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Those Who Rake for the Moon: Living Folklore in Wiltshire, England |
| Section: CULTURE / FOLK WISDOM |
| Author: David Hicks |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 2/1/1997 |
| Size: 2,448 Words, 14,875 Characters |
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Nor did people find folklore a less meaningful force in their lives when general literacy followed in the wake of industrialization. The advent of radio, film, the automobile, and television has brought radical changes in folklore's character. But far from dooming the genre, in some respects these innovations have given it a greater lease on life. They have helped bring folklore before a potential audience vastly greater than any storyteller or builder of monuments in an earlier age could ever have imagined.
Folklore in the English county of Wiltshire blends with modern life. It runs the gamut from bedtime tales parents recite for their children to radio plays for adult listeners, from monumental pillars or market crosses built from stone to more modest church doors or humble keyholes. All compel attention, and some perhaps justify a moment's somber reflection.
Wiltshire people pride themselves on their sagacity, and they delight in presenting their favorite self-image in a narrative known to all in the county as "The Moonrakers." Local variations on the legend are widespread throughout England, but Wiltshire folk to whom I spoke adamantly claimed it as their own.
In the sixteenth century, the legend goes, Dutch and Flemish wool merchants residing in the county could not import brandy without incurring a steep customs tax. Consequently, enterprising smugglers supplied their needs by nocturnal forays to the coast.
One night, in the light of a full moon,...
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...e key into the local river, the Ebble, where it remains to this day. According to tradition, the church door at Odstock is never locked.
Additional Reading:
Ralph Whitlock, The Folklore of Wiltshire, B.T. Batsford, London, 1976.
Kathleen Wiltshire, More Ghosts and Legends of the Wiltshire Countryside, edited by Patricia M.C. Carrott, Venton Educational, Melksham (Wiltshire), 1984.
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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