is a

hobby horse In folklore, a hobby horse is a costumed character that features in some traditional seasonal customs, processions and similar observances around the world. In England, they are particularly associated with May Day celebrations, mummers' plays a ...

that was part of a

folk custom A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

found in parts of Ireland, particularly in the area of

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Irish term "" translates as "White Mare". This meaning is identical, and the pronunciation similar, to the Manx hobby horse custom known as the ''Laare Vane''. It also has similarities to the Welsh ''

Mari Lwyd The Mari Lwyd (, ) is a wassailing tradition, folk custom in South Wales. The tradition entails the use of an eponymous hobby horse which is made from a horse's skull mounted on a pole and carried by an individual hidden under a sheet. The custo ...

'', a hobby horse found in southern Wales, which has been translated as "Grey Mare". Most records of the tradition come from

. There are various reported instances in which the accompanied the

Wren Boys Wren Day (), or Hunt the Wren Day (), is an Irish and Manx custom on 26 December, Saint Stephen's Day (known in most of Ulster as Boxing Day). Traditionally, men and boys hunted a wren, which was revered as the 'king of the birds'. They displa ...

during their Christmastime activities. An example of a is in the collection of the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland () is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has three branches in Dublin, the arch ...

. Although the origins of the hooded animal traditions in the British Isles are not known with any certainty, the lack of any late medieval references to such practices may indicate that they emerged from the documented elite fashion for hobby horses in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this, the hooded animal traditions may be comparable to England's

Morris dance Morris dancing is a form of English folklore, English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers in costume, usually wearing bell pads on their shins, their shoes or both. A ban ...

tradition, which became a "nation-wide craze" in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries before evolving into "a set of sharply delineated regional traditions".

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lair Bhan Irish folklore Folk plays Ritual animal disguise