The Ballad of Lady Margaret and William: A Short History with Song Lyrics

Many people have come to love the song Lady Margaret, most recently performed by Cassie Franklin. You might have heard it on the Cold Mountain CD. I absolutely love that version, even though it did not make it into the movie. The song originated in Scotland in the early 1600s. It later was taken to America where it, along with a lot of other songs, was sung in the Appalachian region. The songs were played in the region with very little outside influence until the songs morphed and changed with each performer until the original songs and the Appalachian songs shared only common themes. (If I was an anthropologist, I would call this: Parallel Evolution. :D)

The songs share similar lyrics and themes but most of them are different enough to warrant being completely different songs. The varieties are really interesting to follow and it’s neat because it’s as if the story never ends.
Some Good Versions and Variations of the story of Lady Margaret and Sweet William can be listened to below:

Lady Margaret (Ghost Story) is a good version similar to some of these.
Lady Margaret by Buffy Sainte-Marie, This one is similar to the Cassie Franklin Version, this was recorded in 1966. 
Lady Margaret: by Trees from 1970
Lady Margaret and Sweet William by Shirley Collins
Fair Margaret and Sweet William by June Tabor in 2003

Sweet William's Ghost by Kate Rusby in 2003

Read the Lyrics of Fair Margaret and Sweet William which is most similar to the Cold Mountain Version. This is an excerpt from English and Scottish Ballads, read the rest here.

I hope this song and the stories pull you in as they have me. It is a very grisly-sweet story, a dark romantic one , it has the same kind of feel as Wuthering Heights. I was surprised to see how many newer versions of the song there was. There seemed to be a revival of the song in the 1970s as well as another in 2003 (when Cold Mountain was released.) I'm glad this song has stood the test of time--It has been performed for over 400 years! I hope people continue to record new versions. Are there any other historical songs that entrap you like this one?  

19th Century Wash Cloths

There is a lot of curiosity about what types of rags were used to clean dishes and wash faces. The difference between wash-cloths and wash-rags in period writing is that wash rags were not finished while wash-cloths were hemmed.Wash-rags were often just scraps from left over cloth and were not meant to last as long as wash-cloths. Wash-cloths were frequently knitted or crocheted for better cleaning quality and for longevity. Many 19th century books mention cotton as the best material to use for wash-cloths but there is mention of using coarse hemp and even candle wicking for cloths used to scrub dishes and exfoliate the face.

In the South during the Civil War, the blockade prevented the South from getting many daily essentials. Yarn was hard to get during the war because although the South grew a lot of cotton, it sold it to the north and to Europe where it was carded and spun and then sold back to the South as a finished product. The Southern women were said to be and proved very frugal and innovative. The lack of yarn was so huge that a knitted wash-cloth in the South would most likely have been unraveled and knitted into clothing. As nasty as this seems today, it was probably a lot more gross because the South also had a severe shortage of grease and soap. Could you imagine wearing old unraveled dish rags?

This brings to mind the classic scene in Gone With the Wind, when Scarlett parades up to Rhett in her dress made out of curtains. While the dresses in the movie are generally incorrect, many women were noted to have dresses during the war that used to be curtains. It is very grim but some of the ladies recorded in their diaries that they had been okay with the shortages as being innovative and creative gave them no time to brood.

I love being creative, I am not sure how I would fare if I had to be creative. I would probably brood and complain. I look up to those women who had to "make do or do without."  I think about this every time I want a new reenacting dress. They are expensive and I feel most reenactors have a wardrobe unheard of during the war. But with all of those pretty clothes, it is easy to understand why we all have so much. I try to reason with myself that no matter how much I am sick of the dress I have now, they had to wear clothes they were sick of for years. So I am going to wait a while and when I get a new dress, I will appriciate it that much more. Perhaps I will even unravel a worn out dish rags and make trim for it. I wonder if anyone would notice?  :D

Qingming Festival (清明节): Chinese Grave Sweeping

Today was the Qingming Festival in China. The Qingming Festival roughly translates as "The Clear and Bright Festival." As the Chinese use a different calendar than we do in the U.S., the festival is always on the 104th day after the Winter Solstice. During this festival many Chinese to pack a picnic lunch, including sweets, and hold a picnic on the graves of their ancestors. They then clean the graves which usually become overgrown during the rest of the year and offer special food to their ancestors. The festival dates back to 732 B.C.E. to stop the practice of wealthy families honoring their ancestors with frequent, extravagant rituals.             

            Many Chinese believe that in the afterlife, their ancestors have 'live' again but  in a new place. They also believe that their ancestors have the ability to interfere in the affairs of the living. To aid their ancestors in their new 'life' and to give their ancestors things that the families feel that they would want in the afterlife, the families burn Joss Paper which originally was money printed especially for the dead and has no value on Earth. Many Joss Paper bank notes are known as Hell Bank Notes—which sounds really funny to us.
            During the 1840s, Christian missionaries in China told the Chinese that non-Christians go to hell. The Chinese misunderstood the missionaries and thought that "hell" meant the neutral afterlife, which is typical of the Chinese beliefs. The money is only good for the dead at the "Bank of Hell." The practice of burning paper goods has grown enormously and now families can burn not only fake paper money but paper checks, paper mache models of sports cars, ipods, credit cards, and an array of modern things. It is considered very unlucky to keep a Joss Paper item in your house.
            It was a homework assignment for me to go home and burn a Joss Note. My sister graciously helped me with the burning of it in the back yard (water standing by.)




           It is an interesting festival. I do like the concept behind the festival: If you do not honor your parents, your children will not honor you. It is one of the most important holidays in China. I think my sister had a lot of fun. I originally wasn't going to burn the Joss Note as it was a neat keepsake to have, but my professor really stressed how disrespectful and vile it is in the Chinese culture to keep it. I hope you enjoyed reading about this unique festival. 
  

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from the world's cutest bunny, Boo (okay, I might be a slight bit biased.)

Boo is an advocate for chocolate Easter Bunnies. As a rescue bunny, she highly encourages people to buy their children chocolate bunnies for Easter and not real bunnies. She acknowledges that people buy bunnies because they are cute and they think that they will not be hard to take care of. When the people get bored of their bunnies, a lot just let them go outside, not realizing that a lone, domesticated bunny will die.  You can read more about the "Make Mine Chocolate" bunny campaign. Happy Easter!

Trip to Ridley Creek State Park and Making Vegetarian Dumplings

     Yesterday was such a beautiful day. Andy and I went for a walk at Ridley Creek State Park. The park is very beautiful. The area has been inhabited since the late 1600s and stone remnants of the period are scattered throughout the woods. There is a 4.3 mile paved walkway throughout woods and many dirt trails. Some historical structures to look out for include an early 1900s pump house( recently hit by a tree,) an early 1900s swimming pool, and the "Russell Cemetery" (1820-1861, There is an amusing bit of folklore about one occupant of this cemetery: Jesse Russell. Jesse Russell, a fox hunter, died on the 12th of September in1820 when he was 42 years old. It is said that he was buried standing up so as to better hear his hunting hounds after death.   

     We stayed on the paved trail mostly, only going into the woods once or twice to see some of the ruins. We ended up seeing lots of animals, including two snakes.

 

One time I was jogging in the woods with my mother. I saw a large snake sunbathing across the path. I pointed it out to my mother as "Snake!! Run!!" She took my advise and ran...right past the snake. So we were stuck in the woods with a huge snake in between us. Eventually another jogger convinced me that if I just ran past, it wouldn't eat me--which I was sure it wanted to do. :D I did run past and it didn't eat me.

The one snake Andy and I saw was a cute little garter snake, the other seemed a little bigger, but we didn't get a good look at it. It was a really nice day to walk and the trees create a canopy of shade.


Andy was nice enough to make vegetarian Chinese Dumplings with me yesterday too. Ever since I have become a vegetarian, I have missed the pork dumplings in Chinese restaurants (it's only been about 9 months.I barely have missed meat at all.) We used this recipe from the food network. This was our first time, next time we make these, we plan on using a hot pepper and less cilantro. They did turn out nice looking and were very tasty.