http://www.jackwilsonillustration.com/work daily 1.0 2025-06-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466858126585-J077N8PMWCF12J9EZ2N8/10.jpg Work - Burryman Name: Burryman Location: South Queensferry Date: 2nd Friday of August The Burryman is the central figure in the annual “Burryman’s Parade”. The Burryman is covered from head to ankles in burrs and parades around a seven mile route through the town of South Queensferry for nine hours or more, during which he is not permitted to speak. He stops at certain buildings in the town where he is given a drink of whiskey. Due to the stickiness of the burrs walking is awkward and therefore two poles decorated with flowers are used to steady himself. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466857886733-91BRGOQ6UTTVKFZMFXIX/1.jpg Work - Wren Boy Name: Wren Boy Location: Dingle, Ireland Date: December 26th A “Wren Boy” is a participant in the Irish “Wren Day” celebrations on December 26th. The celebrations consist of hunting a wren and, upon capture, putting it on top of a decorated pole for it to be celebrated by the crowds. Nowadays a fake wren is used, however, originally a real wren would have be hunted. The custom may have descended from Celtic mythology where the wren bird is seen as a symbol of the previous year due to its habit of singing in mid-winter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466857881982-G7BQON5CMXQ9QG746103/2.jpg Work - Mummer Name: Mummers Location: Various Date: Various “Mummers Plays” are seasonal British folk plays, performed by troupes of amateur actors. These plays traditionally portray the struggle between good and evil and revolve around three main characters; a hero, a villain and a doctor. During the play either the hero or villain is slain, upon which the doctor appears and resurrects the fallen actor. Many historians believe that these plays are celebrations of death and rebirth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466857902854-PIWG5W8R5ILQPUW8JYB7/3.jpg Work - Mari Lywd Name: Mari Lwyd Location: South Wales Date: Christmas & New Years The “Mari Lwyd” is a folk custom found in South Wales. The tradition involves a hobby horse made from a horses’ skull, mounted on a pole and carried by an individual hidden under a cloak. The Mari Lwyd would be taken from house to house by groups of men who would sing a song to gain entry to the house. Upon entering the house it was customary for the group to be fed and watered by the housekeeper. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466858132937-0UUZ6KHLZU1ZDD2ABBKU/4.jpg Work - Dorset Ooser Name: Dorset Ooser Location: Melbury Osmond, Dorset Date: April 23rd, May 1st The “Dorset Ooser” is the name of a large, wooden head first used in the festivities of the town, Melbury Osmond. The head is hollow so as to allow it to be worn as a mask and has a human face, aswell as a hinged jaw and a set of horns. Its main usage was during the custom of “Skimity Riding”, where those deemed immoral were sat backwards on a donkey or horse and humiliated throughout the town. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466858151944-3NYOCO8QW8LGV7WMXK83/5.jpg Work - Straw Bear Name: Straw Bear Location: Whittlesey Date: 2nd Weekend in January The Whittlesey Straw Bear Festival begins on the second Saturday of January with the Straw Bear parading through the town followed by its “Keeper” aswell as musicians and dancers. Traditionally the bear would dance during this parade for food and money. The festival concludes the following day with the straw costume burned in order for a new bear to be created the following year. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466858158666-D3O2CQMI81JZ2GBOAIG7/6.jpg Work - Obby Oss Name: Obby Oss Location: Padstow, Cornwall Date: May 1st The Padstow Obby Oss is the central figure in the Cornish town’s May Day celebrations. During the day the Obby Oss cavorts through the town trying to catch young maidens under his cape. Later in the evening the Obby Oss reaches the town’s maypole, before returning to its stable where the crowd sings of its death until it’s resurrection the following May Day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466858180863-QT6G6M3813DU9O1XGXV9/7.jpg Work - Hooden Horse Name: Hooden Horse Location: East Kent Date: Christmas Eve The “Hooden Horse” is a type of wooden hobby horse found in the folk custom of “Hoodening” in East Kent. The horse head has a hinged jaw and is attached to a pole which is carried by an individual hidden underneath a cloak. On Christmas Eve groups of farm labourers would go from house to house with the horse, performing in hope of payment. The group would perform a humorous play in rhyming couplets along the theme of death and rebirth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466858181950-JTZPCA4GD8WNU76NX75D/8.jpg Work - Mummer Name: Mummers Location: Various Date: Various “Mummers Plays” are seasonal British folk plays, performed by troupes of amateur actors. These plays traditionally portray the struggle between good and evil and revolve around three main characters; a hero, a villain and a doctor. During the play either the hero or villain is slain, upon which the doctor appears and resurrects the fallen actor. Many historians believe that these plays are celebrations of death and rebirth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879792988-6SC8IMT40R5EPA9RUZCB/1.jpg Work - Travel “Witches are actually conveyed from one place to another by the Devil, who under the bodily form of a goat or some other unclean & monstrous animal himself carries them, & that they are verily and indeed present at their foul midnight Sabbats.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879796190-Z970NUZRCAS5XVY6IUQF/2.jpg Work - Blasphemy “In accordance with the instructions of those Masters who have initiated the Novice, the latter bind themselves by fearful oaths never to worship the Blessed Sacrament; to heap curses on all Saints and especially to abjure our Lady Immaculate; to trample under foot and spit upon all holy images." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879820319-UHRCAUKPU8W9RQAKILJI/3.jpg Work - Profanation "They deny the Christian Faith and withdraw their allegiance from God. They repudiate the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, heaping the vilest insults upon her and calling her Harlot, etc.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879823900-M2LIJQPVBHQ2GNZ38J3Q/4.jpg Work - Renunciation “The Devil then demands its soul and makes it deny God and renounce its Baptism, and all relating to the Faith, promising Homage and Fealty to the Devil." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879846987-TD29P2VA8D3VX76GXM23/5.jpg Work - Baptism “The Devil administers to witches a kind of sacrilegious baptism, and after abjuring their Godfathers and Godmothers of Christian Baptism and Confirmation they have assigned to them new sponsors – as it were – whose charge it is to instruct them in sorcery; they drop their former name and exchange it for another, generally a scurrilous and grotesque nickname.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879851588-ZT446RJT46FART368E4H/6.jpg Work - Osculum Infame “The Sabbat is presided over by a Demon, the Lord of the Sabbat, who appears in some monstrous form, most generally as a goat or some hound of hell, seated upon a haughty throne. The witches who resort to the Sabbat approach the throne with their backs turned, and worship him…and then, as a sign of their homage, they kiss his fundament.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879875263-CI4GYT6WPMUMZIH4EI9X/7.jpg Work - Devil's Mark “The Devil sets his seale upon them. This is commonly some sure mark in some secret place of their bodies, which shall remain sore and unhealed until his next meeting with them, and then for afterwards prove ever insensible.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879881832-8HD3JGWSAI3O0MA3HIDX/8.jpg Work - Covenant “All witches vow obedience and subjection unto the hands of the Devil; they pay homage and vassalage (often by obscene ceremonies), and lay their hands upon a large black book which is presented to them. They bind themselves by blasphemous oaths never to return to the true faith, to observe no divine precept, to do no good work, but to obey the Demon only and to attend without fail the nightly conventicles.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879905340-ICL2WUQEF4XN5RM4UC2D/9.jpg Work - Dance with the Devil “Dances, which are performed in a circle but always round to the left; and just as our dances are for pleasure, so their dances and measures bring them labour and fatigue and the greatest toil.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879908493-MJPUGHZV6IAMUO69DO5Z/10.jpg Work - Allegiance “They swear allegiance to the devil within a circle traced upon the ground. Perhaps this is because a circle is the symbol of divinity, and the earth is God’s footstool; and so he wishes to persuade them that he is God of heaven and earth.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879931723-TCTUH2GQKVC2RN0UPML8/11.jpg Work - Feasting “They make a meal from food either furnished by themselves or by the Devil. It is sometimes most delicious and delicate, and sometimes a pie baked from babies they have slain or disinterred corpses…Moreover the wine which is usually poured out for the revellers is like black and clotted blood served in some foul and filthy vessel.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879933495-SGSITS3EYFM9Z522NWLS/12.jpg Work - Familiars “An important part of a witch’s outfit in popular estimation was a familiar. ‘These witches have ordinarily a familiar to spirit in the shape of a Man, Woman, Boy, Dogge, Cat, Foale, Fowle, Hare, Rat, Toade, etc. And to these their spirits they give names, and they meet together to Christen them." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879959766-19A6OHNE62WM1PRR0GP1/13.jpg Work - Matrimony “The Devil ‘oft-times marries them ere they part, either to himselfe, or their Familiar, or to one another.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879961639-C3FWORAQCF8XWWOZ6TR7/14.jpg Work - Debauchery “When the blasphemous liturgy of the Sabbat was done all present gave themselves up to the most promiscuous debauchery.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466879976999-LL0M37KUZKFK92L44NB0/15.jpg Work - Copulation "Then in the foulest manner they copulate with their demon lovers.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466883370591-X1GABDMOOJO9WKKQRA7P/Chantry+Island+%28Grey%29+%28Smaller+Size%29.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466883396204-3QNKJJ1RM3EM9HJZCWB8/chantry+island+woodcut+pic.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466883682197-OZ2VV3QNF2WUQNA1PW29/The+Underworld+%28Smaller+Size%29.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466883778900-XYJ3MNTHDLPL5RG7988J/The+Underworld+Poster+Bus+Stop+Mockup+%28Smaller%29.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466883970983-H9249YIWEJZTZZVEY0TZ/Prison+Tattooing+%28Smaller+Size%29.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466884791208-95L3V3DXSY4WGM5JL1TM/Thinner+Astronaut+Orange+Pack+Poster+%28300+DPI+JPEG%29.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466884820869-PSDU8GJPP28A4KPFOF75/17065768587_53871d8df3_o.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466884822693-B8DVZD38ZWTDQ02MUXSM/11214168_695205433939119_7915916493501188987_n.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466857587904-9J6FPM3XT7AP3NZUL01W/Bizarre+British+Customs+Thumbnail.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466880065202-VJ7N4F63B2WP2OW1CFED/10.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466883252713-Y63GBF782KN2CHCV2JWF/Chantry+Island+Thumbnail+%28Grey%29.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466883588554-CIZMLVRIIB5DPQW19H34/The+Underworld+Thumbnail.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466883875734-M8H6V790M87TNCZBVFUV/Prison+Tattooing+Thumbnail.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466884673841-RJ14S2M53Y6R67XC7GHX/St+Albans+Film+Festival+Thumbnail.jpg Work http://www.jackwilsonillustration.com/contact daily 0.75 2016-06-29 http://www.jackwilsonillustration.com/about daily 0.75 2025-06-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1559585122233-I3PZ8DED3SGKGF5V0ZUQ/IMG_3976.JPG About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5762767f46c3c497eb299544/1466538674006-RKKKSR6UHT2N4V3RNC5X/IMG_2044.JPG About