Christmas is our most important holiday, and its literature is correspondingly rich. Yet until now no adequate bundle of Christmas treasures in poetry and prose has found its way onto the Internet for Winter, Christmas, the birth of Christ, Santa Claus, and so much more..Hobby Horse
Christmas was a time of the year when the people of the district broke away from their drab lives to enjoy themselves for a few nights. Like today, the people “dressed out” as mummers. The only difference was that the older ones were usually the ones to dress out. They wore costumes called the “bull” and the “hobby horse”.
The “bull” consisted of the skin of a bull, with two horns sticking out of the top of a head which was stuffed with old rags. The eyes were made of old insulators from light poles, and the whole thing looked strikingly real.
“The hobby horse” was made in the following manner: an old oats sack was hauled down over the person’s head; two pieces of board on hinges were pushed through the top of the sack; a line came down through this and was controlled by the person inside. The mouth of the horse, made by two boards usually gaped open. When the string was pulled, the mouth shut. The horse could take things up in his mouth and many of the people were frightened by it.
