I'm just experimenting here - to see if I can embed a linked 'youtube' video.
It's an extract from the recently released BFI DVD 'Here's a Health to the Barley Mow', which is a collection of short documentary films that record 'Britain's Ancient Folk Traditions'.
The collection of films is interesting to me for a couple of reasons; firstly 'Cowslip Sunday' is a revived folk tradition and I've shared the DVD with other people involved in the event - both to help to see our event in a broader historical context and also perhaps to see whether there are any aspects of other events that can act as inspiration for our own, or whether there are some traditions that we can help endure by incorporating some element of them in our event. I'm sure such traditions and rituals have always relied upon the enthusiasm and active participation of people – and are apt to die out without that.
But I’m also interested because the films contained in 'Here's a Health to the Barley Mow' are described as ‘poetic documentaries’ but it seems to me that they almost certainly weren’t conceived of in that way – but time has given them that quality. I’m hoping that the film I’m making about ‘Cowslip Sunday 2012’ (which I will blog about in more detail soon) will help to preserve some aspect of the occasion – and its history - for posterity.
Below is a poster featuring the DVD cover, advertising a public showing of the film. That’s an idea I intend to propose to the organisers of our event – perhaps in the Village Hall, on the evening before ‘Cowslip Sunday’ - so that people in Lambley (and from further afield) can see the event in our village as an important attempt to help preserve 'Britain's Ancient Folk Traditions'.
Here's a Health to the Barley Mow: A Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games
From the sexy, savage' Cornish May Day rites of Alan Lomax's Oss Oss Wee Oss (above), to Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane's footage of ferociously fought traditional football; from children's games in London's bombed East End to intricate sword and step dances, this collection of poetic documentaries, long un-seen television reports and rare silent film footage reveals just how powerful and enduring the folk traditions of Great Britain have always been.
