Only just found out about this today, having grown up in Derby and recently moved back here in 22', I have never heard of Old Tup, or 'The Derby Tup' before. I bet this goes back further than the 1800s. A lot of these folk traditions predate Christianity, and go back to Pagan times. It's great to see them still alive in the 21st century!. Surely this is also why Derby city and our Derby County Football Club have a ram mascot?.
We were out with the Mari Lwyd in Abergavenny on Saturday, the first time since the pandemic to my knowledge. But envied those in Chepstow who meet the English wassailers on the bridge over the Wye, exciting merger of British customs.
Kinda disappointing that the world record was 569 and the winner for 2018 got just 11! Doesn't seem like very many to me - I'm sure I could find more in my garden in 2 minutes!
My family came 2nd this year in plot 39. We only got 9 lol. The conditions were incredibly dry for the weeks running up to the competition so that's why literally no one got worms, as they'd all burrowed themselves deep underground
Called 'em dirt snakes. Now I'm talking about big old, fat earthworms, not the skinny little garden variety - those are for fishing. We always used a 6-volt car battery hooked up to two prods poked into the ground. Gather 'em up, slit 'em in half end-to-end & wash out the dirt, fry 'em in bacon grease or lard ... tasty & nutritious ... made a great BLT - ptf
Hi, the banners are for the local branch of Oddfellows (a bit like the way that Trade Union branches and Masonic lodges have their own banners) and I think the staves are to show the members' status as fully fledged members of the organisation (but I'm not a member myself so don't quote me on that!). Hope that helps!
The strange things is called braffin - it's a horse-collar and part of the equipment for harnessing a horse to a cart- and gurning competitions traditionally take place inside them and have done for many many years so it's a long tradition but I'm not sure how it started. And as far as I remember, each contestant chooses their own signature tune (a bit like the way boxers do when they enter the ring) but I'm not sure why they picked the songs they chose.. Hope that helps :)
