John Edgar 

 Herbert Jr. 

 leads 



"Old Buck," 

 the wild bull 

 of Trent 

 Woods, 

 during 



Old Christmas 

 at Rodanthe 

 in 1986. 



With a roar like a Nor'easter, 

 fiery nostrils and magnificent great 

 horns, Old Buck emerged from the 

 pine forests of Cape Hatteras each 

 Old Christmas to inquire about 

 misbehaved children, Walser wrote. 

 The beast's mission was to annihi- 

 late Santa Claus through the mis- 

 deeds of children, but like Dr. 

 Seuss's garlic-souled Grinch, he 

 never succeeded. The young boys 

 would buck and frolic and eventu- 

 ally shoo the impetuous steer away, 

 saving the spirit of Christmas. 



In Rodanthe's festival, an effigy 

 of Old Buck — comprised of two 

 men under a blanket, which is 

 attached to a steer-like head with 

 horns — cavorts and prances among 

 the townspeople who gather in the 

 old schoolhouse for a pageant of 

 drumming and dancing. 



Like the bovine costume, the 

 legend of Old Buck has been passed 

 down through generations of 

 families. A story in Sea Chest, 

 published by Cape Hatteras School 

 in 1979, describes the flesh-and- 



blood Old Buck as the lone survivor 

 of a shipwreck off the Outer Banks. 

 The black and white steer report- 

 edly swam to the shores of this 

 sandy seaside village. Buck is 

 believed to have sired many off- 

 spring by local cows and to have 

 been domesticated by the residents 

 of Rodanthe. He was reportedly led 

 through the village each year on Jan. 

 5. Some years later, old Buck 

 wandered into Trent Woods and was 

 killed by a hunter. But he was kept 

 alive in future celebrations through 

 his caricature. 



The Sea Chest article, which 

 recounts an oral history by the late 

 John Herbert, a past keeper of Old 

 Buck, includes tales of the towns- 

 people going from house to house 

 disguised in old clothes and stock- 

 ings. "The women would dress up 

 like men and the men as women," 

 said Herbert. Other accounts of Old 

 Christmas also describe minstrels 

 performed by whites in painted 

 faces. 



Whether by design or accident, 



John Kunner may have been immor- 

 talized in the lore of this Outer Banks 

 community. 



"Traditionally, in Rodanthe, you 

 had groups of people wandering 

 around the neighborhood, serenading 

 anybody who would stand still for it," 

 says Dough, adding that the head of a 

 cow or steer was often part of the 

 gleeful infantry. "The John Kunner 

 celebration involved roaming bands 

 of revelers making raucous music. It 

 also involved a central figure with 

 horns, in this case the ragman. 



"The similarities between the 

 older Rodanthe celebrations and John 

 Canoe are kind of hard to miss," 

 Dough says. 



Luster concludes that like many 

 American customs, celebrations such 

 as Old Christmas at Rodanthe and 

 John Kunner are owing to myriad 

 roots, including English and African. 

 Similarities between the customs of 

 Rodanthe's festival and John Kunner 

 are probably no coincidence. As with 

 Buck, says Luster, "I suspect that its 

 origins have nothing to do with a bull 

 washing ashore. 



The tradition 

 of Old Christmas, 

 which is still celebrated 

 in Rodanthe to this day 

 amid roasted oysters, 

 music and dance, 

 was once observed 

 with a processional 

 between the north 

 and south ends 

 of the community 



16 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 



