First, a bit of history to those too new to the Faire to know where this comes from in relation to the faire
This song was a faire tradition up until the demise of St. Helena's down South (the Peasants),
and was only heard on occasion recently. The song was used to herald
the coming of the Hobby Horse, a traditional symbol of fertility, in one of the truly period displays of Faire.
Gathered 'round in a circle, the assembled peasants would ring a call of "Hoss! Hoss! WEE HOSS!!!", followed
by the Hobby Horse (A peasant in costume) bursting forth and leading a merry chase through faire.
Tradition had it (Faire and in Elizabethan times) that young maids caught beneath
the skirts of the 'Hoss would be with child before the coming of the next spring.
As a note for the song, at the "St. George" verse, the 'Hoss would fall to the ground, to be reborn as all the peasants yelled
out the "OH" at the end of the verse.
Hoss! Hoss!
WEE HOSS!!!
(Chorus)
Unite and unite and let us all unite
For summer is a-come unto day
And wither we are going, we will all unite
In the merry morning of May
With a merry ring and now the joyful spring
O give us a cup of ale and the merrier we will sing
The young men of Oakwood, they might if they would
They might have built a ship and gilded it all in gold
(Chorus)
The young women of Oakwood, they might if they
would
They might have built a garland of the white rose and the red
Where are those young men that now here should dance?
For some they are in England and some they are in France
(Chorus)
O where is St. George? O where is he o ?
He's out in his longboat, all on the salt sea-o
Up flies the kite down falls the lark-o
And Mother Bumbee had an old ewe And she died in her own park-OH!
(Chorus)
With a merry ring and now the joyful spring
So happy are those little birds and the merrier we will sing