that have survived into modern times in various forms. It has been speculated, for example, that the dance originated in the pagan period and was connected with the ruling dynasty of Mercia, based some 15 miles away at Tamworth, who owned extensive hunting lands in Needwood Forest and Cannock Chase surrounding Abbots Bromley. On this theory, the royal forester would have organised sympathetic magic rituals to ensure a plentiful catch each year, a tradition that survived into Christian times and gradually came to be seen as affirming the villagers' hunting rights.
Even when the lands were granted to Burton Abbey in 1004 a forester would still need to have been employed. By the 16th century, when the abbey was dissolved, this was a hereditary position with the title "Forester of Bentylee" (Bentylee being the wooded area of the parish). From then until the 19th century the dance remained the traditional prerogative of the Bentley family, eventually passing to the Fowell family in 1914. The Fowells continue to run it to this day.
The Horn Dance attracts a large number of visitors to the village. As well as the dance itself, Wakes Monday sees a fair on the village green; Morris dancing; and numerous other attractions. The right to hold this fair was granted to the village in 1221.
The dancers return to the village in the early afternoon, and make their way around the pubs and houses. Finally, at about 20:00, the horns are returned to the church, and the day is concluded with a service of Compline.
The "horns" are six sets of reindeer antlers, three white and three black. In 1976, a small splinter was radiocarbon dated to around 1065. Since there are not believed to have been any reindeer in England in the 11th century, the horns must have been imported from Scandinavia. However, it is equally mysterious as to why this should have been done and by whom. If the antlers were imported it must have been near the date of their growth-dropping. It is, therefore, just as likely that reindeer did survive somewhere in England at that period.
The six sets of "horns" were formerly kept in the tower of St Nicholas Church, being hauled into position on the walls by ropes. In "recent years" (1920s-1930s) special brackets were provided for them in the Hurst Chapel in the church where they were mounted on wooden heads carved by village craftsmen. The horns were brought from Constantinople (present day Istanbul) by Lord Paget, who was British Ambassador to Turkey in the 18th century, but the original horns went back centuries before that, it being surmised that they date from a time when there were reindeer in this country. The heaviest of the horns is 36 pounds and one of the horns has 36 points.
Cecil Sharp gives two versions of the music. In his 1911 written description of the dance Sharp says he saw it being performed to "Yankee Doodle" and another simple melody in G major in 4/4 time. However, in his preface to the sheet music (dated 1912) Sharp says that he had received a version from a Mr. J. Buckley, who had noted down the music in 1857 or 1858 from "the fiddling of William (or Henry) Robinson, a wheelwright of Abbots Bromley, who was famous at the time as the only man who could play the Horn Dance air." This version has three sections in G and C minor, in 6/8 time.
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Video produced by Werner Elmker Audio-Visual Studio
Werner Elmker is an award-winning independent Danish/American multimedia artist specializing in videography, photography, graphic design and piano/keyboard/vocal music. In his visual and musical creations, Werner emphasizes the importance of improvisation as the primary source of all great art forms.
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