Twenty Minutes - The Rite of Autumn

The Orchestre National de France is about to perform 'The Rite of Spring', but spring is long past, the long summer of concerts is drawing to its close and the autumn equinox is a fortnight away. 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.