ORLANDO ESSAYS Episode No. 7: The Holly King with Lally MacBeth, Artist, Curator and Writer
The Chateau Orlando Christmas 2025 collection takes its inspiration from the legend of the Holly King, a folkloric figure and personification of winter. The Holly King’s twin is the Oak King: the two kings engage in endless "battle" reflecting the seasonal cycles of the year. As we reach the height of the festive season Luke asks Lally MacBeth, author of The Lost Folk, to tell us a little more about this mysterious king of the winter months…
If you walk in the woods at the depths of winter you will encounter a mythological king. He lives high up in the canopy, intertwined with the holly bushes. A mystical being, he darts through the woods, rustling the leaves as he moves, subtly moving the season and strengthening the darkness as he goes. If you tread carefully, you might catch a glimpse of his rich green holly crown, jewelled with red berries. This lush green creature is the Holly King.
He comes into being at the turn of Autumn Equinox in September and finds his full force at Winter Solstice where you can find him embodied in a mummer’s play that takes place at Bankside in London. Here a figure clad head to toe in holly, ivy and branches of yew roves with his band of mummers along the banks of the Thames with a wassail bowl in tow singing as they go “Here’s to this little apple tree, Long may it bear fruit, Every barrel, every brew, Cheer the company bravely, every drinking day.”
A more ancient holly custom took place at Westmoreland on twelfth night until at least 1860, it was known as Striving for the Holly. The villagers of Brough-under-Stainmore would carry a burning holly bush through the streets with a merry band of musicians following them. Although this custom doesn’t anthropomorphise the holly it does show a clear connection with the idea of killing or burning the holly to make way for the new season of light. Clearing away the spirit of winter for the ensuing months hopefully bringing luck and a good growing season with it. The custom of burning holly is of course also recorded in Thomas Hardy’s poem Burning the Holly in which he writes:
And we are burning the holly
On Twelfth Night; the holly
As people do: the holly,
Ivy, and mistletoe.
The concept of the death and renewal of nature personified was first introduced in James Frazers’ book The Golden Bough where in the chapter Killing of the Tree-Spirit he describes the battle between the spirits of winter and summer:
Sometimes in the popular customs of the peasantry the contrast between the dormant powers of vegetation in winter and their awakening vitality in spring takes the form of a dramatic contest between actors who play the parts respectively of Winter and Summer.
In this sentence is a clue to the counterpart character to the Holly King, the Oak King. The Summer sees the rise of the Oak King. In contrast to his wintery equivalent, he is a creature of the light and of warmth. He prowls the woods dressed in a garland of oak boughs with acorns dripping from his limbs, and it’s said that at the cusp point of the seasons the Holly King and Oak King enter into a duel. In Winter the Holly King slays the Oak King, and in Summer the Oak King slays the Holly King. Death and renewal cycling through the year.
So next time you are wandering in the woods, listen for the rustle of the seasonal kings, look out for their foliage and pay your respects as you walk through their fecund kingdom.
Lally MacBeth is an artist, writer and curator based in Cornwall. Her work takes in history, folklore, performance, ritual and artifice – and the links between high and low culture. She is the founder of The Folk Archive and co-founder of Stone Club. Her first book The Lost Folk is published by Faber.
