Burn the Moon Hare!

It is the Autumn Harvest Moon. (Chung Ch’iu) 

Give thanks for your Bountiful Harvest!

In Chinese thought the moon symbolizes the female principle of yin.

Women from each household will place the following on a specially prepared altar:

an image or figure of the Moon Hare

five platters of different fruit and

13 mooncakes (spicy circular cakes that represent the 13 months of the lunar year).

The women light incense, 

approach the altar one by one and bow.

After this  the picture/figure of the Moon Hare is burned.

Its soul is free and

 it returns to the moon.

March is here...

It is March and the Hare has come.

Wander the Kalendar Heath with care lest it spy you and hop upon your back to whisper in your ear.

Whilst you wander you will be serenaded by Shirley Collins, Pentangle, Jethro Tull, Iron Maiden, The Carter Family, George Formby, Maddy Prior, Igor Stravinsky, Ozric Tentacles, Noah and the Whale, Abe Lyman, Mark Korven, Anne Briggs and David Cain. Hide behind them as they play so the hare cannot see you.

As you skip from hillock to mound you may hear snatches of the Wyrd Kalendar story for March "The Crucified Hare" written by Chris Lambert and read by Ralf Higgins.


Look out for the brand new Spring mix on March 21st...

Hare Asylums - The Truth

Signs like this were often seen on the streets of Bridgewater and Halifax (that housed the most prominent Hare Asylums).

Most of us are aware of the terrible history associated with hare asylums.

The first Hare Asylum; The Saint Francis of Assisi Lepus Sanitorium was set up by a group of monks in 1752 in York. It  was long considered that the actions of hares in the month of March were not only damaging to the morals of good Christian folk but the also were potentially infectious.

For this reason it was considered prudent that all hares were incarcerated in specially made asylums from the first to the thirty first of March.

This poem was used to raise funds for the hare asylums. The text points to the problems associated with the Mad March syndrome.

Over the years more Hare Asylums appeared across the country. According to official records, at their peak (in 1854), there were 49 Hare Asylums in the United Kingdom. The majority of these were privately funded and run but, according to Professor B. Hutchins, renowned zoological historian, at least three were funded by local councils (notably Bridgewater, Halifax and Newbury).

Following a government review of practices at these asylums the majority were shut down in the late nineteenth century though the last (in East Swindon) remained open until 1931.

Published by Esoheritix in 1965 - This is the first full investigation into the Victorian Hare Asylums.

In his book "The Truth about Hare Asylums" Professor B. Hutchins reveals some of the terrible practices associated with these places. (Please be aware the following list does contain some quite shocking information which we only reveal here to expose the truth about the Hare Asylums.)

1. Hares were placed in a room on their own for an hour a day. In the room was a hatch through which a Nun would sing three hymns (repeating them once complete).

2. All hares were forcibly baptised.

3. Male hares (bucks) were given bowls of ale to drink to control libido.

4. Female hares (does) were trained in courting and dining etiquette.

5. Hares that followed their breeding instinct were chastised and the book of Job read to them in its entirety.

For more information about Hare Asylums we heartily recommend "The Truth About Hare Asylums". (Out of Print)

The Witch Who Became a Hare

In March our thoughts turn to hares.

Maria Hale, the witch of Aldermaston (Berkshire) was able to turn herself into a hare. 

Between the 1850s and '60s it was reported that the transformed Maria would sit outside the local pub and listen to the gossip, nose and ears twitching.

A local gamekeeper shot this hare in the leg and thereafter it was said that Maria Hale walked with a limp.

Maria was considered to be a most wicked woman. 

She scammed the vulnerable and lonely selling them expensive curses or cures.

The local people were very frightened of her.

The following are some of her reported sins:

1. She sold a local shopkeeper what she said was ham, though she kept no pigs. Apparently it was the most delicious ham in all of Aldermaston, yet she kept no pigs...

2. If she asked you for flowers and you refused to give them to her then all of your plants would wither and die.

3. When her son tried to leave home she cursed him, this caused him to become ill so he had to return home.

She died in 1879 (aged 88) and was buried in the Graveyard of Aldermaston Church.
The villagers planted her under a yew tree in a hole at least 12 feet deep (most graves are 6 feet deep).
The placed rocks on the coffin and jumped up and down upon the grave to ensure she wouldn't get out.
It is said that if you place a pin on the steps of the church and run around it three times she will appear.

The adventures of Maria Hale (in life and after her death) alongside other strange characters from the Berkshire area can be heard in "Deadman's Lane" a Folk Horror School Play. 

A radio version is below...

Source: David Nash Ford's "Royal Berkshire History" 2001
http://www.berkshirehistory.com/villages/aldermaston.html

The March Mix - The Hare is Here

It is March and the Hare has come.

Wander the Kalendar Heath with care lest it spy you and hop upon your back to whisper in your ear.

Whilst you wander you will be serenaded by Shirley Collins, Pentangle, Jethro Tull, Iron Maiden, The Carter Family, George Formby, Maddy Prior, Igor Stravinsky, Ozric Tentacles, Noah and the Whale, Abe Lyman, Mark Korven, Anne Briggs and David Cain. Hide behind them as they play so the hare cannot see you.

As you skip from hillock to mound you may hear snatches of the Wyrd Kalendar story for March "The Crucified Hare" written by Chris Lambert and read by Ralf Higgins.

The Hare Is Coming...