GOG's
2006 Annual Beltane Vigil and Beltane Dawn contribution to the festivities
with the local Morris Dancers, Molly Troop and Maypole Dancers and Madrigal
Singers in Princeton.
12
attended our vigil. We thrilled to old 1950s videos of British folk customs,
practiced the Hobby Horse ritual dance, practiced singing the Padstow
Morning Song, over and over, made faery cakes, and took a late-night stroll
to the scary Magic Fountain. Before we knew it, it was 4:30am, time to
drive to Princeton to join our local Dancers on the Princeton Battlegrounds.
The Dancers have been waking the earth and bringing in the May with dances
and sticks and song for twenty-five years. We've been joining them with
our Obby Oss as part of the program for twelve now. There were 13 of us
in Princeton at dawn. Jen and Patty did a fine job as Oss and teaser,
and Norma explained the ritual to the crowd (about 90 people) and led
the Padstow Morning Song. Our usual leaders, Pattie and Erica, were in
Padstow, Cornwall, at that very moment following the original Padstow
Obby Oss festivities.