The lore and language of schoolchildren Book

What a wonderful record of children's play, rhymes, customs and folklore. I'm so glad I bought this, it's the sort of book to go back to. Iona and Peter Opie collected information for eight years from 5,000 children in England, Wales and Scotland. Playground games, rhymes, chants, customs, language, superstitions and beliefs.

When I was at a poor inner city state school 40 years ago, break times were wonderful. I loved the the games with their own language and rules, the songs, the skipping games and the customs. It was so interesting reading about all the variations across the country and remembering words, songs and games I'd forgotten. It was interesting to see the words used in your area and how they aren't necessarily the ones you know. There is a general index, an index of first lines and a geographical index. Coming from East Anglia it was interesting to see ladybirds referred to as bishy-barnabees and the rhyme, ladybird, ladybird fly away home. A chapter on not standing on pavement cracks reminded me of a regularly used rhyme- if you stand on a crack, you'll marry a bat, and a beetle will come to your wedding, I remember this chanted many times whilst trying to walk along the pavement avoiding cracks. The section on the children's calendar was my favourite. For me the high point of the primary school year was dancing around the maypole. The sense of coming spring and the excitement of the dancing was probably my favourite childhood memory. The music and the way the ribbons had plaited around the pole was magical. Sadly I don't know of any school now that continues this custom. I took my children to a 1st of May Maypole dance when they were younger and it was a wonderful day and a special memory, I think it's so sad these wonderful customs are lost. All souls day is mentioned, which has always been another favourite of ours, we love the idea that on this night the souls of the people who once lived in a house can come back to visit. We bake soul cakes which this book says has gone out of fashion. We recognised the magpie rhyme of one for sorrow, two for joy. Most of all I loved looking back to an era where children played out on the street, made up their own games and rules and experienced imaginative outdoor play, using their own language, customs, regional dialect and folklore.