VOL XVII. NO 29
DECEMBER 17, 1949
Entered ai iccond-class matter. June I, 1033. at the Posloltfcc at Raleigh. North Carolina, under the Act ol March 3. 1870
Observances el Christ
as
Riding I lit* r.mlasl ic. Rapiiniiffiii Riders.
Ihe DQIVt, the Kooner-johns — nil these
plaved a prominent part in ecdcdirating the
Yuletich* season many years ago.
LAST WEEK we published a
brief comment in connection
with a remark made by Sena¬
tor Clyde R. Hoey about "riding
the fantastic" at Christmas time.
The Senator explained that this
was a custom prevalent in Cleve¬
land County when he was a
youngster. Men and boys would
dress themselves in all kinds of
outlandish costumes, then get on
horseback and proceed to cut up all
kinds of capers around town. And
with reference to his explanation
we said we’d never heard of riding
the fantastic and wondered
whether it was curried out only in
Cleveland County.
A letter came in a few days ago
from Mr. A. C. Stephenson of Red
Springs that had something to say
about this subject. Here it is:
“About Senator Hoey's account
of riding the fantastic: I was reared
in Severn, a small town in North¬
ampton County which, as you
know, is quite a distance from
Cleveland County. When I was a
small boy it was a custom in that
community to dress up in all sorts
of weird costumes, put on false
faces, or blacken the face, and ride
around in a manner similar to that
described by Senator Hoey. The
only difference seems to be in the
name by which this was called. We
called it Riding Ragamuffin,’ but
essentially it was the same kind of
sport that was enjoyed in Cleve¬
land County."
Youngsters Also Participated
"The little boys and girls who
were too small to ride on horses
dressed themselves in the same
manner, but they walked around,
blowing horns and raising a fuss
generally. It really did start Christ¬
mas off with a bang."
THE STATE,
осскмакя
17. 1949
Thank you, Mr. Stephenson, for
that information.
And Mrs. W. H. Murray of Clin¬
ton also writes in and backs up
what Mr. Stephenson has to say.
She states that she used to live in
Pendleton, which also is in North¬
ampton County. Up there, when
she was a little girl, they rode
mules mostly, and the mules were
adorned with streamers made of
crepe paper and old neckties. She
says it was quite a sight to see the
clown costumes of the riders and
to see the mules prancing all over
town.
Mrs. James A. Moore of Fayette¬
ville brings out another aspect in
connection with old time observ¬
ances of Christmas. She calls at¬
tention to the Christmas Eve
revelers who were known as
Kooner-johns, or just plain Koon-
ers. They’d go around in the same
type of costumes that we’ve just
described and would try to scare
people. They’d sing songs and visit
from house to house where thev
usually were given fruit, cake,
candy and other good things to eat.
Mrs. Moore also says: "I remem¬
ber that it was the case for many
years that if a person were dressed
badly, in bad taste or poor stvle.
people would say that she looked
like a ‘Kooner-john’."
The DQPS
Friday afternoon we were talk¬
ing about all this to Earl Johnson
of Raleigh, and he told us that
when he was a youngster the kids
used to go around in much the same
manner as Mrs. Moore tells about.
Only they weren’t called Kooners,
or Kooner-johns in Raleigh; they
were called DQI’s. Earl said that
there's been a lot of argument
about the origin of the expression,
but he believes it originated from
the peculiar sound made by some
of the horns that the youngsters
used to blow. The noise sounded
something like “Dee-Cue-Eye.”
However, he’s not positive about
this.
While we're on the subject of
old-time observance of Christmas.
(Continued on page 20)
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