Why Wu'ze?Wu'ze or Wurze - the name of the arch fiend - corrupted to common use as Ooser or Oose. Rodney Legg's 'Mysterious Dorset' page 84: Ooser - a dialect survival from the Old English word Wuduwasa (satyr). Fran and Geoff Doel in 'Folklore of Dorset' (page 57) cites Henry Moule recounting the Ooser: "In my childhood he was doing service - at Christmas mummings surely it was. Our Cerne Abbas nurse was quite up in all relating to the 'WURSER' as I would spell it phonetically." In latter years the character has been revived and adopted into May Day celebrations by the Wessex Morris Men In my own childhood one was always admonished by Elders to mend ones ways "or it'll be The Wurze for you!" Considering the time of year and with the most demanding part of the ride being after dark it seems appropriate that the event be named after the scary horn'd beast of the night that was used to instill 'respect' into generations of Dorset folk. |