White cake and kidgelled cream at Whitby

24 June · Whitby, North Riding, Yorkshire

No longer kept

At Whitby people ate white cake and “kidgelled” cream on Midsummer Day, and the milkmen sent their customers presents of cream for the feast. The custom was said to go back to the time of the Danes. Henderson was not sure whether kidgelled meant whipped or cudgelled.

At Whitby it is the custom on Midsummer Day to eat white cake and "kidgelled" (query whipped or cudgelled) cream, for which repast presents of cream are sent by the milkman to his customers.

From Henderson's Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties, p. 86. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

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Thomas Oken’s bonfires No longer kept WarwickshireThomas Oken of Warwick, in a deed of 1571, charged his feoffees to pay a few shillings every year to the neighbours of his bonfire and of three other bonfires in the High Pavement ward.
Sir Thomas Parkyns’s wrestling No longer kept NottinghamshireSir Thomas Parkyns, a Nottinghamshire squire, was a keen wrestler who trained his servants and neighbours, showed them off in public and wrote a book called The Cornish Hug Wrestler.
Well-flowering at Buxton Still kept DerbyshireFollowing Tissington's example, several Derbyshire towns took up dressing their wells.
Midsummer cushions No longer kept NorthumberlandIn Northumberland on Midsummer Day stools were dressed with a cushion of flowers.
Crowning the tin-mine poles No longer kept CornwallIn Cornwall the boundary of each tin mine was marked by a long pole with a bush at the top.
St John’s verses and bonfire at Eton No longer kept BuckinghamshireThe account of Eton School written in 1560 describes how, for as long as the custom lasted, the boys on St John the Baptist's Eve decorated their beds with pictures and wrote verses on the life and deeds of the saint, fair copies of which were pinned to the bed-posts for the learned to read.
Midsummer boughs at the stall door Lore and belief EnglandReginald Scot, listing the charms people used against witches, wrote that they hung boughs hallowed on Midsummer Day at the door of the stall where the cattle stood.
Pouring lead for a husband’s trade Lore and belief EnglandA chapbook owned by Brand's editor gave a way for a girl to learn what trade her future husband would follow.
St John’s great candlestick Lore and belief EnglandThe scarlet lychnis, which flowered about 24 June, was the flower of St John the Baptist's feast.
A chaplet of roses at Tong No longer kept ShropshireEvery year a garland of flowers was placed on the effigy of a Vernon in Tong church.
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A red rose for Highhead at Midsummer No longer kept CumberlandIn the reign of Edward III Highhead Castle, near Dalston, was held by the service of bringing a red rose to the king's exchequer in Carlisle every year on the feast of St John the Baptist.
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The cuckoo silent after Midsummer Day Lore and belief Flintshire, MontgomeryshireIn Montgomeryshire, on the Shropshire border, it was held that the cuckoo never sang after Midsummer Day, and a rhyme said she sang in April, May and Midsummer, but never on that day.
Elder flowers from Midsummer Day Lore and belief EnglandElder flowers gathered on Midsummer Day, dried and powdered, were a receipt for keeping young.

White cake and kidgelled cream at Whitby

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