The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is a remarkable folk survival, taking place each year in Abbots Bromley, a small village in Staffordshire, England.
The Date
The Horn Dance takes place on Wakes Monday, the day following Wakes Sunday, which is the first Sunday after September 4. In practice, this means that it is the Monday dated between September 6 and September 12 (inclusive).
The Itinerary
The dance starts at 08:00 with a service of blessing in St Nicholas Church, where the horns are housed. The dance begins on the village green, then passes out of the village - but not out of the Parish - to Blithfield Hall, owned by Lady Bagot.
The dance, above Blithfield Reservoir.The dancers return to the village in the early afternoon, and make their way around the pubs and houses. Finally, at about 20:00, the horns are returned to the church, and the day is completed with the service of Compline.
The route is around 14 miles; however a pedometer carried by one of the dancers is reputed to have recorded a total of 49 miles!
The Dancers
There are 12 dancers. Six carry the horns; they are accompanied by: the musician playing an accordion (a violin in former times), Maid Marian (a man in a dress), the Hobby-horse, the Fool (or Jester), a youngster with a bow and arrow, and another youngster with a triangle. Traditionally, the dancers are all male, although in recent years girls have been seen carrying the triangle and bow and arrow.
In times past the dancers were always members of the Bentley or Fowell families, and to this day they must be long-term residents of the village, although they have been known to graciously allow visitors to "dance in" if asked politely.
The Horns
The horns are six sets of reindeer antlers, three white and three black. In 1976, a small splinter was radiocarbon dated to around 1065. Since there are not believed to have been any reindeer in England in the 11th Century, the horns must have been imported from Scandinavia.
The antlers are mounted on small heads carved from wood.
Since 1981, the horns are legally the property of Abbots Bromley Parish Council. For 364 days a year, they are on display in St Nicholas Church.
They were once kept in the main Village Hall, which is now the Goat Inn, beside the Butter Cross.
An alternative set of antlers (red deer) are kept to use when the Dancers are asked, as they are, frequently, to perform outside the Parish boundaries.
The Dance
The dance itself is simple, since the Horns themselves have some weight to them and are large and bulky.
The dance is performed by 12 performers: 6 men carrying the horns, Maid Marian, Hobby Horse, a boy with a bow and arrow, a fool, a musician, and a boy with a triangle. As described by Cecil Sharp, there are 6 figures in the dance. He describes the dance as being done with the participants in a single line; however, it is currently performed with the dancers in a double column. The "Sharp notations" are used here, but are just arbitrary names to more easily identify the discrete parts of the dance. The figures are (in the order in which they are danced): circle up, 1 leads off, all together, advance meet and retire (henceforth known as AMR), cross over (CO), and form the line. The dancers use a walking step in the dance, except in the AMR, which has a slight lifting of the foot at the horn clash.
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