Doing the Hokey Pokey 'could be a religious hate crime

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Tue Dec-23-08 08:08 PM
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Doing the Hokey Pokey 'could be a religious hate crime

By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:58PM GMT 21 Dec 2008

The Hokey Cokey ( Pokey is the American word but same song) is an old novelty song that has been sung in music halls, at children's parties and at sherry-fuelled family gatherings for many years.

But according to the Catholic Church and some Scottish politicians, singing the popular tune that begins with the words "You put your right hand in, your right hand out," may constitute an act of religious hatred.
A spokesman for the leader of the church in Scotland said the song had disturbing origins.

Critics claim that Puritans composed the song in the 18th century in an attempt to mock the actions and language of priests leading the Latin mass.

Now politicians have urged police to arrest anyone using the song to "taunt" Catholics under legislation designed to prevent incitement to religious hatred.

Supporters of Rangers FC have been banned from singing anti-Catholic songs at Ibrox stadium to taunt their rivals Celtic, a club with Catholic roots.

But fans of the club are said to be discussing on internet forums the possibility of getting round the ban by singing the Hokey Cokey at next week's Old Firm derby between the clubs.
Peter Kearney, a spokesman for Cardinal Keith O'Brien, said:

"This song does have quite disturbing origins. Although apparently innocuous, it was devised as an attack on and a parody of the Catholic mass.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3883838/Doing-the-Hokey-Cokey-could-be-hate-crime.html

Written By: Roland Lawrence LaPrise, concocted the song along with two fellow musicians in the late 1940s for the ski crowd in Sun Valley, Idaho. The group, the Ram Trio (with Charles Macak and Tafit Baker), recorded the song in 1949, and they were awarded U.S. copyright in 1950, Acuff-Rose Music Inc.

http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/hokey.htm

The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the phrase "hokey cokey" comes from "hocus pocus", the traditional magician's incantation which in its turn derives from a distortion of hoc est enim corpus meum - "this is my body" - the Latin words of consecration accompanying the elevation of the host at Eucharist, the point, at which according to traditional Catholic practice, transubstantiation takes place - mocked by Puritans and others as a form of "magic words".

The Anglican Canon Matthew Damon, Provost of Wakefield Cathedral, West Yorkshire, says that the dance as well comes from the Catholic Latin mass.<2> The priest would perform his movements with his back to the congregation, who could not hear well the words, nor understand the Latin, nor clearly see his movements.

This theory led Scottish politician Michael Matheson in 2008 to urge police action "against individuals who use it to taunt Catholics.� This claim by Matheson was deemed ridiculous by fans from both sides of the Old Firm (the Glasgow football teams Celtic and Rangers) and calls have been put out on fans' forums for both sides to join together to sing the song on 27th Dec 2008 at Ibrox.<3>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokey_Cokey