The Randwick Wap: a custom of community

• Authors: Jessica J. Lloyd May
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

On 7 May 2022 a crowd formed around the war memorial in the village of Randwick, Gloucestershire. The crowd grew in numbers and in excitement, with photographers from local news outlets manoeuvring to capture the event. It was the Saturday of the second weekend of May which, for the inhabitants of Randwick and the surrounding villages, meant that it was the day of the Wap. Through qualitative interviews with organisers, participants, and attendees, as well as field work observations of the Wap and its contemporary format, I will show the custom’s importance in the local cultural calendar and investigate how it has become entwined with the village’s identity. I will focus directly on the community, through first-hand accounts and use the words of the respondents to explain the ongoing importance of this custom and others like it. On the basis of this exploration of how the Wap is viewed and celebrated by those involved, I argue that the co-creation and observance of a custom allows a community to represent and reassert itself.

Keywords

EN

customs; folklore; oral history; community; identity; belonging; locality; co-creation; heritage

Discipline

• ETHNOLOGY: ETHNOLOGY

• Publisher: Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Český lid: etnologický časopis (Český lid: Ethnological journal)
• Year: 2024
• Volume: 111
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 441-463
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Jessica J. Lloyd May

• Český lid, redakce, Etnologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Na Florenci 3, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic