The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.Gomme, Alice Bertha
History
The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.
Gomme, Alice Bertha
Folklore -- Great Britain; Games -- Great Britain
Some of the versions differ from the general type in two ways—first, in
the method of playing; secondly, in the wording of the verses. The
differences in the method of playing direct attention to the connection
of the game with ancient custom. The game is always played by the
players taking sides; but one method is for one side to consist of only
two children (Mother and Jenny Jones), and the other side to consist of
all the other players; while the other method is for the players to be
divided into two sides of about equal numbers, each side advancing and
retiring in line when singing their part. Jenny Jones in some cases
walks with the girls in her line until the funeral, when she is carried
to the grave, and in others she stands alone behind the line. The way of
performing the funeral also differs. Generally two of the players carry
Jenny to the grave, the rest following two by two; but in one Hampshire
version six or eight children carry Jenny, stretched out and flat, to
the grave, and cover her over; in Holywood, co. Down, she is carried
sitting on the crossed hands of two players; while in some versions no
funeral is apparently performed, the words only being sung. Another
significant incident is the Ghost. An additional incident occurs in the
Liphook version, which represents her being “swung to life again” by two
of the players.
These differences may perhaps be immaterial to the meaning and origin of
the game, but they are sufficiently indicative of early custom to
suggest the divergence of the game in modern times towards modern
custom. Thus the players divided line-by-line follow the general form
for children playing singing games, and it would therefore suggest
itself as the earlier form for this game. The change of the game from
the line-by-line action to the mother-and-line action would indicate a
corresponding change in the prevailing custom which influenced the game.
This custom was the wooing by a band of suitors of girls surrounded by
their fellow-villagers, which became obsolete in favour of ordinary
marriage custom. The dropping out of this custom would cause the game to
change from a representation of both wooing and burial to one of burial
only. As burial only the mother-and-line action is sufficient, but the
presence of a wooing incident in the earlier form of the game is plainly
revealed by the verse which sings, “Fare ye well, ladies,” or, as it has
become in the English variant, “Very well, ladies.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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