The Land of Cockayne
£16.50
THE STORY BEHIND THE STITCHES – The Land of Cockayne is a satirical poem thought to have been written by a Franciscan friar in Ireland during the early to mid fourteenth century and forms part of a larger body of work known as the Kildare Poems.
In 1567 this fabled country was also the subject of an oil painting by Pieter Breugel the Elder and was not a very flattering depiction of Cockayne and it’s inhabitants. It’s known in Dutch as Het Luilekkerland – the lazy luscious land. The story goes that Cockayne is a land of plenty where hard times didn’t exist. It was a fictional utopia, a parody of Paradise where idleness and gluttony were the name of the game.
Houses were made of barley sugar and cakes, the streets were paved with pastry and everything in the shops was free. Roast pigs roamed about all ready to be carved, grilled geese flew into your mouth and broiled fish leapt from the lakes. The weather was always fine, wine flowed like water, casual sex was almost mandatory and eternal youth was a given.
In European tradition the story has filtered down in a diluted form over the years and the last vestige is the Cockayne Pole which has a prize, such as a ham, fixed to the top. The pole was liberally greased with duck fat and people had to somehow climb it in order to claim the prize.
And, just to set the record straight, Pablo Escobar was never King of Cockayne! He was only some minor Columbian drug baron.
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- Area in stitches: 257 x 292