2013 Fairie Festival Posters
This year's Fairie Festival Posters are now ready in several formats and sizes for viewing and download! Feel free to download, print and distribute as you wish! Pre-printed posters available at the farm. Call 717-235-6610 for information. |
2012 Fairie Festival Photos
We've begun building our gallery of photos from this year's Fairie Festival! Please check it out here: http://www.spoutwood.com/fairie-festival/fairie-festival-2012-photos
Maybe you'll see yourself, or you friends, and most importantly, maybe it will help keep the memory in your heart and get you through until next year!
If you have any photos you would like to share, please contact the web administrator at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
|
 |
Hal An Tow
"Hal An Tow" is a traditional Mayday song from western England. It's associated with the town of Helston in Cornwall, but in the past it was more widespread, having been collected as far afield as the Missouri Ozarks. This is the text most commonly sung in Britain today, but there have been different verses recorded over the years. The song seems to have its roots in the sixteenth century, with verses referencing the traditional Renaissance association of Mayday with Robin Hood, as well as the sack of Penzance by the Spanish in 1595. Traditionally, the song began with the verse about Robin Hood, but, inspired by a verse about wearing horns in an early version of the song, and by a song from Shakespeare's As You Like It, someone in modern times seems to have added the "Do not scorn to wear the horn" verse, which has become part of most modern British versions. It is possible that "Aunt Mary Moses" derives from a Cornish-language phrase for the Virgin Mary, although there are other theories. As for the phrase "Hal an Tow," no one is sure what it means; it could be a reference to dancing heel-and-toe, it could derive from a Cornish phrase for "raise the roof," or it could have been imported from what seems to have been an earlier song, possibly a rowing-chantey, whose refrain was "Heave and ho, Rumbalow."
Spoutwood Hal An Tow
By Steve Winick
With faerie wing and dragon horn
We'll bless the day that you were born
We'll thank your father's father
And your mother's mother too
Hal-An-Tow, Jolly Rumbelow
We'll all sing
A hearty Kubiando
To welcome in the summertime
To welcome in the May-o
Summer is a comin' in,
And Winter's gone away-o
Robin Hood and Lucy Wood
Invite us to the Fair-o
We've come to their merry wood
To see the faeries there-o
Hal-An-Tow, Jolly Rumbelow
We'll all sing
A hearty Kubiando
To welcome in the summertime
To welcome in the May-o
Summer is a comin' in,
And Winter's gone away-o
Look at all the elves and gnomes,
The brownies, sprites and spriguns-o
The pixies, fauns and leprechauns
The little ones and bigguns-o
Hal-An-Tow, Jolly Rumbelow
We'll all sing
A hearty Kubiando
To welcome in the summertime
To welcome in the May-o
Summer is a comin' in,
And Winter's gone away-o
Let's bless the king and queen of May
With all our power and might o
Send us peace at spoutwood farm
Send Peace by Day and Night, o
Hal-An-Tow, Jolly Rumbelow
We'll all sing
A hearty Kubiando
To welcome in the summertime
To welcome in the May-o
Summer is a comin' in,
And Winter's gone away-o
The words of "Spoutwood Hal-An-Tow" were written by Stephen Winick in 2011, to adapt the traditional English song for Spoutwood Farm May Day Fairie Festival.
You can learn the traditional melody to this song from this video of the English folk group the Watersons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs9PMky7Fj0
|
|
|
Yggdrasil
Current Queen, and owner of Spoutwood Farm , Lucy Wood has been working with the idea and image of Yggdrasil for many years, and wished to bring the World Tree of Norse myth into the ceremony. As part of this, Jennifer Cutting, leader of Ocean Orchestra, has written a new song to incorporate into our coronation ceremony:
YGGDRASIL
1) The greatest of ash trees so tall and so green,
O Guardian Tree, O Yggdrasil;
The shelter of all worlds, both seen and unseen,
O Tree of the World, O Yggdrasil.
2) Your three roots are nourished by font, spring, and well,
O Guardian Tree, O Yggdrasil;
Your roots and your branches bind Heaven and Hell.
O Tree of the World, O Yggdrasil.
3) With messages Ratatosk boldly does go
O Guardian Tree, O Yggdrasil;
From the Eagle on high to the Dragon below
O Tree of the World, O Yggdrasil.
4) From the four stags that ravage your tender new shoots,
O Guardian Tree, O Yggdrasil;
To the ravenous dragon that knaws on your roots.
O Tree of the World, O Yggdrasil.
5) You suffer from all of the lives that you feed
O Guardian Tree, O Yggdrasil;
Yet even your tears offer dewdrops so sweet.
O Tree of the World, O Yggdrasil.
6) Great thanks from all creatures for all that you give
O Guardian Tree, O Yggdrasil;
Stay steadfast and strong so that others may live.
O Tree of the World, O Yggdrasil.
7) The greatest of ash trees so tall and so green,
O Guardian Tree, O Yggdrasil;
The shelter of all worlds, both seen and unseen,
O Tree of the World, O Yggdrasil.
|
|
