Shakespeare wrote “For O, for O, for O, the hobby-horse is forgot”. That is not entirely true. For though the rite may have been practiced wide spread across pre-Christian Britain and by now is nearly lost, the Hobby Horse is not altogether forgotten, nor was it in Shakespeare’s time. The Hobby Horse is a springtime fertility rite performed today in only a few places in the world. The most famous would be Padstow, a small fishing village down near the end of Cornwall. I’ve been there in the spring, when the primrose is in bloom. Every May Day, the first of May, Padstow celebrates with their Hobby Horse, as a herald for good fortune and prosperity. In 1975 Albert Jenkins, having seen the event, brought the parade to springtime Southern California, for the Renaissance Faire. Where it has evolved and grown ever since.
