Food and Drink

Customs with their own fare: pancakes, simnel cake, soul cakes, frumenty and the wassail bowl.

Customs

The year ahead

Tuesday 24 November Beaver Moon

Wednesday 9 December New moon

Wednesday 23 December

Wed 23 Dec All day
Custom

Tom Bawcock’s Eve

The Ship Inn, Mousehole, Cornwall

Thursday 24 December Cold Moon

Sunday 3 January

Sun 3 Jan from 12:00
Custom

Bankside Twelfth Night

Shakespeare’s Globe, London, Greater London

Thursday 7 January New moon

Saturday 9 January

Sat 9 Jan 17:30 21:00
Custom

Much Marcle Wassail at Westons

Westons Cider Visitor Centre, Much Marcle, Herefordshire

Saturday 16 January

Sat 16 Jan from 18:30
Custom

Carhampton Wassail

Butchers Arms, Carhampton, Somerset

Friday 22 January Wolf Moon

Saturday 6 February New moon

Saturday 20 February Snow Moon

Monday 8 March New moon

Monday 22 March Worm Moon

Monday 29 March

Mon 29 Mar from 13:45
Custom

Hallaton Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking

St Michael and All Angels Church, Hallaton, Leicestershire

Tuesday 6 April New moon

Tuesday 20 April Pink Moon

Thursday 6 May New moon

Thursday 20 May Flower Moon

Friday 4 June New moon

Saturday 19 June Strawberry Moon

Sunday 4 July New moon

Sunday 18 July Buck Moon

Monday 2 August New moon

Tuesday 17 August Sturgeon Moon

Saturday 28 August

Sat 28 Aug All day
Custom, day 1 of 4

Ould Lammas Fair

Sets off from The Diamond, Ballycastle, County Antrim

Sunday 29 August

Sun 29 Aug Ould Lammas Fair day 2 of 4 · All day

Monday 30 August

Mon 30 Aug Ould Lammas Fair day 3 of 4 · All day

Tuesday 31 August New moon

Tue 31 Aug Ould Lammas Fair day 4 of 4 · All day

Wednesday 15 September Harvest Moon

Thursday 30 September New moon

Friday 15 October Hunter’s Moon

Friday 29 October New moon

From the old calendars

26 to 35 of 35 entries in February

Shrove Tuesday

Folklore from the old calendars

The Pancake Bell Still kept EnglandOn Shrove Tuesday the church bells were set ringing in the morning, and one bell in particular, the Pancake Bell, told every household that it was time to start frying.
The Pancake Greaze Still kept LondonAt eleven on Shrove Tuesday a verger of Westminster Abbey with a silver baton led the school cook, in white apron, jacket and cap, into the schoolroom carrying a pancake.
The pancake on the crow at Eton No longer kept BuckinghamshireIn Queen Elizabeth's time the cook at Eton fastened a pancake on Shrove Tuesday to the crow, the iron ring that served as a knocker, on the school door.
The Pancake-Bell and the father’s knell No longer kept EnglandPoor men liked the sound of the Shrove Tuesday pancake bell better than any other.
The Ring in the Crowdie No longer kept ScotlandEden wrote that crowdie was the never-failing dinner of all ranks in Scotland on Shrove Tuesday, as pancakes were in England.
Threshing the fat hen in Essex and Suffolk No longer kept Essex, SuffolkAt Shrovetide in Essex and Suffolk the farm men went shroving and threshed a fat hen, and if a blindfolded man could kill her she was theirs.
Whemmeled on the muck-midden No longer kept Northern EnglandOn northern farms each servant, man or woman, had to fry and toss a pancake on Shrove Tuesday in order of seniority.

Ash Wednesday