BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)

Subject: Kalenda Maya is coming
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Apr 18 - 11:02 AM

I know, I know. We have a good two weeks until it comes:
Calenda Maya
Kalenda Maia
Calendimaggio
Beltane
The Padstow Hobby Horse
Maypoles

and so on.
And at the moment it's raining cats and dogs.

What preparations are needed ahead of time
to get the Mudcat Tavern ready for SPRING and MAY?
What can be done indoors while it's raining?
Who will roll up their sleeves and prepare
for the revellers on May Day?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Apr 18 - 11:44 AM

Ooh, what fun. I shall hang lanterns in the trees. Carefully.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Rapparee
Date: 16 Apr 18 - 05:56 PM

I shall reload all my shotgun shells with confetti and glitter.

You can have a Maypole indoors if you're short enough or the ceiling is high enough. Alcoholic beverages help.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Apr 18 - 07:19 PM

I know next to nothing about the Padstow 'Obby 'Oss.
It seems that on May Day, there have two be TWO of them.
One has blue ribbons and is the Blue 'Oss;
the other has red ribbons and is the Red 'Oss.

So don't mix up the ribbons...
otherwise it's

I never saw a Purple 'Oss,
I never 'ope to see one ...

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Apr 18 - 02:59 AM

We must have a Maypole! I'll never forget the extremely bizarre spectacle, at the Norfolk Show, of some Masai warriors in full costume dancing round a Maypole with some Norfolk children dressed in white, skipping along and laughing their heads off.

And let's have Morris dancers of all kinds.

I will bake some enormous quiches and fruit cakes if you like.

Who is going to be 'Queen of the May'?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Apr 18 - 08:57 AM

Isn't glitter a nono these days? It's hard to keep up with the party rules. Yes, we must have a maypole. We bats are good at that.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Apr 18 - 09:23 AM

The stuff I use is degradable, as am I. And I'm not going to ruin my shotgun with that stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Apr 18 - 09:35 AM

Could we dress a well like they do in Derbyshire? They do look nice.

I think we should get some sort of procession arranged. Two 'Obby 'Osses, all the Morris dancers playing their melodeons, and the May Queen in her carriage (pulled by an army of Siamese cats)
Keberoxu, you can be the May Queen if you like. Just pop a garland of flowers on your head and wear a white dress.
Rap, you could fire some welcoming rounds on your gun (but into the air, or you might kill a Morris dancer or two!)
I will be stationed behind the buffet, handing out slices of quiche and huge pieces of fruit cake. Ale of course on tap.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Apr 18 - 09:38 AM

Mrrzy, could the Bats scatter petals from on high on to the procession? (But could they not poo on everyone?)

I haven't found a role for the smiling African man yet, but he could just walk along smiling I suppose, wearing one of his gorgeous African outfits. (He does this at the Sheringham Potty Festival, and people seem to like it!)

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: keberoxu
Date: 17 Apr 18 - 11:09 AM

The Queen of the May will have to be someone else, not myself.

In a white dress I resemble, as one theatrical was heard to say,
"an igloo out for a stroll." No, no, not for me.

Don't forget Benjamin Britten's opera Albert Herring, by the way:
it had a May King instead of a May Queen.

Your Masai remind me of something, not from Africa,
but from https://mudcat.org/cfm?threadid=163893&messages=7
darn it, when I do the make-a-link-blue-clicky below,
it doesn't ... link. Well. Anyhow, it's from Papua New Guinea.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Apr 18 - 11:59 AM

'...an igloo out for stroll.' Hahahaahahahahaaaaaaa! I'd look like a circus's Big Top out for a stroll!!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Apr 18 - 09:25 PM

I'd wear spurs that jingle-jangle-jingle except I don't have any.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Apr 18 - 03:43 AM

Could you jingle-jangle something else instead Rap? :)

And who's going to serve all the ale? There are loads of folk songs about ale which we could all sing.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Apr 18 - 10:16 AM

Rose petals, absolutely. No promises on the guano, it's needed to grow more rosebushes. Just a sprinkling for the May Queen, ahahahaha!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: keberoxu
Date: 18 Apr 18 - 02:42 PM

Serving the ale: isn't that where the Mudcat Tavern comes in?

Seems there is also a connection --   this is how ignorant I am --
to WalpurgisNacht. You have to get through WalpurgisNacht
in order to get to MayDay. This is getting layered.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Apr 18 - 03:07 PM

The Mudcat Tavern would be where one buys the ale, but who will be behind the bar? We'll need two or three bar-persons, all able to pull a pint and tell jokes etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Apr 18 - 10:19 AM

It is 4.20; the bat is getting knots in the lantern strings. And getting hungry... anybody seen any loose necks around?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 20 Apr 18 - 01:32 PM

Well the bats can have a go at my neck if they like. They say that a bit of blood-letting reduces one's blood pressure. (If they don't mind a high cholesterol level that is)

Smiling African man has chosen his outfit. It's his turquoise 'bazin' one with the emerald green embroidery around the neck area and the cuffs of the legs. Very bright and cheerful.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Apr 18 - 09:09 PM

I've chosen my outfit. About as nondescript as one can get. High leather boots, breeches, shirt, weskit, great cloak, tricorn hat, rapier, and a brace of pistols and bandolier of charges. Like this.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 23 Apr 18 - 03:21 AM

Very fetching Rap. "I'm England's foe and Ireland's friend" I'm half-and-half myself, so a foot in both camps.

I'm sure I saw Tommy Makem in Edinburgh while I was at Uni (sixties).

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 23 Apr 18 - 05:44 PM

Moi y'en a bouffer Eliza and her Ivorian, so after a short nap, and after spreading extra quano to celebrate earth day, the bat is now bearing about a branch of May. Before the door it hangs upside down... warbling Cynthia Gooding.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 24 Apr 18 - 04:17 AM

"All my trials Lord..." Her voice is so rich isn't it?

The hawthorn hedges around each field here in Norfolk are covered in May blossom. And that wild flower called 'Alexanders' was blooming everywhere (green flowers) when we went to the coast on Sunday (Sheringham and Cromer)

I'd like to dance round the Maypole with Mrrzy; each bat can take a ribbon (and the Smiling African Man too) not to mention the Siamese cats) BobL is a member of a Morris side, so perhaps they could join in and provide the music?

In Ye Olde England there used to be...er...frolics... after the Mayday revels........

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Apr 18 - 08:58 AM

Let us all go a-Maying!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 25 Apr 18 - 10:10 AM

I was singing that in the car yesterday Rap, while husband was driving.
And also 'Sumer is Icumin In'. Bless him, he was trying not to burst out laughing. I have quite a contralto voice (probably sound like a cow mooing) All he could find to say was, "Eeeet eeeez not yet May. Eeeet eeez steeeel Aprrril!" perhaps hoping to defer the torture for another few days!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Apr 18 - 09:49 AM

The revels were before, during, and after the Maypole thing. A Maypole is the reason for the failure of Thomas Morton's Merrymount colony:

"The inhabitants of Merrymount ... did devise amongst themselves to have ... Revels, and merriment after the old English custom ... & therefore brewed a barrell of excellent beer, & provided a case of bottles to be spent, with other good cheer, for all comers of that day. And upon Mayday they brought the Maypole to the place appointed, with drums, guns, pistols, and other fitting instruments, for that purpose; and there erected it with the help of Savages, that came thither of purpose to see the manner of our Revels. A goodly pine tree of 80 foot long, was reared up, with a pair of buckshorns nailed on, somewhat near unto the top of it; where it stood as a fair sea mark for directions, how to find out the way to mine Host of Ma-re Mount."

The next year the Puritans attacks, arrested Morton, and chopped down the Maypole. Good story; look it up.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 26 Apr 18 - 10:09 AM

Was that in Quincy,Massachusetts Rap?
Weren't those Puritans a load of utter killjoys? Same here, they banned Christmas completely, and everyone had to wear black and white clothes.
We won't invite any of THEM to our Mudcat revels!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Apr 18 - 10:41 AM

You can put him straight, Sen. Some May songs are traditionally sung in April. Have a listen to The Watersons recording of the 'Swinton May Song' (I am from Swinton) to hear the line 'Drawing near to the merry month of May'. You couldn't sing that in May!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Apr 18 - 10:44 AM

So, what's next?

St John's bonfire (June) Maybe

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 26 Apr 18 - 12:43 PM

Hahaha Dave! I'll tell him I can sing my songs in April because Dave the Gnome said I could.
The Royal Norfolk Show is at the end of June, but they had the Maypole up and running when the Masai warriors joined in.
It makes me giggle to see his face. Africans don't sing like that - most ladies there have quite shrill voices and sing from the throat.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Severn
Date: 26 Apr 18 - 02:49 PM

Remember, if flying to the Tavern, you don't mention Mayday out loud, and if.you see your friend Jack, say "Hello!" rather than "Hi!", thereby avoiding any delays......

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Apr 18 - 09:03 AM

Don't say anything these days except "Yes, Sir (or Ma'am)" and "No, Sir (or Ma'am)" as the case may be. Even saying something as innocuous as "Oh, my! I totally forgot I had that submachinegun and those hand grenades in my baggage!" can land you in trouble. Why, you can't even have a flare gun and flares in your checked baggage! You can bring a guitar into the passage space but not a sword, not even a fencing foil! I tell you, I don't know what the world is coming to!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Apr 18 - 09:17 AM

It's terrible isn't it Rap? They found my nuclear warhead in my baggage last year and would you believe it, it was confiscated! Ridiculous fuss about nothing.

I think we'll be arriving at the Mudcat Tavern in a hot air balloon this time. Siamese cats snuggled down at the bottom of the basket, while Smiling African and his plump old wife pull the ropes and fire the gas cylinder to gain height. Lots of crumpets on board, not to mention the huge quiches and fruit cakes.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Apr 18 - 09:30 PM

I believe I'll arrive on horseback.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 28 Apr 18 - 03:21 AM

Is that Dick Turpin or the Lone Ranger Rap?
I'm jealous now of your idea. I can ride (was never off a horse when I was younger) However my husband is terrified of horses, and what would I do with the Siamese cats? No, I'll have to stick to the balloon.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Apr 18 - 09:26 PM

Neither.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 29 Apr 18 - 04:03 AM

Ah Zorro! Brilliant! Very dashing (I quite fancy him!)

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 May 18 - 10:52 AM

Waking from a drunken stupor... wait, where is everyone? Did I miss it?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 May 18 - 11:19 AM

Tsk. Laying in the gutter, stinking of Demon Rum and beer. Look at yourself! Disgusting!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Senoufou
Date: 07 May 18 - 11:38 AM

Never mind Mrrzy. There's the Late Spring Bank Holiday (28th May) We can have the Mayday celebrations then.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 03:50 PM

Do we, or don't we?
How goes it with Morris dancing, by the way?
Is it possible for Morris dancers to dance
six feet apart or whatever the regulations say?

Maybe the Maypole would work.
The Maypole would work best if it were extremely tall,
with long, er, ribbons or whatever those thingies are,
and that would facilitate
everybody circling around the pole from a considerable distance
and at the minimum distance from each other.

... maybe a parade would work, and again
a lot of spacing and distance would be involved.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 04:25 PM

And no bats! Possibly no pangolins either...

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mr Red
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 05:27 PM

a lot of spacing and distance would be involved

But parades (eg) would involve breathing the air exhaled by the guy in front. Morris involves contact usually, but even with modifyng dances you have people exercising, and wafting breathy air in larger volumes.

I would guess the only Morris you could do safely is the Jig. Solo dancers. And probably only one muso too.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: keberoxu
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 07:02 PM

The May date might have to be movable.
Where I live, for example,
there is a "stay-at-home" order extended to May 4.

So instead of the first of May or whenever,
it could be observed later in May.
With everybody six feet apart.
And wearing face masks.


Hey, does anybody have any ideas for
a Calenda Maya face mask design?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: keberoxu
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 10:10 PM

Yes, I KNOW it isn't Calenda Maya yet.
But the darned thing will be here before you know it.
Last year we could sort of fantasize about it,
on my side of the pond,
as there was a lockdown going on.

This year ... 2021 ...
is there still a lockdown on YOUR side of the pond?

Between now and then, anyway, we could consider
what design and colors and all would be appropriate for
a Calenda Maya celebratory face mask?

And what about that Maypole?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 01 Apr 21 - 09:11 PM

Make the maypole tall enough and you could maintain physical distancing...

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: keberoxu
Date: 04 Apr 21 - 01:25 PM

And probably the maypole had better not
have ribbons --
because weaving the ribbons would mess with
social distancing.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Apr 21 - 08:49 PM

No, that is what I was saying. If the maypole is tall enough you can do the ribbons and stay far apart. Large field.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 08:05 PM

Is there room for this large field at
the Mudcat Tavern,
or is the Tavern closed due to COVID-19?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 Apr 21 - 08:45 AM

The pole is not inside. I know, I know...

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Apr 21 - 08:24 PM

It turns out that one can find evidence of
two musical groups that name themselves
Calenda /or / Kalenda Maya:

one from Norway, and the other
from Chile.

They both favor repertoire from the medieval era,
with facsimile instruments and period dress,
and both have published recordings of their music.

so ...
we could have a Mudcat Kalenda Maya Tavern in the northern hemisphere
and a Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern in the southern hemisphere,
with a different musical headliner at each.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat Calenda Maya Tavern (prep)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 Apr 21 - 10:03 AM

Ooh I likes it!