Customs

Tuesday 18 May

Folklore from the old calendars

A hot May makes a fat churchyard Lore and belief EnglandAmong the weather proverbs Hone gathered from Dr Forster were two about May.
When the cuckoo comes to the bare thorn Lore and belief EnglandAmong the farming proverbs Dr Forster collected and Hone printed in May was one that read the season from the cuckoo.
Eton Montem and the salt-bearers No longer kept BuckinghamshireAt the Eton Montem the scholars marched in military dress to Salt Hill, while salt-bearers in fancy costume stopped travellers on the roads and gave a pinch of salt to everyone who paid toward the captain's purse, which could reach a thousand pounds.
The mock mayor of Costessy No longer kept NorfolkOn Whit Tuesday the poor of Costessy, near Norwich, elected a mock mayor in imitation of the Norwich city guild.
St Conwall’s Well near Huntingtower No longer kept PerthshireSt Conwall's Well, near Ruthven Castle or Huntingtower outside Perth, belonged to a saint whose day was kept on 18 May.

Folklore from the old calendars

The Trinity garland at Newnton No longer kept WiltshireAt Newnton in North Wiltshire a Trinity Sunday rite recalled King Athelstan's gift of a common and a house for the hayward.
Mown grass in Clee church No longer kept LincolnshireOn Trinity Sunday, the feast of dedication, Clee church was strewn with fresh mown grass.
Nod Beuno calves on Trinity Sunday at Clynnog No longer kept CaernarfonshireCalves and lambs born with the Nod Beuno, a natural mark in the ear, belonged to St Beuno and were brought to his church at Clynnog on Trinity Sunday, the saint's anniversary.
Splashing at Taff’s Well after Easter No longer kept GlamorganAbout seventy years before Trevelyan wrote, the young people of the parish gathered at Taff's Well, a thermal spring a few miles above Cardiff, on the eighth Sunday after Easter.