Alice in Wonderland Day
Jul 4
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings."
~ "The Walrus and the Carpenter," Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, 1865
A summer's day boating ride on the "Isis" (the River Thames) on May 4th 1862 was the day of the "Golden Afternoon" which inspired Lewis Carroll to write down the fanciful stories he told to the Dean of Oxford's three daughters, Ina, Edith, and the forever immortalized Alice, in his stories "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There." Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, author and mathematician at Christ Church University, Oxford, where he made the acquaintance of the Dean of Christ Church and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford's family. Though the extent to which Dodgson's Alice may be or could be identified with Alice Liddell is controversial, her full name does appear in an acrostic poem at the end of Through the Looking-Glass, "A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky". Curiouser and curiouser! 🌹♠️♥️♦️♣️🐇
Cabbages and Kings
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings."
Taken from "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There," 1872, we have the oft quoted lines from the nonsense poem describing a walk on the seashore by a very hungry walrus and carpenter.
July 4, 1862 is the day of the "Golden Afternoon" which inspired Lewis Carroll to write down the fanciful stories he told to the Dean of Oxford's three daughters, Ina, Edith, and the forever immortalized Alice Liddell, in his stories "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There." Today, May 4th, 1852 is her birthday.
To see an entire special collection of "Alice" dances which include:
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Queen of Hearts
White Rabbit
The White Rabbit
Cheshire Cat
Mad Hatter
March Hare
Enchanted Garden
Down the Rabbit Hole
Cabbages and Kings
The White Knight
visit the special page by clicking the theme collection here.
And for the entire text of the poem the illustration of the Walrus and the Carpenter, shown persuading the group of gullible oysters.
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
