The Collection

Weather Tales

“You can learn everything you need to know about the weather this week by walking outside before breakfast. Enjoy the sunrise. “

Wet Weather Ahead…

A Macquarie Valley farmer has noted that before significant rains, there is an increase in sightings of echidna.

Ants building raised nests usually indicate impending wet weather.

Dry Spells Ahead…

Emus nesting in the gilguys suggest drought lies ahead. – (gilguys are a depression or hollow in the ground)

Contributions from Dan in America:

A ring around the moon at night indicates wet weather coming. The closer the ring to the moon, the sooner the wetness will appear.

House flies are particularly persistent pests before an impending cold spell in early winter.

And of course… Biblical referenced, as well as taught in Harriett Fordyce’s elementary school science class… “Red at night, sailor’s delight, Red in the morning, sailors take warning.” (Sunrise or sunset color foretells short-term weather events).

The presence of cirrus clouds high in the sky during fair weather indicates an approaching storm front.

A heavy dew in the morning will prevent rain that night.

SYDNEY WEATHER LORE

F. Fowler, J859 Memoirs. Mitchell Library

Having mentioned, in passing, a hot wind, let me endeavour to convey some notion of what a hot wind really is. It is early morning, and as you look from your window, in the suburbs of Sydney, you see a thin white vapour rising from the far-off bush. The sheep out there in the distance are congregated beneath the trees, while the old cows are standing knee-deep in those clayey creeks of water that trickle from the heaped-up rocks above. You have seen all this before, and know too well what it means. Before breakfast time, there will be a hot wind.

It comes. The white earth cracks as it passes over it as though it were a globe of crystal struck by one invisible and mighty hand. The air is hot and murky, as the breath from an oven; and you see trees whither – the fruit shrivel and drop from the vines – as though the Last Seal were opened and the breath of the Destroying Angel had gone forth. The cicadas seem to shriek (their shrill note is always shrillest in hot weather), and the birds drop dead from the trees. The dogs in the street, lie down and hide their dry protruding tongues in the dust. Higher and higher rises the Mercury in the glass, until now, at noon, it stands at 147F! You stop up every keyhole and crevice in your room to keep out the burning Sirocco, and endeavour, perhaps, to read. In a minute stars dance before your eyes, and your temples throb like pulses of hot iron You allow the book to fall from your hands, and strive to drop to sleep. It is not much relief if you succeed, for you are safe to dream of the Inferno or Beckford’s Hall of Eblis. There is only one thing you can do that gives relief. Light your pipe, mix your sherry-cobbler, and smoke and drink until the change arrives. The ‘Southerly Buster’, as this change is called, generally comes

‘Sounding on,
Like the storm-wind from Labrador,
The wind furodydon,’

nearly in the evening. A cloud of dust – they call it, in Sydney, a ‘brickfielder’ – thicker than any London fog, heralds it’s approach, and moves like a compact wall across the country. In a minute the temperature will sink fifty or sixty degrees, and so keenly does the sudden change affect the system, that hot toddy takes the place of the sherry-cobbler, and the greatcoat is buttoned tightly around you until a fire can be lighted. Now, if you look from your window in the direction where you saw that white vapour ascending in the morning, a spectacle terrible in its magnificence will meet your eye. For miles around Û as far as the gaze can reach Û bush fires are blazing. You see the trail of flame extending into the interior until it glows faint and thin along the hill-tops as though a wounded deer had moved, bleeding upon the road. Nearer, however, the sight is grand and awful, and hints the Final Apocalypse when the stars fall like those charred branches that drop with a thunderous crash and scatter a cloud of glowing embers around them.

No matter where you live in Sydney, looking from your window across the harbour into the sur-rounding bush, you can always see sights like this after a hot wind. The reflection upon the water itself is very fine. The emerald changes into ruby Û the water into wine. The white sails of boats become a ‘purple’ and Ïtheir prows of beaten goldÓ. Everything seems bathed in an atmosphere of romance, and, if the impression were not lowered by the idea, the sheets of flame in the distance might be taken for the crimson walls of Aladdin’s palace gleaming through the woods. Sometimes these hot winds last two or three days, and then the effects are something lamentable. Scarcely a blade of vegetation is left in the ground Ûthe sere leaves fall from the trees as in a blast of autumn. The same week that I landed in Sydney, a hot wind lasted for four days, on the last of which no less than thirty persons dropped dead in the streets. I remember I had a little garden to my house, and the white-stemmed jessamine (sic: jasmine) was in full flower in front of the lower windows. Before the wind was over nothing remained but a bunch of dry sticks, set to the wall by the pieces of doth with which they were fastened. But I have witnessed other phenomena in Australia as remarkable – if not as terrible – as a hot wind, and I must therefore pass on.

SPECIAL DAYS

WATTLE DAY – – 1st August

The sweet Australian Wattle is the emblem of our land,
You can stick it in a bottle, or hold it in your hand.

(I’m not sure where I got the above ditty from but it smacks of comedian Barry Humphreys)
 

On September 20, 1889 William Sowden, later to be knighted, an Adelaide journalist and Vice President of the Australian Natives Association in South Australia suggested the formation of a Wattle Blossom League. Its aims, set down in 1890, were to “promote a national patriotic sentiment among the woman of Australia”. One way of doing this was to wear sprigs of wattle on all official occasions. After an enthusiastic start the group folded. However, their presence inspired the formation of a Wattle Club in Melbourne. During the 1890s parties were led into the country on September 1 each year to view the wattles.

 
The concept of Wattle Day grew stronger and spread to NSW where the Director of the Botanic Gardens, J H Maiden called a public meeting on August 20, 1909 with the aim of forming a Wattle Day League. As a result of this meeting the first Wattle day was held on September 1, 1910 in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. On that day the Adelaide committee sent sprigs of Acacia pycnantha to the Governor of the state of South Australia. It was this wattle that became accepted as the official floral emblem.
 

 
Celebration of Wattle Day reached its height during World War 1. The day was used to raise funds for the war effort and many trees were denuded in order to supply the many sprigs of wattle sold on that day. Boxes of wattle were sent to soldiers in hospitals overseas and it became a custom to enclose a sprig of wattle with each letter to remind our soldiers of home. After the war Wattle Day was kept alive in schools. In 1917 however the date of Wattle Day was changed to August 1, for convenience, as that year had an early spring! In 1937 another date change, this time back to September 1st as this was the start of the school holidays!
 

 
Now as every one knows Wattle Day is officially September 1st. The Spicer’s desk calendar has the following quote for September 1st this year “The soft golden wattle blooms brightly in Spring; So why do we still call the daffodil, King?”
 

EMPIRE DAY – – May 24

 
As a kid at school in the 1950s we used to celebrate Empire Day. The most notable event on the day was the appearance of a brightly coloured aluminium bottle top, bearing the British Union Jack, on our free school milk. To us the day was closely associated with Bonfire Night. – WF
 

 
Here is an extract of an address in the Daily Telegraph, May 1924.
 

BONFIRE NIGHT or CRACKER NIGHT – – 5th November

 
When I was a kid in the 1950s Bonfire or Cracker night was one of the highlights of the year. It was customary for the children of the street to build a bonfire out of just about anything flammable. There was great rivalry between streets to see who could build the most impressive bonfire. We lived on the beach at Brighton-le-sands and the entire strip of the beach was dotted with bonfires, often over ten metres tall. We also added a ‘Guy Fawkes’ effigy to the top, often in an old wooden chair. The bonfires were guarded and everyone dreaded the possibility of sabotage Ò a premature burning in the middle of the night. When the big night came all the kids brought their bags of crackers and the whole beach had a party atmosphere that is missing in these later days.
 

GUY FAWKES DAY

 
Cracker night was also celebrated with pranks Ò especially placing ‘double bungers’ (an extremely loud firework) in letterboxes. One unsavoury prank involved placing dog poo in a brown paper bag, placing it on someone’s doorstep, lighting the paper and then ringing the doorbell. The theory being that the householder would open the door, see the burning bag and stomp on it (and the dog poo). Argh childhood fun! –
 

 
WF
Oh please remember the 5th of November
Gunpowder treason and plot
I have no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot
Holler boys, holler boys
God save the king
Holler boys holler boys
God save the queen.

 
– From R Ridley’s grandmother.
 

 
From The Sydney Illustrated News Nov 1867.
 

 
“Considerable amusement was erected on Guy Fawkes Day by the appearance of five guys in costumes to represent the Windsor uniform and one female being placed in front of Parliament House Ò about the time the members were assembling for business. The ragged brigade were marshalled by the Flying Pieman who was evidently coached for the occasion and delivered what he called a political oration portion of which ran thus:

ARBOR DAY – – 20 June

 
Arbor Day in Australia was first observed on 20 June 1889, in Adelaide, and was organised by Mr J. Ednie-Brown, the South Australian Woods and Forests Department’s first conservator. In Ednie-Brown’s 1896-97 Annual Report, as conservator of the West Australian Woods and Forests Department, he mentions the supply of surplus seedlings for various purposes, including Arbor Day. In Victoria, it was first observed in 1909.
In Western Australia, the celebration of this day was provided for in the Forests Act 1919 and now the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984. The date for its celebration is fixed each year by the Minister for Conservation and Land Management to coincide with the Day of Trees during Western Australia Week.
 

MAY DAY – – May 1st

 
In 1884, the 1st of May 1886 had been chosen as the day the Federation of Organised Trade and Labour Unions of the United States and Canada had earmarked “as the date from and after which eight hours shall constitute a legal days labour”. On the 1st May 1886, Australia’s first anarchist organisation was formed – The Melbourne Anarchist Club.
 

MAY DAY SWEEP’S PARADE

 
It was common for Sydney and Melbourne sweeps to have a May Day procession of sweeps who carried a well-blackened individual in a sedan chair covered with bushes Ò tea tree or kunzia Ò this was their Jack in the Green. Coins were gratefully accepted from the crowds and used to buy ale after the procession.
 

May Day is celebrated in Australia as a commemoration of Labour and the eight-hour day. It is celebrated by a city street march. Some unions produced colourful folk-style banners. The maritime unions were particularly interesting.
 

FRIDAY 13th

 
This day appears with regularity and has always been associated with bad luck. This superstition dates to the number 13 being generally seen as unlucky. It originates with the Last Supper having 13 at the table.
 

• An itchy palm means you will come into money
• small black spiders often appear when rain is due and are often referred to as ‘money spiders’ and considered lucky.
• Cover mirrors in storm as they attract lightning
• In Greece they drop salt on chair offered to visitors – so they leave quickly.
• If you sill dry tea you spill tears
• Shoes on a bed or table
• Don’t sweep floors after sundown – death in family
• Sing before breakfast cry before tea
• Seagulls fly inland means storm
• Ants climbing fences and walls
• Frogs and fishes in rain

AUSTRALIAN HOLIDAYS

 
These are sometimes referred to as ‘bank holidays’ as the banking institutions, and most other government and major corporate entities, are closed for business. Sometimes certain holidays are celebrated on different dates, depending on the State or Territory.
 

LABOUR DAY

 
Introduced in 1871, celebrates the eight-hour working day. In NSW it is held on the 1st October each year.
 

AUSTRALIA DAY – – 26th January

Celebrates the foundation of Australia.
 

QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY – – June 8th each year

 
Refers to the current Queen of England.
 

EASTER

 
There are several ‘Holy Days’ celebrated at Easter including Good Friday. Custom has developed to give gifts of chocolate Easter Eggs.
 

For NSW Easter is associated with the Royal Agricultural Show which is known as ‘The Show’ or ‘Easter Show’.
 

CHRISTMAS

 
Another Christian festival period celebrated with gift-giving and associated foods
 

NEW YEAR

 
Australians traditionally celebrate New Year’s Eve with a countdown to the stroke of midnight. Auld Lang Syme is sung at such occasions and often with linked hands signifying unity.
 

ST ANDREW’S DAY – – November 30

ST PATRICK’S DAY – – March 17th

 
Traditionally celebrated with a meal of corned beef and cabbage. Irish pubs in Australia also offer ‘Irish Stew’ and peculiar things like ‘Green coloured beer’.
 

REMEMBRANCE DAY – – November 11th

NATIONAL SORRY DAY – – January 26th

 
has been designated National Sorry Day as opposed to the Australia Day celebrated be a public holiday. It takes its name from the Prime Minister’s refusal to say ‘sorry’ to the indigenous people of Australia for a litany of wrongs.
 

SCHOOLIES WEEK

Differs by State however it coincides with the end of November. This appears to be a relatively new celebration and coincides with the end-of-school for final year students.
 

MOTHER’S DAY – – May

celebrates the role of mothers and it is customary to give white flowers and presents.

FATHER’S DAY – – September

celebrated with gifts.

HORSE’S BIRTHDAY – – 1st August

Traditionally the birthday of all horses.

QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY

&

Although the British celebrate the Queen’s birthday on April 21st Australians celebrate it on June 8th.
 

ANZAC DAY – – 25th April

 
Commemorating Australia’s history in war.
 

 
The dawn Service and parade are important parts of this annual event. Two-up, the game of tossing heads or tails (coins) is legal on this day.
 

APRIL FOOL’S DAY – – 1st April

 
Traditionally this day is celebrated with pranks known as ‘April Fool’s Pranks’. A typical prank would be a message to call back Mr Lyon Ò when the call is placed it turns up to be the local zoo.
 

HALLOWEEN – – 31st October

 
The day of the dead. This American custom has now installed itself in the Australian calendar and on that eve small children dress in ghoulish costume and door knock. It is customary to give the kids lollies.

THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

Unite and unite, and let us all unite
For summer is a-comin’ today
And whither we are going we all will unite
In the merry morning of May

This opening verse is from one of the most enduring songs from the British tradition, The Padstow May Song, long connected with Morris Men and Mummers Players, heralds the approaching English Summer and the commencement of the bountiful month of May. The song’s origins have been lost in time but we know it is ancient and harks back to the time of fertility worship and praise for the season gone and seasons to come.

May has long been the most important month in the western calendar and folklore tracks its march through time. It has been adopted by chimney sweeps, churches, labour movements, horse race promoters, and, not surprisingly, the occult.

Although May Day is now almost universally recognised as the first day of the month of May, before 1752, when the calendar was changed, it was 11 days earlier.

Australia, being on the other side of the globe, accepts many of the threads of tradition despite the fact May down under announces the coming of Winter, not Summer.

AUSTRALIA inherited many British traditions – some have disappeared from our rather uncaring modern world – but some certainly survive, even if in a somewhat precarious and peculiar way.

May Day was an important day in the Middle Ages and was a favourite holiday of many English villages. It was common to cut down young trees and stick them in the ground in the village to mark the arrival of summer. One assumes this is the origin of the maypole. People danced around them in celebration of the end of winter and the start of the fine weather that would signify planting to begin.

In the very early morning, young girls went into the fields and washed their faces with dew. They believed this made them very beautiful for the following year. An early spa and beauty regime worth bottling!

May Day was also the day when the young men of each village tried to win prizes with their bows and arrows. Many places conducted a May Fair.

For a time May Eve was known as Mischief Night in some parts of Britain and practical jokes were played.

In the North of England, the first of May was a kind of late ‘April Fooling’ when all sorts of pranks would take place and the cry of:  ‘May Gosling’ was shouted out when you managed to trick someone. The response would be:

‘May Goslings past and gone. You’re the fool for making me one!’

Maypole Dancing

Australian schoolchildren spent days making the fancy ribbons and bouquets  for May Day, especially in the first half   of the 20th century.

Maypoles were once common all over England and were kept from one year to the next. These were usually tree trunks or long branches and did not always resemble the maypoles of modern times. The tallest maypole is said to have been erected in London on the Strand in 1661; it stood over 143 feet high. It was felled in 1717, when it was used by the great inventor, Isaac Newton, to support ‘Huygen’s new reflecting telescope’

 Originally the Maypole represented a phallic symbol or a Pagan symbol of Fertility celebrating sexuality and life to the ‘Horned God’, and was decorated with flowers and wild garlands.  The Horned God image is similar to the Greek/Roman Pan; he is a symbol of fertility and the life for the forest, including the hunting of game. Later moving away from Pagan worship it was revived by and became Roman in origin.  They used it in some ceremonies connected with the worship of Maia, the mother of Mercury, and the presiding goddess of that month.

For many centuries it was the chief dance of England. The ancient Britons erected Maypoles even before Claudius and the Roman invasion (AD 43). The May Dance was popular in the rural districts of England where it achieved its finishing non- pagan touches, while in many places throughout the world it was still widely danced. It fell out of favour with the Church around the late 1800s.

Other countries of Europe also had their dances for celebrating the first of May.

The May Dance has an ancient origin, dating back to the dancing at the “Feast of Flora.” Flora was the goddess of flowers, and festivals in her honour were held the last of April and the first of May. This is why we still have ‘May Garden Sales’.   

Originally, in celebrating the rites of Spring, the young girls entering womanhood would be encouraged to participate in the making of the Maypole and its dances. Each Village or town would get a ribbon with a unique pattern which were simple in earlier time to more elaborate designs and fabrics with a May Blossom placed atop the pole. During the dance the younger girls were on the inside and the older on the outer rim. The older girls would form some of the prettiest rings around the Maypole and if the ribbon did not break would bring great luck upon the village.

One account runs:

“When the Festival came into its prime, all the young men and maidens of the country round were wont to rise at midnight and tie them to the woods, and returning before the sun was up, laden and bedecked with flowers, evergreen, and boughs, festooned their persons with the spoil. After sun rise they join the procession led by Jack O’ the Green, who was fantastically arrayed with flowers and ribbons, and learning a red covered with flowers and streamers of every hue, and furnished near the top with hoops twined with flowers and evergreen, and crossing each other vertically. Furnished near the top with hoops twined with flowers and evergreen, and crossing each other vertically.”

The many faces of Jack ‘O the Green

The following description captures the ensuing grand parade:

“After this personification came the Morris Dancers, six maids and six men linked hand in hand and fancifully arrayed in ribbons of red and blue, with bells on their ankles and literally covered with flowers. Then came the Maypole Dancers with hands joined, two and two. After these walked the tall and graceful maid Marion, escorted by Friar Tuck, she decorated gaily from head to foot with flowers, and he grotesquely attired in a monkish habit, and like the rest, bedecked with flowers. Then followed six pairs of Morris Dancers again, and immediately after them marched the master of ceremonies, Robin Hood (1160-1247) and by his side the Queen of May, the fairest maiden of the country side, as yet uncrowned, but attended by six young maids all dressed in white and covered with garlands.

All Hoods

(There were many other customs connected with Mayday, and the whole affair was conducted with much mock ceremony; two girls were chosen by vote to preside over the festivities, one being called Lady Flora, queen of the flowers, and the other Lady May, but in later times only one sovereign was elected, the Queen of the May.)

Then again came the rest of the Maypole Dancers, who closed the procession, which was preceded by a band of music. After marching through the principal streets in the village, they gathered at the Maypole, and spent the remainder of the day in dancing and various games around it. The radical church was suspicious of the May ceremony and its pagan origins –  “Wanton Ditties” and the pole being “a stanching Idol. They later adopted it as a ‘Mary  festival.

A case of: If you can’t lick ‘em – join ‘em.

The Maypole dance today is considered a Children’s dance, performed at schools, playgrounds and fairs for children with much rehearsal and choreography. Both Boys (who dance clockwise) and Girls (who dance C. Clockwise) participate.

As part of the year of Australian Federation celebration – on May 11th, 1901, The State School’s Demonstration had10,000 Victorian schoolchildren, from 57 metropolitan schools, including a choir of 5000 students dressed in red, white and blue, participating in ‘one of the most interesting fixtures of the official programme’.

Costumes added to the impact of the maypole. There were also ‘flower and Highland’ dances. The Melbourne Age called the performance “A work of art, a monument to discipline, and a living lesson as to the capacity of the ‘nation of tomorrow’.

There are usually superstitions associated with the calendar and May is no exception.

“If you wash a blanket in May;
You will wash one of the family away.”

“Those who bathe in May
Will soon be laid in clay”

————————————————

ROCHESTER SWEEP’S PARADE

One of the surviving British May traditions is the Rochester Sweep’s Parade. This must be an ancient tradition as Sydney, Australia, had a similar parade in the 19th century.

MAY DAY SWEEP’S PARADE

It was common for Sydney and Melbourne sweeps to have a May Day procession of sweeps who carried a well-blackened individual in a sedan chair covered with bushes – tea tree or kunzia – this was their Jack in the Green. Coins were gratefully accepted from the crowds and used to buy ale after the procession.

AUSTRALIAN MORRIS RING

There is an active Morris Dance movement in Australia and each May the various teams perform the dances associated with this month, especially the Padstow May Festivities. For full history of Morris Dancing in Australia please go to the menu.

MAY DAY – LABOUR DAY

May Day is celebrated in Australia as a commemoration of Labour and the success of the eight-hour day campaigns.
It is celebrated by a city street march by union members, many carrying large posters and banners. Some of these union May Day banners have been preserved and occasionally exhibited at the Powerhouse and other museums. The militant Maritime Unions (the old Seaman’s Union) had an exceptionally good collection.

On the 1st May 1886, Australia’s first anarchist organisation was formed – The Melbourne Anarchist Club and from this acorn a mighty oak tree grew!

Following from Wikipedia, (the free encyclopedia.):
A Labour Day is an annual holiday that resulted from efforts of the labour union movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers.

“The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the eight hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. On 21 April 1856 Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight hour day. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as the first organized workers in the world to achieve an eight-hour day with no loss of pay, which subsequently inspired the celebration of Labour Day in September and May Day.”

May Day is traditionally a public holiday in Northern Territory (May 2nd)
And May 2nd is Labour Day in Queensland. Other states do not necessarily celebrate in May.

I mentioned earlier that the Church, and in this case I meant the Catholic Church, tried to eradicate the British May festivities because of their pagan origins. This proved difficult although I suspect the young maidens have stopped washing their faces in the early dew. What the Church did was ‘adopt’ the tradition and make the focus of May their ‘mother of God’ figure, ‘Mary’. It is no coincidence that the Catholic Church in Australia (and elsewhere) celebrates Mary in the month of May.

The following extract (sent to me by Marita Blood, Paddington) is an example of how the Church ‘assumed’ May and related it to Mary. Extract is from a book ‘The Madonnas of Europe’. I have coloured the various references to show their direct link to the pagan festivities. It is all quite strangely blatant!

“Images of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus have been revered by Christians from ancient times. The reverence for the image is directed to the persons represented. Crowing a statue of the Lord’s Mother is symbolic of the honor we give her as the one chosen by God to bear His Son, our Salvation.

During the Month of May — a month both named for and dedicated to Mary — Catholics have long honored her by placing a crown on her image. The tradition in the United States and many other countries has been for school children to have a “May Crowning” ceremony, with a procession, pretty dresses and a wreath of fresh flowers that one child gets to place on the statue. A song for thesefestivals, “Bring Flowers of the Fairest”, with its refrain “O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May…” has been a familiar favorite for generations.”

Following is an extract from the book Our Lady Book by Father Lasance.
It is an example of how the Church can manipulate tradition by creating something that looks and sounds like a tradition.

    “Each day of May there is a special flower dedicated to Our Lady which corresponds with a particular virtue. When you offer to Mary each day of May the acts of the designated virtue, you will have presented her with a most beautiful spiritual bouquet of flowers by her glorious feast on May 31st of the Queenship of Mary.

May 1st, the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, Mary’s earthly spouse was the LILY and the designated virtue: PURITY.

May 2nd, the Feast of Saint Athanasius, a ROSE was presented to represent LOVE OF GOD.

May 3rd a MYOSOTIS flower indicates Thanksgiving which is so appropriate for the Feast of the Finding of the Cross.

On the Feast of Saint Monica the flower for Mary is the  PANSY for though this holy widow and mother was no pansy, the virtue she exhibited resulted in her son becoming one of the greatest saints and Doctors of the Church. That virtue is THOUGHT OF HEAVEN.

On the Feast of Saint Pius V the flower presented to the Blessed Mother is the MARGUERITE which represents SIMPLICITY so perfect for this holy Sovereign Pontiff who through his infallible decree Quo Primum sought to make worship so simple with the infrangible Mass of all Ages – the Apostolic Latin Mass.

May 6, the Feast of Saint John Before the Latin Gate is devoted to the virtue of HUMILITY and represented by the VIOLET. So appropriate considering the great humility of the beloved disciple who took Mary as his Mother at her Divine Son’s dying request on the cross, to look after her and care for her.”

And so it goes on. For more MAY HISTORY and its relationship to the Catholic Church – please refer to the ‘Calendar’ section of the Folklore of Sydney on this site.

May Baskets

A lovely old tradition for May Day is making May Baskets. Traditionally, homemade paper baskets filled with flowers and candy would be left anonymously on doorsteps of friends or neighbors on the first day of May. School children in Australia used to do this every year, but the custom has nearly disappeared.

“Another May Day tradition that I remember vividly from my childhood was the custom of hanging a basket of flowers on the front door knob of a friend’s home, ringing the bell and running away to let them find and take in the fragrant gift. We made them out of construction paper circles, twirled into a cone, then stapled or glued, with a handle made of ribbon across the top.” (via Marita Blood)

THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY – CONTRIBUTIONS

Heather Clark, a dancer, contributed the following; “Maypole. Here is an intriguing extract from Belinda Quigley’s May I Have The Pleasure? Dance Books Ltd, London 1993. Can’t say I agree with her interpretation – I think maypole is quintessentially English, even if it isn’t an old tradition; half the folk dances around are not much more than 200 years old. I guarantee it will make you smile. ” One sentence about that maypole. There is an English maypole, tall like a telegraph pole, and decorated at its top with a bower of flowers and short ribbons. It was set up in spring time, or remained permanently on the village green, and it was danced around. The short stumpy little thing with long ribbons, set up in a draughty school playground, where children plait the ribbons to a thumping piano or to a pre-war 78 record, and where Freddy never gets it right, but we don’t like to leave him out – is a phony. It was adapted by John Ruskin, when he was a lecturer at Whitelands Training College, from some of the dances of southern Europe, and suitably modifies for his young, Victorian lady students to learn and to teach. I wonder if those young ladies really know what they were dancing round? Or Ruskin himself, for that matter, in those pre-Freudian days.” Sure I never thought about it that way when I danced round a maypole! Maybe I’m just naïve, but I don’t think much about my vanquished enemies when I’m dancing over the swords in the Ghillie Callum either.” And, in a following email contribution: “In the 1980s I spoke to a Mrs Debenham who was a founding member of the Old English Folk Dance Club of Sydney in the 1930s. She had a fascinating log book of the club complete with programmes, newspaper clippings and photographs. The club danced a range of Morris and English Country Dances; one of the patrons being Dorothea MacKellar, also of interest are notes of a folk festival held in the Sydney Town Hall. I borrowed the journal and photocopied it, returning it to her within a few days as it was very dear to her – unfortunately it later disappeared. Presumably she has passed on now and the journal lost, however I can supply you with a copy if you are interested. “My grandmother, Mona Gilmore was born in Cobar in 1910 and spent most of her childhood in Lithgow (NSW). She recalled her mother, a florist, threading fresh flowers onto garlands for Morris dancing. She did not recall much about the dancing – it was through the streets and she thought they might have worn clogs. There were many mining families in Lithgow who came from Lancashire, as her family had, and people still did wear clogs there as everyday footwear, so it would appear to be consistent with the Northwest Morris tradition.” (Mona went on to become involved in the first Sydney production of Reedy River and was a good friend of Chris Kempster; she was also involved with the Australian Writers’ Guild with relative, Dame Mary Gilmore; she remained a strong supporter of Australian cultural endeavors throughout her life.) Heather also went on to explain how she had been researching Step Dancing. This is an important part of our tradition and, to my knowledge, little has been done on the subject despite several references being made to it in major early books. Heather Clarke: “I am most interested to hear what you have discovered. I decided to start researching Australian dance history when I realised most colonial dance groups seemed to be be focusing on the period 1880-1920 and ignoring large sections of our culture, particularly anything regarded as “ethnic” such as Morris or Highland dancing .  Mostly I have concentrated on step dancing and even received at grant, 12 years ago now, from the AFT – as you note, money is hard to come by in this area.  The main area I am working on is the early colonial era 1788 to 1850; after this time the quality of social dancing went into decline [not my words but the generally accepted view of dance historians: in the mainstream culture, people started to walk through quadrilles and did not bother to dance].  It’s great that you are doing this work, hopefully it will broaden perceptions of our dance traditions.  I find others are not interested in my work – it is difficult even to give presentations at the NFF where you would hope they would want to promote such things – we have given up on applying anymore!”

Alexandra Myers contributed: I have been involved in playing fiddle for Longford Morris since 2001, and have had to learn the business from scratch.  It’s a lot more demanding than it looks. Longford Morris recently appeared at the National Folk Festival to great acclaim. You requested jokes.  Here is one I’ve been told. “What do you call a Morris dancer with only one leg? A Lagerphone!”

John Stirling contributed: In 2002 I collected material on the Morris in SA and, with Kim Brown who did the graphics (and with help from others), put on an exhibit in the Migration Museum Public Access Gallery in Adelaide.

Bronny  Lloyd contributed: “I’m the contact for Hedgemonkey Morris (SA) – I read with interest about the research being done on Morris in Australia which you are coordinating. I have just come across a little snippet from the 1920s detailing Morris being performed at Adelaide Town Hall.” (not sighted but of particular interest. wf)

THIRTY DAYS HATH SEPTEMBER

Thirty days hath September
April, June, and November
The 2nd month has 28 days of rhyme
’til Leap Year gives her 29.
All the rest get thirty-one
Repeat the mnemonic, as it is done.

As a young lad growing up in Sydney I was fascinated with simple rhymes. I’d graduated from schoolyard scatology like….

Captain Cook did a poop,
Behind the kitchen door.
The cat it came and licked it up,
And then he did some more!

….to more interesting ditties.
 
One of the first rhymes I committed to memory was the mnemonic to remember the days of the month. This was vital information for a youngster keen to tally up the days before Cracker Night, the length of school holiday breaks and, of course, high holidays and family birthdays.

Today, if pressed to give an example of the widespread reach of folklore, I could call upon no better example than ’30 days hath September’. Whether I learnt it at school or from my family is debatable and not that important. The fact is that 95% of the population, when asked how many days are in a particular month, will immediately revert back to this mnemonic is proof enough – that it got, and continues, to ‘get around.

Of course, when I was a lad in the forties and fifties, the only calendars we had were those on the wall. These were mainly from the local petrol station or sporting club. Most featured classic cars, sportsmen (and the occasional sportswoman) and, if you were in the local barbershop, scantily clad girls in supposedly risqué poses. Today many people have ‘devices’ like mobile telephones that also carry sophisticated calendars that provide instant information. Considering that nowadays the art of arithmetic (do students still learn their ‘times’ tables?) is disappearing, maybe the calendar mnemonic is also on the way out.

The following list shows how one little rhyme can twist and turn to become a fruitful expression of folklore. I’ve been assembling these for the past five years and I am now keen to see if the list can be expanded.

Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November All the rest have thirty-one Excepting February alone: Which hath but twenty-eight, in line, Till Leap Year gives it twenty-nine.	30 days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have 31 But February’s the shortest one. With 28 days most of the time, Until Leap Year gives us 29.
Thirty days has September April June and November All the rest have 31 save February That’s the real odd one 30 days hath September April, June and November (all the rest have 31 except February Which has 28 and 29 in a Leap Year).	Thirty days has September, April, June and November. All the rest have thirty-one, But February has twenty-eight, And in a Leap Year, That is when February has but twenty-nine.
Thirty days hath September April June and November All the rest have thirty-one But Leap Year coming once in four February then has one day more	30 days hath September, April, June, and November. 28 days makes February fine, But in a Leap Year it has 29. All the rest have 31, And now the poem has been done.
Thirty days hath September, April, June and November; All the rest have thirty one except for February alone, Which has twenty eight each year, Twenty nine each Leap Year.	Thirty days has September, April, June, and November All the rest have thirty-one, But February, which is fun: With twenty-eight, it does just fine ‘Til Leap Year makes it twenty-nine!
Thirty days hath September April, June, and November Except the second month alone Which has but twenty-eight, ’tis fine ‘Til Leap Year makes it twenty-nine All the rest have thirty-one	Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one Save February, with 28 fine ’til Leap Year makes it 29!
Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; All the rest have thirty-one, Excepting February alone, Which hath but twenty-eight, in fine, Till Leap Year gives it twenty-nine.	Thirty days has September, April, June and November. After February’s done, The other months have thirty one.
Thirty days has September, April , June and November February hath 28, the odd one that is great; All the others have 31,every year it has begun	30 days hath September April, June, and November All the rest have thirty-one Save poor February Which has 28 in fine Till Leap Year gives it 29
30 days hath September April, June, and November. All the rest have 31, save February – – The shortest one. 28 is all it stores, ‘till Leap Year gives it one day more.	Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; All the rest have thirty-one, Except for February alone. February has twenty-eight days clear, And twenty-nine in each Leap Year.
30 days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have 31– Just a minute, we’re not done! February’s the shortest one. With 28 most of the time, But in Leap Year twenty-nine.	Thirty days have September, April, June, and November, All the rest have thirty-one Except short February Which in line Has twenty-eight, Leap Year makes it twenty-nine.
Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; February has twenty-eight alone. All the rest have thirty-one, Excepting leap year, that’s the time When February has twenty-nine	Thirty Days hath September, April, June and November To all the rest we add 31, Except the shortest month alone, February, which has twenty-eight, And twenty-nine in a Leap Year
Thirty days hath September All the rest I can’t remember. The calendar hangs on the wall; Why bother me with this at all?	Thirty days has September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31 excepting February which alone has 28, And one day more We add to it each year in four.
Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have 31, Though February’s underdone With 28–hold the line – Leap Day makes it 29.	Thirty days has September, April, June and November. All the rest have thirty-one, Except that one contrary, February, Which has twenty-eight, most of the time, But in Leap Year twenty-nine.
30 days hath September, April, June, and November. The rest have 31… no, wait! February has only 28! Except in Leap Year, that’s the time, When February’s days are 29!	30 days hath September April, June & November All the rest hath 31 Except February Which alone has 28 And one day more When Leap Year comes One year in four.
Thirty days hath September April, June and November All the rest have peanut butter Except Grandma and she rides a motor scooter	Thirty days hath September, April June and November. When short February’s done, All the rest have thirty-one Thirty days have September, April, June, and November;
30 days hath September April June and no wonder All the rest eat peanut butter Except Grandma and she drives a Holden Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November, All the rest I don’t remember.	Thirty-one have all the rest, Except February with birthdays blessed, It has twenty-eight so fine, ‘til Leap Year gives it twenty-nine.Fourth, eleventh, ninth, and sixth,
30 days hath September, April, June, and November All the rest have thirty-one Except February – That’s the weird one.	Thirty days to each affix, Every other thirty-one Except the second month alone.
Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November, All the rest have 31, February stands alone, That has 28 days clear And 29 in each leap year.	Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; February has twenty-eight alone, All the rest have thirty-one, Excepting Leap-Year, that’s the time When February’s days are twenty-nine.
Thirty days hath September, April, June and November. All the rest have thirty-one, With February’s 28 to make it fun. Leap Year happening once in four, Gives February one day more.	30 days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have 31, Excepting February – the contrary one.
Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; All the rest have thirty-one Except February alone: Which has twenty-eight 3 years in four, Till Leap Year gives it just one more.	Thirty days hath September April, June and November All the rest have thirty-one Save February, and it alone, Has twenty-eight we do confine Till Leap year gives it twenty-nine.
30 days has September April, June, and November All the rest have 31 Except for February, the shortest one	Thirty days hath September April, June, and no wonder All the rest have thirty one Except Grandpa And he has a little red wagon
30 days hath September April, June and November February has 28 alone and all the rest have 31 Leap year comes once in four And February has one day MORE!	30 days hath September April, June and November All the rest have 31 excepting February alone Which has 28 days clear And 29 in each Leap Year.
30 days has September April, June and November All the rest have 31 February has 28 alone But in every Leap year That come once in four February has just 1 day MORE!	Thirty days has September, April, June and November, All the rest have thirty one, Excepting February, fun! And that has twenty eight days clear, And twenty nine in a Leap Year!

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HALLOWEEN IN AUSTRALIA

It is not surprising that Halloween has joined the list of Australian celebration days including Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, Red Nose Day, Secretary’s Day, Turn Off The TV Day, Earth Day, Pink Ribbon Day and Australia Day. The only genuine Australian day being the last – all the others are either American or British. It has become difficult if not impossible to avoid Halloween when the popular media highlights its arrival with Halloween episodes of popular television programs, particularly situation comedies, cartoons like The Simpsins and American news programs. Google also presented itself with a Halloween image for the day and we know how hard it is to avoid using Google. Facebook was also full of Halloween messages and, post Halloween chat and photographs. As an English speaking country we are, of course, a prime target for anything produced by the American cultural industry. One can only imagine in a few year’s time we will be celebrating Thanksgiving which, considering its symbolism, would make us another state of the union.

Halloween is celebrated in America, Mexico, Canada and, to some degree, Britain. To my knowledge it isn’t widely celebrated in Ireland which is peculiar considering the original Halloween originated with the Celts.

Halloween (a shortening of All Hallows’ Evening), also known as Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints Day. Much like Day of the Dead celebrations, the Christian feast of All Hallows’ Eve also incorporates traditions from pagan harvest festivals and festivals honouring the dead, particularly the Celtic Samhain. Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as “guising“), attending costume parties, carving jack-o’-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories and, more recently, watching horror films. It also seems many Australian schools have embraced the celebration with a dress up day. Scary stuff indeed when our educators so willingly embrace such an Americanism.

This year, 2011, set a benchmark for Australian Halloween – two newsreaders finished with a ‘Happy Halloween’ and at least one television quiz show, Channel Ten’s ‘Deal or No Deal’, saw the host, Andrew O’Keefe, dressed as a vampire for the entire program. Embarrassing!

Kings Cross, Australia’s most popular entertainment quarter, was awash with Halloween characters. Sadly many of the female celebrators deemed it suitable to wear Hugh Heffner giant bunny ears – not too sure how this linked in with Halloween except Old Hugh is looking like the living dead.

Trick or Treating, a custom where costumed young children go door-to-door looking for handouts of sweets (although I’d rather say lollies) is the most popular manifestation of Australian Halloween. This is great fun for the kids and it’s difficult to poo poo the idea of dressing up. It is also fun for the adults to see their kids and neighbour’s kids enjoying themselves.

One of the irksome aspects of our observance of Halloween for people of my generation is the knowledge that it was around this time of the year  (5 November) we celebrated Guy Fawkes Day or, as we preferred to call it, Cracker Night or Bonfire Night. The Politically Correct Police did it in because of the fear of self-damage from those nasty double bungers.

We do have a few ‘days’ which tend to more remembrance days – ANZAC Day, Black Friday, and Australia Day being the three most obvious. We have lost Wattle Day, Empire Day, Gould Bird Day and Arbor Day. Maybe we should start a campaign for some more dinki di days – Magpie Day, Mining Boom or Bust Day, Big Fat Executive Pay Rise Day, National Pie Eater’s Day and, for people like us, Whinging Bastard’s Day.

CHRISTMAS IS A TIME OF GOOD CHEER – and lots of folklore

Australia has always had a different type of Christmas experience because of the confusion of our Anglo Celtic heritage and the Australian climate. Many of us prefer to have our Christmas celebratory meal at lunchtime rather than dinner. Some opt for the full baked meal including hot turkey and side vegetables followed by steaming plum pudding and brandy butter. Others relax at picnics or barbecues with seafood and salads.

For most part of the nineteenth century Christmas Day was marked with a heavy English style dinner, often Christmas Eve. Neighbours would sometimes be invited and, depending on the situation, work-hands would join the family. Whatever the case the meal emulated what was traditionally eaten ‘back home’ in Europe. Supplies to the bush were erratic and circumstance often more unpredictable. This was, of course, a time when the majority of Australians lived in the country. Invention was often the mother of necessity and kangaroo or even wombat was disguised and presented as roast beef, swan as turkey.

The meal, provisions allowing, usually had several courses including entrée, soup, fish, meat, pudding, sweets and fruit. Men on the track made do with what they had – damper with currants – and a bottle of rum or brandy to toast the event. Some drovers arranged to meet at a particular water bore where they celebrated. Wherever the day was celebrated the stock still had to be fed, cows milked, horses and bullocks tethered – life goes on.

Here is a short list of some surviving Christmas traditions familiar to many Australian families:

Religious Observance.

Depending on what brand of Christianity.

Non religious observance.

Not a Christian – never fear – this doesn’t appear to stop Australians celebrating the year’s signpost.

The Christmas Tree.

There are numerous traditions associated with the Christmas tree including a ‘dressing of the tree’ gathering, the decorations (as a kid we made Christmas bells out of silver milk bottle tops), the placement of the Christmas tree star on top of the tree, the display of presents around the tree and the post Christmas date the tree must be brought down.

The Egg Nog.

Although disappearing the Yuletide eggnog (there are various recipes but staples are nutmeg, egg and brandy or rum).

The Christmas Cake.

They come in all shapes and sizes and decoration. Most include nuts and fruits to signify fertility and abundance for the coming year. One important feature of the fruitcake is that you live a year longer for every slice eaten at another person’s house on Christmas morning.

Plum Pudding.

This also come in all shapes and sizes including the most traditional of all – which is shaped like a canon ball. In year’s gone by most were steamed and made some time prior to Christmas Day, In pre-decimal currency it was traditional to add three-penny or six-penny pieces to the mix. Gold diggers in the 1850s and 60s added tiny gold nuggets– a boon for the local dentists.

Caroling.

There is a large repertoire of Christmas carols. Although street caroling was popular it appears to have been replaced by singing (usually somewhat awkwardly) around the Christmas tree or dining table.

Christmas wreaths

Creating or buying a wreath of twisted vines and ‘holly’ type decorations is still popular in Australia – these are usually placed on the front door twelve days before Christmas.

Santa Claus

The jolly old gent is often welcomed by leaving out a small glass of milk (sometimes laced with brandy) and a slice of fruit cake. The old man (literally) eats, drinks and runs.

Presents.

It is traditional to exchange gifts at Christmas. Some families and circles elect to do this in a ’round robin’ whereby they are given a name to buy for rather than buy for the entire group.

Bon Bons.

One of the silliest Christmas traditions involves the placement of bon bons, paper pull ‘things’ that pop and present the stronger puller with a variety of even sillier gifts including the lamest of lame jokes and a bright paper hat – which one is expected to wear during the meal.

The Xmas Hamper.

There are Xmas hamper boxes to suit most incomes and many businesses distribute hampers to their favoured clients.

Booze with the Boss.

Many businesses – industrial and commercial celebrate by hosting a Christmas lunch or office or factory party on the last week of work.
In days gone by many factories hosted oysters, prawns and a keg – that was before seafood prices escalated and police RBT spoiled most of the fun.

Recordings.

Although they are rapidly disappearing there are some classic Christmas recordings that have been played for decades. ‘White Christmas’ (Bing Crosby), Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Little Prince’, Danny Kaye’s rendition of Tubby the Tuba being the top three all-time favourites.

Christmas Greeting Cards

The email has knocked this one around – fewer mailed cards are sent however the email Christmas card, including many that sing to the recipient, are an extension of this tradition.

Mobile Telephone Greetings.

Another new tradition is that of sending greetings to one’s email lists – via mobile telephones. Some use simple rhymes, others send traditional carols, jokes or computerized images.

Boxing Day.

Many Australians prefer to celebrate on the day after Christmas Day – it is traditionally an out of doors event – beach, harbour, bush barbecue etc. It is also the start of the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race – a major event in our sporting calendar. Boxing Day also signifies that other great tradition – the advent of the major retail sales.

Christmas in July.

Many Australians host a Christmas styled hot dinner in the middle of winter – a far more satisfying way to eat the traditional hot meal.

Children’s riddles

Q: Why was Santa’s little helper depressed?
A: Because he had low elf esteem.

Q: How does Peter Garrett’s household keep Christmas politically correct?
A: On Christmas morning, they give the presents TO the tree.

Q: What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus?
A: Claustrophobic.

Email Folklore

Christmas, and the period leading up to it, produces an avalanche of emails similar to the following:

Signs You Have Had Too Much Holiday Cheer
You strike a match and light your nose.
You take off your shoes and wade in the potato salad.
You hear a duck quacking and it’s you.
You tell your best joke to the rubber plant.
You tell everyone you have to go home… and the party’s at your place.
You have to hold on to the floor to keep from sliding off.
You pick up a roll, and butter your watch.

The first reindeer seen in a bar
One evening, in a busy lounge in the snowy mountains, a reindeer walked in the door, bellied up to the bar and ordered a martini. Without batting an eye, the bartender mixed and poured the drink, set it in front of the reindeer, and accepted the twenty-dollar bill from the reindeer’s hoof.

As he handed the reindeer some coins in change, he said, “You know, I think you’re the first reindeer I’ve ever seen in here.”

The reindeer looked hard at the coins and said, “Hmmmpf. Let me tell you something, mate. At these prices, I’m the last reindeer you’ll see in here.”

I want to see something really cheap
After being away on business for a week before Christmas, Tom thought it would be nice to bring his wife a little gift.

“How about some perfume?” he asked the cosmetics clerk. She showed him a bottle costing $50.

“That’s a bit much,” said Tom, so she returned with a smaller bottle for $30.

“That’s still quite a bit,” Tom groused.

Growing disgusted, the clerk brought out a tiny $15 bottle.

Tom grew agitated, “What I mean,” he said, “is I’d like to see something real cheap.”

So the clerk handed him a mirror.

CHRISTMAS PARODIES

Twas the night before Christmas and Santa’s a wreck… How to live in a world that’s politically correct? His workers no longer would answer to “Elves”, “Vertically Challenged” they were calling themselves Twinkle Twinkle chocolate bar Santa drives a rusty car Press the starter Press the choke Off he goes in a cloud of smoke! Santa Claus is dead – They found him in a toy shop; A bullet through his head. A note pinned to his jacket, Confirmed what papers tell: That he was on the payroll Of Toltoys and Mattel. Jingle bells, jingle bells, Santa’s lying dead. Teletubbies Teletubbies stabbed him in his head. Barbie girl, Barbie girl tried to save his life. Action Man, Action Man stabbed him with a knife. Good King Wencelas went to town In a mini minor Crashed into an atom bomb And ended up in China We three kings of Orient are Sitting on a dynamite cigar It was loud and exploded – Silent night Jingle Bells Batman smells Robin flew away Lost his pants while over France And found them in Long Bay While shepherds washed their socks by night All seated round the tub And angel of the Lord came down And they began to scrub, scrub scrub Good King Wencelas he looked out On a cabbage garden He bumped into a Brussels sprout And said, I beg your pardon.

David Martin’s poem about a typical bush Christmas seems to sum up the joys and pains of the day.

Bush Christmas Stuffed with pudding to his gizzard Uncle James let out a snore, Auntie Flo sprawls like a lizard On the back verandah floor Grandpa Aub sits with a flagon On the woodheap ‘neath the gums, And he thinks he’s seen a dragon Where the pigs are munching plums. Cousin Val and Cousin Harry, Cousin May and Cousin Fred, Play the goat with Dulce and Larry By the creek below the shed. In the scrub the cows are drowsing, Dogs are dreaming in the shade. Fat and white, the mare is browsing, Cropping softly, blade by blade. It is hot, mosquitoes whirring. Uncle Jamie rubs his knee: “Flo.’ He whispers, ‘are you stirring? It’s near time to get the tea.’