Abbots Bromley Horn Dance - An Ancient Ritual
traditional for September or mid-winter, its mysteries move us even today
The riveting and starkly mysterious Abbots Bromley horn dance is traditionally presented in England each year on the first Monday after the first Sunday after September 4.
In 2024, that’s September 9.
Its history is shrouded in the mists of time, and its symbolism is still debated, but there are artifacts and histories that date its presence back nearly 1000 years.
In the fall of 2016, the pioneer class of 12 young adults with autism at the new Meristem program brought this ancient ritual to life. The woodwork teacher had a collection of antlers he loaned to us. I had a tambourine and a triangle. We practiced in secret in the first days of the new term. One of the students played fiddle; another kept rhythm for the ten traditional characters. In the expansive olive grove on the campus of what was then Rudolf Steiner College, they surprised everyone with the magical experience of the horn dance during the morning snack break on, yes, the first Monday after the first Sunday after September 4. It was, like many special surprises, a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and one we forgot to photograph.
I’ll never forget the first time I experienced Abbott’s Bromley horn dance. In the middle of the winter holiday performance of The Revels, from our seats in the big theater in Oakland, we heard the recorder sing the haunting melody as a line of stepping characters processed across the stage, into walking patterns, and then disappeared into the dark wings. Whoa! What was that? My kids’ eyes were huge. A very ancient and magical spell had been cast for those few minutes. Very cool.
VIDEO - Stage Version - Abbots Bromley
Years later, I had another surprise while attending Pinewoods Family Camp week, a Country Dance and Song Society program in Plymouth, Massachusetts - highly recommended! Every evening after dinner, the entire camp of families gather for story, song, jokes, and games until Mary Alice Amidon and her accordian sings “I See the Moon” under the starry night sky to pied-piper the little ones off to their cabins for bed, a lovely ritual in its own right.
In the middle of one evening’s program, a distant yet familiar tune could be heard coming toward us slowly and rhythmically. All conversations stopped as our heads swiveled towards the trees. Down through the main path of the camp came a ragtag procession, many carrying horns at their heads, another an umbrella, one on a hobby horse, another under an umbrella, stepping the twining patterns I remembered from Revels past. The dancers kept the pace, continuing their procession until mysteriously vanishing one by one into the dark forest, the tune a barely heard diminuendo. Unforgettable.
It looked a lot like this:
VIDEO - Forest Version - Abbots Bromley Horn Dance by Revels North
I can imagine a high school group preparing in secret and presenting Abbots Bromley as a surprise to the school community, maybe in September, or as part of a winter festival. What do you think?