Camorra was a well-organized secret society, once spread thoughout all parts of the kingdom of Naples. At one time the Camorristi were all-powerful, levying a kind of blackmail at all markets, fairs, and public gatherings, claiming the right of deciding disputes, hiring themselves out for any criminal service from the passing of contraband goods to assassination. It had central stations in all the large provincial towns, and a regular staff of recruiting officers. Though properly a secret society, it did not find it necessary under the regime of the Bourbons to conceal its operations; but under the later governments of united Italy, the society lost most of its power, except in the wilder parts of Southern Italy. Research Camorra
Fairs were periodical meetings of persons having goods or wares for sale in an open market held at a particular place, and generally for the transaction of a particular class of business. The origin of fairs is obviously to be traced to the convenience of bringing together at stated times the buyers and sellers of tlie stock-produce of a district. In Europe the numerous festivals of the church afforded the most favourable opportunity for the establishment of these markets. This association is indicated in the German name of a fair, which is identical with that used for the ceremony of the mass.
In the middle ages fairs were of great importance, and were specially privileged and chartered by princes and magistrates, public proclamation being made of their commencement and duration. By the late 19th century and start of the 20th century, facilities of communication much diminished the necessity for periodical markets, and by about 1900 it was chiefly amongst agriculturists that they were of much importance, large agricultural meetings being held in various districts for the sale of cattle and horses, and for the exhibition of agricultural implements. By the end of the 20th century, these fairs also had lost importance and died out. There were also, especially in Scotland, a considerable number of hiring fairs for farm-servants.
In many places the old fair-days are still kept, but are now merely an assemblage of rides and amusements. Amongst the fairs which were once celebrated saturnalia, may be mentioned Donnybrook Fair in the county of Dublin; Bartholomew and GreenwichFairs, London; and Glasgow Fair.
Fast and loose, also called prick the garter, was a street fraud, or cheating game, found in England also at fairs, between the 16th and the 19th centuries, involving a stick and a belt, string or garter doubled and rolled up with the double in the middle of the coils, it is then laid on a board, and the dupe is asked to catch the double with the stick or a skewer, when the gambler takes the two ends and looses it or draws it away, so as always to keep the skewer outside the doubled end. Research Fast And Loose
Most British boroughs came into being through the action of the King or some great noble or bishop in selecting a strong point, primarily as a centre of defence, in late Anglo-Saxon or early Norman times. In the more peaceful days, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, town burgesses began to increase their freedom to control markets and trade by purchasing charters, or documents setting out the town's right to the status of borough, free to conduct its own affairs in return for an annual payment to the King. The wording of the charter often included the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair. The market was the most important weekly event in the life of a mediaeval town, and the essential nucleus of the town became the market square. This was the place where agricultural produce from the surrounding countryside could be sold, and where the town craftsmen could display their wares. Stalls and booths, at first temporary and later permanent, began to be erected in the centre of the market place, and outlying parts of the
market were set aside for the sale of livestock. Later, many towns acquired a market hall, or town hall, with a meeting hall for the transaction of business on the upper floor and open arches at ground level where goods might be displayed out of the rain. The market was concerned with supplying local needs; a similar form of business held in certain towns was the fair which had a wider significance because they attracted traders from other parts of England and even from the Continent. At fairs one might buy the specialised products of certain parts of England, such as Sussex iron, Worcestershiresalt, Derbyshire lead or Cornishtin, or spectacle lenses ground at Augsburg in Germany, beaten copperware from Dinant in modern Belgium or cutlery from Solingen in Germany. Research Market Towns
The British Overseas Trade Board (BOTB) is an organization set up by the Department of Trade and Industry, whose members are drawn mainly from industry and commerce. The Board was formed in 1972 to advise on overseas trade and the official export-promotion programme. It liases between government and private industry to expand overseas trade, advises new exporters on foreign tariffs and regulations, assists exporters in displaying products in tradefairs, etc. Research British Overseas Trade Board
Gurning is the ancient British pastime of pulling grotesque faces. Once the pastime was popular at British fairs, but now seems only really to survive at the Egremontcrab-apple fair, which holds the British national championships each year. Competitors put their head through a horse's collar and pull a grotesque face. The winner is the competitor who receives the greatest audience applause. Research Gurning
Gingerbread men are gingerbread cakes or biscuits fashioned in the appearance of a man. They were originally called gingerbread husbands and were frequently sold at fairs in Britain until about the middle of the 19th century. Research Gingerbread Man
Bere Regis (recorded in the Domesday Book as Bere) is a water-cress growing village in Dorset. Originally a Norman royal manor and royal forest, during the Middle Ages it was famed for its fairs, and was a resort of Kings. Research Bere Regis
Abbreviations
Research Camorra
