Released
Oss Oss Wee Oss
January 2 1953 (about 72 years ago)Rating
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- Director: Alan Lomax
- Genre: Documentary
- Runtime: 12 m
- Country: United Kingdom
- Companies: Folk Films, English Folk Dance and Song Society
Padstow, a fishing village on the coast of Cornwall, celebrates May Day with an ancient custom: two osses (hobby-horses) dance through the town streets accompanied by drums and accordions. All Padstownians participate in the event, which has now become a tourist attraction drawing over tens of thousands of annual visitors. Folklorists Alan Lomax and Peter Kennedy and filmmaker George Pickow collected footage at the festival in 1951, producing a pioneering work in the use of sound, low-light photography, and conversational presentation of narrative. A favorite of Margaret Mead, who used it in her classes, the film circulated widely and continues to have influence today, especially in the neo-Pagan community.
