Dates for your Diary
I was looking up twelth night - to take down the decorations and found this lovely web site of 'Unusual Folklore Customs and Ceremonies' set up by a school in Kent.http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/curious/calendar.htm#janTwelfth Night, 6th January Baddeley Cake, Drury Lane Theatre, London - On Twelfth Night the cast of the current play eat cake and drink wine in memory of an actor from the 18th Century who bequeathed money to the theatre's hardship fund. 10/11 JanuaryFireball-Whirling Ceremony, Stonehaven, ScotlandOn the night of the Old New Year's Eve, young men whirl balls of burning rope around their heads.Haxey Hood Game, Haxey, Lincolnshire - 13th century.THE HAXEY HOOD is a bizarre ritual carried out each Twelfth Night (Old Style Christmas Day) in the village of Haxey in Lincolnshire,near the Nottinghamshire border. According to legend it was on Twelfth Night that the wife of sir John de Mowbray was riding on horseback across the fields near Haxey on the Isle of Axholme , when a sudden gust of wind blew her large black silk hood. Thirteen Labourers in a nearby field gave a chase to rescue it, vying with one another to return its graceful owner . She was so grateful that she donated a piece of land on Westwood hill, just outside the village, for an annual enactment of the gallant recovery of her hood.At 2 p.m. the church bells are rung and down the street in procession comes the "Lord" and his eleven "Boggins" together with the "Fool". The "Lord" wears a red coat and top hat covered with flowers and he carries a stick made from thirteen willow wands and bound thirteen times. At the church gate the "Fool", standing on an old mounting block, makes his traditional speech of welcome to the waiting crowd.The "Lord" then leads his officials and the people to the highest ground in the parish where the "Boggins" form a large circle. He then calls on a distinguished visitor to throw the first "hood" in the air.Blessing the Plough on Old Christmas Day (Twelfth Night)This church tradition can be found across the country, notably at Chichester and Exeter on the first Sunday after 6th January. Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey, CambridgeshireFriday and Saturday before Plough Monday. At Whittlesey, on the weekend following Plough Monday (the first Monday after Twelfth Night) a straw bear is paraded around the town attended by a host of dancers and musician from all over the country. The bear is a man covered from head to foot in a straw costume.During the 19th century Straw Bears - men or boys clothed in a layer of straw - were a familiar Plough Monday . Up-Helly-AaAt the end of January in Scotland, a huge Viking longship is dragged through the town by men. They burn it on the beach. January 17 Wassailing the Apple Tree, Carhampton, Somerset, Wassailing the apple tree is one of the oldest traditions at Christmas time. Cider and cake is offered to tree feted as guardian of the orchard.
Sarah Felstead ● 7415d0 Comments