A month before Clamme the cuckoo sings

12 May · Montgomeryshire

Lore and belief

In Montgomeryshire it was said that if the cuckoo sang a month before Clamme, the Welsh Calan Mai or May Day, the hay would be so heavy that the farmer would sing for joy a month before August. Owen explained that Clamme was the Old Style May Day, which fell on 12 May, so the singing farmer’s day was 12 July. A second rhyme held that primroses would grow a month before the cuckoo sang.

Calan Mai, May-day, abbreviated to Clamme, according to the Old Style, corresponds with our 12th of May

From Owen's Welsh Folk-Lore, p. 319. Read the original

Get a copy: Amazon · Bookshop.org · AbeBooks

We may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

Also on this day

Folklore from the old calendars

Cattle onto Burgh Marsh at Old May Day No longer kept CumberlandThe cattle and horses of Burgh by Sands went onto the great marsh by the Solway at Old May Day.
Over May hill Lore and belief EnglandMay was called a trying month for people who had been long ill.
Beltane at Callander No longer kept PerthshireA correspondent sent Hone Jamieson's account of Beltane, kept in Scotland on Old May Day.
Horns on Old May Day at Cambridge No longer kept CambridgeshireDr E.
The cowherds’ Beltan at Logierait No longer kept PerthshireThe minister of Logierait told the Statistical Account of Scotland that a festival called Beltan was held every year in the parish on the first of May, Old Style.
Turning out the cattle on Old May Day No longer kept EnglandJohn Aikin, whose Natural History of the Year Hone quoted, said Old May Day was the usual time for turning cattle out into the pastures, though the grass was often still very bare.

A month before Clamme the cuckoo sings

Also on this day

Questions and comments

Image credits