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
On the other hand, it must not be overlooked that this game-drama and
the game of “Janet Jo” have no connection beyond the name of the heroine
and the wooing incident; so that the borrowing, if borrowing there be,
might have been by Scotland, who improved the commonplace “Jenny Jones”
into the pretty sweetness of her Scottish namesake. The Scottish version
of the game leaves out the question of the colours for mourning, but, on
the other hand, it contains the very important incident of the
restoration of the dead. Chambers (_Popular Rhymes_, p. 141) suggests
that this incident was introduced for the purpose of beginning the game
again, but this seems extremely doubtful, in consideration of the
Liphook variant, in which Miss Fowler says, “It is no uncommon thing for
‘Jenny Jones’ to be swung into life again;” and the still more
significant Southampton version, where “‘Jenny Jones’ appears in the
character of the Ghost, and scatters and pursues the surrounding
mourners.” This detail is also used by the Northants and Barnes
children, the version of whose game is very like the Southampton one. On
the whole, the analysis would suggest that there has been a game played
by the children of both England and Scotland, the leading incidents of
which have been varied in accordance with the conditions of life. Mr.
Napier (_Folk-lore Record_, iv. 474), in his description of the West
Scotland example, evidently considered the game to be thoroughly
representative of Scottish life, and this, indeed, seems to be the most
striking feature of the game in all the variants. The domestic economy
which they reveal is in no case out of keeping with the known facts of
everyday peasant life, and many a mother has denied to her child’s
friends the companionship they desired because of the work to be done.
In most cases the burden of the song rests upon the question of health,
but in two cases, namely, Colchester and Deptford, the question is put
as to where “Jenny Jones” is at the time of the visit. It is curious
that the refrain of “Farewell, ladies,” should appear in such widely
separated districts as Scotland, Northamptonshire, Norfolk, Middlesex,
Hants, Lincoln, and Barnes.
With reference to the colours for mourning, there is an obvious addition
of crape introduced into the Deptford version which is very suggestive
of the decadence going on. The four colours used in most versions are
red, blue, white, and black, colours which have been known to the people
from ancient times. Black is accepted as the correct colour in all
versions except five, where white is declared to be the colour which the
dead wear. The method of question and answer is adopted for all the
rhyme-movements. The tune of the game, with but slight variation, in all
the versions is the same as that given from Platt, near Wrotham, except
the two which are printed from Northants and Belfast.
Jenny Mac
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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