GBD12: Living the Lore (with Ronald Hutton)

The Greg Brownderville Dimension

In this episode I speak with Professor Ronald Hutton in his office at the University of Bristol, discussing the value of participatory, experiential folklore scholarship: living the lore rather than studying it aloofly. Afterward, by way of example, I tell how my own direct experience of the May this year has deepened my understanding of the holiday and my sense of its enchantment. I also answer questions from "the mailbag"—that is, from my listeners and viewers.
Irish American Heritage Museum's discussion of May Eve traditions and beliefs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaNlXSSGm3Q
May carol from Bedfordshire (utilizing minor chords):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4lSY8fXeLY
NPR article about May baskets:
https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/04/30/402817821/a-forgotten-tradition-may-basket-day
May carol (a composite carol I put together, with a few words I added here and there):
I have been wandering all this night
And most part of this day,
So now I have come for to sing you a song
And to bring you a branch of May.
A branch of May I have brought you,
And at your door it stands.
It’s only a sprout, but it’s all budded out
By the work of our Lord’s own hand.
Such flowers shone there in the strange night air
And all in the early dew.
I felt some fright, but I made it through the night
To bring this May to you.
Wake up, wake up, you pretty fair maid,
Wake from your drowsy dream
And step into your dairy house
For to pour us a cup of cream.
A man’s but a man. His life’s but a span.
He is much like a flower,
For he’s here today and gone tomorrow,
And he’s all gone down in an hour.
My song is done. I must be gone.
I can no longer stay.
God bless us all both great and small
And grant us a gladsome May.
Three poems:
Herrick
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...
Eliot
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...
cummings
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...
my website:
https://gregbrownderville.com
Greg Brownderville is the author of three books of poetry, the lead singer of Beekeeper Spaceman, the creator of Fire Bones, Editor-in-Chief at Southwest Review, and Professor of English at SMU in Dallas.