Shasta Summer by Geering Teresa

Author:Geering, Teresa [Geering, Teresa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Romance, fiction
ISBN: 9781463574185
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2011-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

Flowers, flowers, high-do

Sheeny, greeny, rino

Sheeny, greeny, sheeney Greeny,

Rum, tum, fra

Normally this would only be done on Shrove Tuesday and they would be given a morsel to eat. However, as everyone was entering into the spirit of the atmosphere, they were mostly given the odd coin to spend at the fayre.

By working late into the night, the carpenter had made and painted the gold crown to sit on top of the tree. Two strong lads had balanced a third lad on their shoulders with the task of placing the crown on the now upright and secured tree. This was much to the amusement and admiration of the young girls watching. The ribbons would later be attached in the same way.

By late morning the green began to fill with people. The two spits had a bull on each being slowly roasted to be ready by early evening. Young women wandered about in their finery with flowers in their hair in the hope of being noticed by the men. Older women had also made a special effort but more in the spirit of fun than the hope of finding a lover.

In the distance men were getting ready to take part in various games of running, archery and casting stones whilst, out of harm's way, others were preparing to chance their arm at throwing javelins. Young boys, in a bid to impress the girls, were taking part in sack races. Then, balancing on a greasy pole with their legs gripped underneath, it was their main objective to knock their opponents off with cushions or pillows.

Vendors called out telling of their wares of love hearts and ribbons which were bought by lovers. The men then entwined the ribbons in their loved one’s hair.

Six Morris dancers dressed in white, bedecked with ribbons and flowers on their black hats and bells on their shoes, awaited the arrival of Shasta when they would begin their intricate dance with the ribbons already hanging from the tree. At the completion of the dance, the ribbons would form a plait from top to bottom as dictated by the old custom. Once this was done they would also perform a dance with wooden staves which were hit together in the air and on the ground in a strict order.

Children were running around chasing a squealing pig more for amusement than out of any expectation of catching it. Occasionally it tripped up some folk by darting in and out of the legs of groups of villagers. One rather rotund gentleman wearing a large black flat hat took a step backward, overbalanced and fell over the pig, much to the amusement of all around him. Getting back on his feet with difficulty and replacing his hat, he carried on his conversation with an amused smile on his face as if nothing was amiss.

Some of the women wore frocks with white aprons on top, whilst others favoured frocks with a shawl. On their heads they had white mobcaps or straw hats with sprays of flowers cut from their gardens.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.