The Rite of Autumn

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Folklorist Doc Rowe on how we mark summer's end in 'The Rite of Autumn'.

4 Extra Debut. The Orchestre National de France play 'The Rite of Spring', but summer is dying. Doc Rowe reveals autumn rites. From 2010.

The Orchestre National de France is about to perform 'The Rite of Spring', but spring is long past, the long summer of concerts is coming to an end as Autumn unfolds and the nights draw in.

Doc Rowe, who since the 1960s has been recording and filming the traditions, vernacular arts, folklore, song and dance of Britain and Ireland, explores the rites of autumn. With recordings of such events and customs as the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, Punkie Night in Hinton St George, and the wild bonfires of Kent and Sussex, and talking to those involved, he reveals how people here mark the gathering dark. 

Producer: Julian May

First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2010.

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