Well, it's May Day! We've visited the topic a few times in the past; see links for related writings on: May Poles, May Baskets, the Green Man, Renn Fests, Robin Hood, and May Day Eve.
Today seems the perfect time to contemplate that peculiar phenomenon known as the hobby horse, associated with mummery and morris dancing, not just on May Day, but also Christmas, St. George's Day, and other holidays. As we mentioned in our breakdown of the origin of the word "hobbit", "hobyn" was a Middle English word for a small pony or cart horse. "Hobby horse" is thus a little redundant. And from it evolved our habit of calling our trivial and pleasant pastimes "hobbies".
If you think about it (it's okay, you don't need to, I already have) there are an absurd number of KINDS of hobby horses, used for holiday ritual, theatre, and children's toys:
There's this guy, on a stick:
As a child's toy I can assure you those kind are exceedingly lame. Someone shoot that horse, it's so very lame! It's just a stick with a head on it!
Hobby horses in mummery are usually a bit better, with a bit of fabric hiding the human who bears it. These go back to Medieval times:
The shoulder strap model is perhaps best of all -- there are endless variations on that design:
The two-person jobby is more a horse costume than a hobby horse, but I feel I can't ignore it, because its existence has filled me with so much delight:
To return to toys, there's the classic rocking horse:
The bouncy kind on springs:
This kind of early bicycle, the sort Buster Keaton rode in Our Hospitality, was known as a hobby horse or dandy horse:
And there are dozens of other design variations up to, but not including carousel horses and the Steeplechase Horses of Coney Island.
I am especially entranced by the topic though because of the long association of the term with nonsense. (Go here if you're curious as to what I mean by that. I'll wait). With Marxfest just a couple of weeks away, this is very much the season to celebrate nonsense!
Laurence Sterne used the term to refer to one's own past-time or obsession in Tristram Shandy. It's what gave me the idea for this post!
And especially there is the European avant-garde art movement Dada, which derived its name from a French word for hobby horse.
The 'Obby 'Oss Festival in North Cornwall is one of the countless places where hobby horses will have a place in May Day festivities today!
And if you're more interested in live, flesh and blood horses? Go here.
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