The Haxey Hood               
Next Haxey Hood  Friday 6 Jan  2017

Haxey Hood 2016

Click thumbnail for pics of Haxey Hood 2016

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Without doubt one of  the oldest local traditions in England, probably dating back to the fourteenth century, the Haxey Hood takes place on January 6th each year at Haxey, on the Southern border of the Isle of Axholme, in North Lincolnshire.

At around noon the Lord of the Hood and his Boggins begin a tour of the four public houses in the parish, The Carpenters Arms Westwoodside, the Kings, Low Street Haxey, The Loco and the Duke William, both Church street Haxey singing three traditional songs in each establishment, Farmers Boy, John Barleycorn and Drink Old England Dry (Canons). They then proceed to a mounting stone outside St Nicholas parish Church from which the Fool makes a speech of welcome, during which damp straw is placed at the foot of the block and lit. This generates a certain amount of smoke and is known as `Smoking the Fool', but it is only a watered down version of the ancient ritual which involved suspending the fool over a bonfire of smoking straw. This time honoured practice was abandoned years ago after an incident in where someone forgot to damp the straw and the Fool caught fire.

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The Lord paints the Fools face in the Carpenters Arms, Westwoodside

A drink with the landlord outside the Carpenters Arms

Boggins & supporters on the Buttercross outside the Kings, Haxey

The Lord leads the Boggins through Haxey

At the end of the Fool's speech, he urges the crowd on by proclaiming:

                         "Hoose agen Hoose, Toon agen Toon, 
                        If a man meets a man, knock  ' im doon, 
                                       But d’oant `ot’ im",

Which translates into  'House against House, Town against Town, if you meet a man, knock him down but don't hurt him'.

This indicates that the game of Haxey Hood is about to begin, and everyone proceeds to the field on nearby Upperthorpe Hill

Events begin with a few short games where the children chase after hoods made from tightly-rolled pieces of sacking and attempt to carry one off the field to a local pub, where they are rewarded wit £1, these are a merely a prelude to the main event. The main game of Haxey Hood is played with a 'hood' made up of a two-foot length of stout leather, this being the nearest modern equivalent that can be employed in place of the original hood which was allegedly a freshly slaughtered bullock's head.

The basic rules of the game are these; no one is allowed to run with the hood and no one is allowed to throw the hood, the game consists of one large rugby type scrum or 'sway' in which the Hood is pushed or pulled or 'swayed' in the desired direction. The object being to manoeuvre the Hood into one of the four public houses in the parish, with the game officially ending when the Hood is touched by the pub landlord standing on the front step of his establishment. The landlord then takes possession of the Hood and proudly displays it for the following year

There are no official teams as such, all participants simply join in and attempt to move the hood to their favoured public house. The Lord acts as referee as far as this is possible and the eleven Boggins have the task of rounding up any stragglers as well as attempting to protect property from any damage. It is this latter responsibility which is the most onerous as the sway is quite capable of demolishing the odd fence along the way and has on occasion severely dented carelessly parked motor vehicles.

Hearty singing of traditional songs in the Loco

Cheers! Outside the Loco

Raised glasses at the end of one of the songs, in the Duke William

The Fool about to be chased up to the mounting stone at the church

The official explanation for these fun and games is that sometime in the fourteenth century when Haxey, together with the rest of Axholme was owned by the Mowbray family,  the wife of John de Mowbray the local landowner, was riding across Upperthorpe Hill when a stiff wind whipped away her silk riding hood. There happened to be thirteen farm workers who were working nearby who thus rushed around the place trying to retrieve the hood. It was finally caught by one of the field hands who, feeling unable to approach the lady of the manor personally, handed it to one of his braver colleagues who duly handed it back to her. The Lady de Mowbray remarked that the worker who had actually caught the hood but failed to return it had acted as a fool, whilst he who had returned it had acted like a lord. She was however sufficiently impressed as to bestow thirteen acres of land to the parish on condition that the chase for the hood was re-enacted each year

It  has also been suggested that this official explanation is   nothing but a cover story invented to allow the villagers to continue with their enjoyment of a time honoured pagan ritual without interference from the authorities. Its survival into the modern era is a testament to the enthusiasm with which the modern day Englishman and woman will adopt any old excuse to spend most of the day down the pub. 

The Fool delivers his traditional speech while being smoked.

One of the many sway collapses

The Lord and Chief Boggin lead the events on the Hood field

Moving down Church St Haxey.

The Lord brings the Boggins together before the Hood proper is thrown up.

The Landlord of the Loco reaches out to touch the Hood and complete the game.

The start of the Sway, which can number up to 200

The Hood finally enters the Loco to end the days events