Kissing at the Walter

Easter Monday · Portaferry, County Down

No longer kept

On Easter Monday several hundred young people from Portaferry and the country round went in their best clothes to a pleasant spot near the town called the Walter. Everyone said they went to see the fun, which was the men kissing the women freely, married or single. It was taken entirely as a matter of course and never amiss, and a correspondent to Hone reckoned a girl must be very plain to go home without at least a dozen kisses. Nobody knew how the custom began, and by 1827 it was declining.

Tradition is silent as to the origin of this custom, which of late years is on the decline

From Hone's Table Book, vol. 1, pp. 252-253. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Lifting at Easter No longer kept Cheshire, Lancashire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, WarwickshireIn Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Shropshire, men lifted the women on Easter Monday and the women lifted the men on Easter Tuesday.
Taking the shoes at Durham No longer kept County DurhamIn Durham on Easter Monday the men claimed the right to take off the women's shoes, and on Easter Tuesday the women did the same to the men.
Clipping the churches No longer kept WarwickshireA Warwickshire correspondent remembered being taken as a child every Easter Monday to watch the charity-school children clip the churches of Birmingham.
The Biddenden Maids Still kept KentTwenty acres at Biddenden, called the Bread and Cheese Lands, paid for a dole at Easter; Hasted in 1790 counted six hundred cakes given to churchgoers and loaves and cheese to parishioners.
The Coleshill hare No longer kept WarwickshireBy an old custom at Coleshill, if the young men of the town caught a hare and brought it to the parson before ten o'clock on Easter Monday, he had to give them a calf's head, a hundred eggs and a groat for their breakfast.
Riding the Black Lad No longer kept LancashireEvery Easter Monday a stuffed figure of a man was carried on horseback round the streets of Ashton-under-Lyne, while its followers begged drink at every public house and fired at it.
The Epping Hunt No longer kept EssexHenry III confirmed to the citizens of London the right to hunt around their city, and the Lord Mayor and aldermen once rode out to hunt in state.
The Spital Sermon Still kept LondonOn Easter Monday and Tuesday the boys of Christ's Hospital walked in procession to the Mansion House and went with the Lord Mayor, aldermen and their ladies to Christ Church, where a bishop preached the Spital Sermon and the children sang an anthem.
Going a-pudding-pieing No longer kept KentAt Easter young people in Kent went holiday-making to public houses to eat pudding-pies, which they called going a-pudding-pieing.
Easter football on the Roodee No longer kept CheshireAt Easter the mayor and corporation of Chester and the city's twenty guilds went in procession to the Roodee to play football.
The sheriffs’ breakfast at Chester No longer kept CheshireEvery man married in Chester who had not finished his first year of marriage had to give the drapers' guild a silver arrow as a prize for archery.
Cock eggs on the Solway Still kept CumberlandA Maryport man told Hone that Cumberland families sent each other's children presents of eggs at Easter, and the price of eggs rose for weeks before Good Friday.
The old women’s trap-ball at Bury No longer kept SuffolkA correspondent told Hone of a ball custom still kept every year at Bury St Edmunds.
The corporation at ball on the Forth No longer kept NorthumberlandCorporations once went out in state to play at ball at Easter.
Greenwich Fair at Easter No longer kept KentEaster Monday and Tuesday were holidays in most London trades, and on the Monday Greenwich Fair began.
Old Vinegar and the Moorfields cudgel players No longer kept LondonIn the old days the cudgel players' sports in Moorfields began on Easter Monday.
Easter Monday on the Cave Hill No longer kept UlsterOn Easter Monday several thousand working people of Belfast and the country round went out to the Cave Hill, about three miles from the town.
Tilting on the Thames at Easter No longer kept LondonFitzStephen, writing in the twelfth century and quoted by Stow, describes a water game played by the young men of London in the Easter holidays.
The Nottingham corporation at St Anne’s Well No longer kept NottinghamshireDeering's History of Nottingham records that by a custom beyond memory the mayor and aldermen of Nottingham and their wives walked out on Easter Monday, after morning prayers, to St Anne's Well outside the town.
The inspector heaved at Warrington No longer kept LancashireIn Lancashire the lasses heaved the lads on Easter Monday, lifting them off the ground, and the lads heaved the lasses on the Tuesday.
Trundling eggs at Holywood No longer kept UlsterAt Holywood, Easter eggs were boiled hard, dyed and rolled along the ground, especially down a slope, and the broken pieces were eaten.
The hare-pie scramble at Hallaton Still kept LeicestershireOn Easter Monday the rector of Hallaton provided pies, ale and penny loaves to be scrambled for, under a bequest of land once called Hare-crop Leys.
Hand-ball for a tansy cake No longer kept EnglandIn the Easter holidays work stopped and servants were given their liberty, and the favourite pastime was playing at hand-ball for a tansy cake.
Dick and Doll’s Easter Monday walk to Islington No longer kept LondonOn Easter Monday afternoon servants who had been kept at home all week walked out to Islington to court.
The bridegrooms’ silver arrow at Chester No longer kept CheshireEvery man married in Chester who had not yet completed his first year of marriage had to hand the drapers' guild, before the mayor, a silver arrow as the prize for the Easter archery on the Roodee.
When the daughter is stolen, shut the Pepper-gate Lore and belief CheshireChester's proverb for locking up too late came from an Easter football game.
Easter Monday football at White Conduit Fields No longer kept LondonOn Easter Monday the London roughs gathered in great numbers in the fields round White Conduit House, near Islington, to play football.
The clerk’s ale at Easter No longer kept EnglandIn the Easter holidays the parish clerk held his own church-ale, brewing for his private profit and for the pleasure of the neighbourhood.
The Sheffield climbing boys’ Easter Monday dinner No longer kept YorkshireEvery Easter Monday the poet James Montgomery and a few friends gave a dinner to the climbing boys employed by the Sheffield chimney sweeps.
Lifting in a chair in North Wales No longer kept North WalesOn Easter Monday in North Wales troops of men seized women, sat them in a chair and lifted them three times with cheering, and on Easter Tuesday the women did the same to the men.
Knappan at Pont Gynon No longer kept PembrokeshireOn Easter Monday the parishes of Meline and Eglwyswrw met at Pont Gynon in Pembrokeshire for a yearly game of knappan.
The last-married man and the Easter stocks No longer kept Caernarfonshire, GlamorganIn Glamorgan the man most recently married before Easter led a crowd, each carrying a branch of gorse, up the highest hill after morning service on Easter Day, and there ordered every young man to be up at dawn on Easter Monday.
Flowers at the spring on Easter Monday No longer kept Carmarthenshire, GlamorganOn Easter Monday young men and women walked to the nearest important spring, drew water into jugs and threw flowers on the grass, stones and bushes around it.

Kissing at the Walter

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