Folk Calendar

Thursday 1 April

Born on this day: Breandán Breathnach (1912), Davie Stewart (1901) and George Ewart Evans (1909)

Folklore from the old calendars

Hunting the gowk Still kept ScotlandIn Scotland April fooling went further than in England.
Washing the lions No longer kept LondonIn March 1860 a great many people received through the post an official-looking card inviting them to the Tower of London to see the annual washing of the white lions on Sunday 1 April.
Sleeveless errands on All Fools’ Day Still kept EnglandChambers found the first of April given over to harmless tricks on unsuspecting neighbours, mostly by the young.
Ah, you April fool! Still kept EnglandHone traced how the April fool's street trick changed with fashion.
A cold April the barn will fill Lore and belief EnglandOpening his April, Chambers observed that proverbial wisdom took a kindly view of the month.
April fools and the Sabine virgins Lore and belief EnglandOne explanation of April fooling traced it to a trick played by the Romans on the Sabines.
Oil of hazel on All Fools’ Day No longer kept County DurhamAs a boy in Durham, Henderson was sent on 1 April to the chemist for a pennyworth of oil of hazel, and got it from the hazel stick kept behind the counter.

Friday 2 April

Saturday 3 April

Happy birthday to Richard Thompson (78 today)

Sunday 4 April

Born on this day: Danny Thompson (1939)

Monday 5 April

Born on this day: Charles Parker (1919), Dave Swarbrick (1941) and Leo Rowsome (1903)

Tuesday 6 April New moon

Happy birthday to Gordon Giltrap (79 today)

Folklore from the old calendars

Hock Tuesday at Coventry No longer kept WarwickshireOn Hock Monday and Tuesday, a fortnight after Easter, the men and then the women went out with ropes and tied up anyone of the other sex they met until they paid a small sum, which went to the church.
Hock money at Reading No longer kept BerkshireThe churchwardens' accounts of Reading show hocking there for generations: in 1499 the women of St Laurence's gathered twenty shillings and the men only four.
Men on Monday, women on Tuesday in Hampshire No longer kept HampshireIn several Hampshire manors the men hocked the women on Hock Monday, and on the Tuesday the women took their turn with the men.
Lambeth wives out-gather the men at Hock-tide No longer kept LondonThe churchwardens' accounts of Lambeth for 1515 and 1516 recorded hock money gathered by both the men and the women for the church.
Hocktide for the church repairs at St Peter in the East No longer kept OxfordshireIn seventeenth-century Oxford a parish that needed money for church repairs would keep a Hocktide, and the takings could be large.

Monday 12 April

Tuesday 13 April

Wednesday 14 April

Thursday 15 April

Tuesday 20 April Pink Moon

Wednesday 21 April

Friday 23 April

St George's Day

Happy birthday to Chris Foster (79 today)

Saturday 24 April

Folklore from the old calendars

The church-porch watchers of Burton Lore and belief LincolnshireIn the north of England it was believed that anyone who watched in the church porch from eleven till one on St Mark's Eve would see the ghosts of all who would be buried there in the coming year.
Joe Brown the church watcher Lore and belief YorkshireIn Yorkshire a watcher at the church door at midnight on St Mark's Eve, Old Style, was said to see the souls of all who would be buried there within the year go into the church in the order they would die, those to drown coming in splashing and struggling.
The dumb cake Lore and belief NorthamptonshireA correspondent near Peterborough told Hone that girls in his district still made the dumb cake on St Mark's Eve.
Riddling the ashes Lore and belief EnglandCottage families on St Mark's Eve sifted the ashes over the hearth-stone at night, hoping not to find in the morning the footprint of anyone who would die that year.
The Scarborough watcher who saw herself Lore and belief YorkshireAbout eighty years before Henderson wrote, an old woman kept the St Mark's Eve watch in the porch of St Mary's, Scarborough, to see who would die that year.
Riddling chaff at Malton Lore and belief YorkshireIn Yorkshire people riddled chaff at midnight in a barn with its doors thrown open, to learn whether they would die within the year.
Running round the haystack on St Mark’s night Lore and belief YorkshireOn St Mark's night a Beverley woman ran nine times round a haystack with a ring in her hand to learn whether she would win the man she wanted.

Sunday 25 April

Born on this day: Wizz Jones (1939)

Monday 26 April

Friday 30 April

Happy birthday to Alison Kinnaird (78 today)

Folklore from the old calendars

The Swinton May-singers No longer kept LancashireIn 1861 a man at Swinton, near Eccles, was surprised one April evening by a party of singers on his lawn with a flute and a clarinet.
The storm cock Lore and belief EnglandBefore a storm the mistle thrush was said to sing especially loud and to keep on singing until the rain began, and for this it was called the storm cock in some places.
Dun-pickles on the downs Lore and belief WiltshireIt was said in Wiltshire that the dun-pickles, or moor buzzards, came down in great numbers on the downs before rain.
Fetching the elm on May Eve in Cornwall No longer kept CornwallBorlase wrote that the Cornish people of the towns went out into the country on May Eve and cut down a tall elm, which they brought back with rejoicing.
The May bush in Westmeath No longer kept LeinsterSir Henry Piers wrote in 1682 that on May Eve every family in Westmeath set up a green bush before its door, strewn over with the yellow flowers that the meadows yielded in plenty.
Hawthorns from Woodstock Park No longer kept OxfordshireEvery May Eve the people of Woodstock went into the park and carried off a number of hawthorn trees to set before their doors.
Cattle in the neighbour’s corn on May Eve Lore and belief IrelandA sixteenth-century manuscript says the Irish drove their cattle into a neighbour's corn on May Eve, most often an English settler's.
Gadding to the woods against May No longer kept EnglandOn the night before May Day young men and maids, and old men and wives with them, went out to the woods, groves, hills and mountains and stayed there all night.
Nettles on May Eve in the south of Ireland No longer kept MunsterOn May Eve schoolboys in the south of Ireland thought themselves free to run wild with bunches of nettles, stinging the faces and hands of their companions and anyone else they dared.
Evil spirits revelling in the churches Lore and belief WalesWithin living memory it was believed in Wales that evil spirits were let loose on May Day Eve, St John's Eve and All Hallows' Eve and held high revelry inside the churches.

What’s on: folk sessions, morris, customs and folklore

Thursday 1 April

Friday 2 April

Saturday 3 April

Sunday 4 April

Monday 5 April

Tuesday 6 April🌑 New moon

Monday 12 April

Tuesday 13 April

Wednesday 14 April

Thursday 15 April

Tuesday 20 April🌕 Pink Moon

Wednesday 21 April

Friday 23 April

Saturday 24 April

Sunday 25 April

Monday 26 April

Friday 30 April

Image credits

Tuesday 6 April New moon

Tuesday 20 April Pink Moon