The Cult of Animals

The early modern history of the festivities associated with Hallowe’en and St Valentine’s Day reveals a significant overlap in early forms of celebration and customary practices. In the eighteenth century, however, each day developed its own distinctive traditional identity. This article argues that this was a result of mass print culture and the spread of literature: primarily in popular verses, the poetry of Robert Burns, and the influence of William Shakespeare.     

The Origin of Folk-Culture

The legend of Sir Richard ‘Bloody’ Baker, concerning events alleged to have occurred in the parish of Cranbrook, Kent in the sixteenth century, was first recorded in 1850. This legend bears such strong similarities to the English folktale of Mister Fox that it has been suggested it was deliberately fabricated by a Victorian faux antiquary. There are, however, many other oral traditions current in Cranbrook about Bloody Baker which do seem to be authentic folklore, while certain details incongruous in the recorded narrative appear to be survivals from an earlier version. These considerations make it probable that the legend is an organic local variant on the Mister Fox motif, notwithstanding the lateness of its first record.