HAXEY HOOD GAME - Haxey, Lincolnshire January 6th This event takes place on Twelfth Night (new calendar) or Old Christmas Day (old calendar) The Haxey Hood Game in Yorkshire is another instance: a huge football scrum, like a beast with its own life, as two villages fight for possession of a chunk of wood, the goal being their own village pub, where the 'hood' is put up over the bar. There was once an actual hood, belonging to the squire's wife, Lady Mowbray. The referee wore a flowered top hat. "Licensed anarchy fueled by beer," he called it. Bottle kicking in Northamptonshire is similar. This has no referee, but there are unwritten rules, like not killing anyone!
The Fool makes a traditional speech of welcome. He holds aloft the "Hood" which is actually a roll of canvas. In the week or so before the event, the Fool and his Boggans tour nearby villages and outlying farms in order both to collect money to pay for the festivities and to remind local people that the event is coming round. Traditionally they sing a number well-known folk songs including John Barleycorn, Drink England Dry and The Farmer's Boy. All wear their festival costumes except that the Fool's face is not smeared.
The actual ceremonies begin in the early afternoon with a procession by the Fool and his 12 Boggans along the village street to the green outside the church. The Chief or King Boggan carries a wand of 13 willow twigs bound with 13 willow (or withy) bands which is his badge of office. He and all his team traditionally wear scarlet flannel coats and wreathe their hats with red flowers. In practice, many of the ordinary Boggans wear a red sweater or shirt, or at least wears something red in their garb.
The Fool leads the procession and has the right to kiss any woman on the way. His face is smeared with soot and red ochre and he wears old trousers sewn with red patches. His shirt or coat is also red and he wears red flowers in his feathered hat. He carries a whip and a sock filled with bran, with which he belabors anyone who comes within reach. Once at the green, the Fool makes a traditional speech of welcome. During his speech a fire is lit with damp straw behind him; the smoke billows up and around him - this being known as Smoking the Fool
Haxey is a large parish on the southern border of the Isle of Axholme. It now consists of the two large villages of Haxey and Westwoodside with the hamlets of Burnham (High and Low), Eastlound and Graiselound (or Craiselound as it is referred to by some people). In earlier days Westwoodside was divided into Park, Newbigg, Nethergate, Upperthorpe (or Overthorpe) and Commonside and these names are frequently found in the Parish Registers.
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