Old Tup

The ram disguise and troupe

Performers construct the beast using a carved wooden sheep head or an actual skull with horns attached to a pole. One participant ducks beneath a sackcloth sheet to operate the head and charge into the room. A typical squad includes four to six people with soot-darkened faces. Beside the beast stands a butcher equipped with a leather apron and steel blades. Other stock figures include an old woman portrayed by a man holding a broom, an old man, and figures called Beelzebub or Little Devil Doubt. Sometimes a helper carries a basin to collect imaginary blood during the act.

The visiting performance

Troupes make house calls across the neighborhood, asking for entry at every doorstep. Once indoors, the horned figure behaves wildly, charging toward spectators or attempting to break free while the ensemble sings a ballad called "The Derby Tup". In many versions, the show ends with dramatic roleplay. The butcher steps forward to simulate slaying the ram, sending the creature tumbling to the floor while an assistant pretends to catch its blood. Moments later the beast leaps up revived, and the players collect coins from the audience before moving on to the next house or public house.

Origins and survival

The earliest written account comes from Hemsworth around 1845, though its companion song was known earlier. Scholars connect the play to a wider British family of hooded animal customs, which likely developed from hobby horse fashions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Unlike many related customs across Britain that faded away, Old Tup persisted throughout the twentieth century as an informal working-class pastime. By the 1970s, dozens of troupes remained active across northeast Derbyshire, adapting the tradition to local social clubs and welcoming women into what was once an all-male activity.

How Old Tup is kept

A troupe of several disguised players travels from house to house or visits local pubs during the winter holiday season. After gaining entry, they sing a local ballad while a member hidden under a sheep mask rampages around the room. The butcher then steps forward to mime slaying the creature. Once the fallen animal rises again, the troupe collects small donations from onlookers and departs for the next venue.

When and where

The performance takes place during the winter festive period. Troupes traditionally make their rounds across Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day, taking advantage of the holiday season when neighbors gather at home or in local social venues.

The tradition belongs to an area roughly twenty miles wide across Derbyshire, South Yorkshire, and Nottinghamshire, with Sheffield at its center. Its western edge meets the moorlands of the Peak District.

What Old Tup means

According to folklorist A. L. Lloyd, the horned figure may reflect ancient archetypes like the god Pan or the Devil. The central sequence of mock slaughter and revival mirrors wider seasonal themes of death and renewal, while providing working-class communities with a lighthearted way to share hospitality and earn modest pocket money in winter.

Days Old Tup is marked

Questions people ask about Old Tup

See also

ChristmasA festival of Jesus's birth, kept on 25 December with gifts, lights and shared mealsChristmas carolFestive songs and hymns sung during the Christmas season and door to doorAdvent wreathAn evergreen ring of candles lit week by week in the lead-up to ChristmasYule logA log kept burning on the hearth through the twelve days of Christmas, for luck

Good reading and sources

• Old Tup on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-07.