Customs

Customs, processions, games and wassails, in the order they come round.

By tag

Get customs near you by email

Thursday 14 October

Friday 15 October Hunter’s Moon

Fri 15 Oct All day
Custom, day 2 of 3

Pembroke St Michaelmas Fair

Sets off from Main Street (by the Town Hall), Pembroke, Pembrokeshire
- Fair or wakes
- Michaelmas
Fri 15 Oct All day
Custom, day 3 of 4

Banbury Michaelmas Fair

Sets off from Market Place, Banbury, Oxfordshire
Fri 15 Oct 17:00 22:00
Custom, day 1 of 2

Warwick Mop

Sets off from Market Place, Warwick, Warwickshire

Saturday 16 October

Sat 16 Oct Pembroke St Michaelmas Fair day 3 of 3 · All day
Sat 16 Oct Banbury Michaelmas Fair day 4 of 4 · All day
Sat 16 Oct from 12:00
Custom

Marlborough Big Mop

Sets off from High Street, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Sat 16 Oct Warwick Mop day 2 of 2 · 17:00–22:00
Sat 16 Oct from 19:15
Custom

Seaford Bonfire

Sets off from Martello Fields, Seaford, East Sussex
Sat 16 Oct 19:15 16:00
Custom

Hastings Borough Bonfire

Sets off from Beach opposite Pelham Crescent, Hastings, East Sussex
Sat 16 Oct from 19:30
Custom

Hailsham Bonfire

Sets off from Western Road Recreation Ground, Hailsham, East Sussex

Sunday 17 October

Monday 18 October

Folklore from the old calendars

Horn Fair No longer kept KentA three-day fair was held at Charlton on St Luke's Day, where visitors wore horns in their hats and rams' horns, horn toys and even horned gingerbread were sold.
Whip-dog Day at York No longer kept YorkshireDrake wrote in his history of York that St Luke's Day was known in the city as Whip-dog Day, because the schoolboys whipped every dog they found in the streets.
St Luke’s ointment Lore and belief EnglandThe chapbook Mother Bunch's Closet Newly Broke Open held that St Luke's Day was better than St Agnes's for seeing a future husband.
The New Forest keepers’ offerings to St Luke No longer kept Gloucestershire, Hampshire, WiltshireAt St Luke's-tide the keepers and foresters of the New Forest came every year to St Luke's chapel at Stoke Verdon, in the parish of Broad Chalke, to make offerings for luck with their game, deer and cattle.
The ladle in a sling at York Dish Fair No longer kept YorkshireOn St Luke's Day a fair for small wares was held in York, commonly called Dish Fair from the wooden dishes and ladles brought to it.

Wednesday 20 October

Wed 20 Oct All day
Custom, day 1 of 5

Ilkeston Charter Fair

Sets off from Market Place, Ilkeston, Derbyshire
- Fair or wakes
- Harvest and Hiring
Wed 20 Oct 15:00 23:00
Custom

Sloe Fair

Sets off from Northgate car park, Chichester, West Sussex
- Fair or wakes

Thursday 21 October

Thu 21 Oct Ilkeston Charter Fair day 2 of 5 · All day