Plant and Tree Lore

Trees, flowers and greenery: bringing in the may, oak apples, rushbearing, holly and ivy.

The year ahead

Sunday 3 January

Sun 3 Jan from 12:00
Custom

Bankside Twelfth Night

Shakespeare’s Globe, London, Greater London

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

Monday 18 January

Mon 18 Jan from 18:30
Custom

Whimple Wassail

Whimple Heritage Centre, Whimple, Devon

Saturday 23 January

Sat 23 Jan 12:30 18:00
Custom

Chepstow Wassail and Mari Lwyd

Chepstow Museum, Chepstow, Monmouthshire

Monday 3 May

Mon 3 May 12:00 15:00
Custom

Laa Boaldyn at Cregneash

Cregneash Folk Village, Cregneash, Isle of Man

Thursday 6 May New moon

Thu 6 May from 11:00
Custom, day 1 of 7

Tissington Well Dressing

St Mary’s Church, Tissington, Derbyshire

Friday 7 May

Fri 7 May Tissington Well Dressing day 2 of 7 · From 11:00

Saturday 8 May

Sat 8 May from 07:00
Custom

Helston Flora Day

Guildhall, Helston, Cornwall
Sat 8 May Tissington Well Dressing day 3 of 7 · From 11:00

Sunday 9 May

Sun 9 May Tissington Well Dressing day 4 of 7 · From 11:00

Monday 10 May

Mon 10 May Tissington Well Dressing day 5 of 7 · From 11:00

Tuesday 11 May

Tue 11 May Tissington Well Dressing day 6 of 7 · From 11:00

Wednesday 12 May

Wed 12 May Tissington Well Dressing day 7 of 7 · From 11:00

Saturday 29 May

Sat 29 May from 18:30
Custom

Castleton Garland Day

Sets off from Market Place, Castleton, Derbyshire

Saturday 10 July

Sat 10 Jul from 15:00
Custom

Grasmere Rushbearing

St Oswald’s Church, Grasmere, Cumbria

Friday 13 August

Fri 13 Aug 09:00 18:00
Custom

The Burryman

Staghead Hotel, South Queensferry, City of Edinburgh

Saturday 4 September

Sat 4 Sep 10:00 18:00
Custom, day 1 of 2

Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing

St John the Evangelist Church, Warley, West Yorkshire

Sunday 5 September

Sun 5 Sep Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing day 2 of 2 · 10:00–18:00

Folklore from the old calendars

Tuesday 29 September 2026

Sunday 4 October 2026

Sunday 11 October 2026

Sunday 18 October 2026

Saturday 31 October 2026

Monday 21 December 2026

Thursday 24 December 2026

Folklore from the old calendars

Greening the church Still kept EnglandOld church calendars marked Christmas Eve with the words templa exornantur, churches are decked.
The Quainton thorn No longer kept BuckinghamshireAfter the calendar change of 1752, crowds went to see whether the famous thorns would blossom on the new Christmas Day.
Ivy or his breeches No longer kept OxfordshireAubrey recorded that in several parts of Oxfordshire it was the custom at Christmas for the maidservant to ask the manservant for ivy to decorate the house.
The Christmas standard at Leadenhall No longer kept LondonStow recorded that at Christmas every London house and parish church was decked with holm oak, ivy, bays and whatever else was green, and the conduits and standards in the streets were dressed too.
Kissing under the mistletoe Still kept EnglandBrand found that mistletoe was kept out of churches, where one sexton told him it had once been put up and the clergyman at once ordered it down, but that it was hung in state in the kitchen.
Mistletoe at York Minster No longer kept YorkshireStukeley, writing in the eighteenth century, said that within the last hundred years mistletoe had been carried to the high altar of York Minster on Christmas Eve.
The Yule log and the mock Lore and belief Cornwall, EnglandThe Yule log was brought in with ceremony on Christmas Eve and lit from the saved remains of the year before.
The Christmas Eve orchard wassail Still kept Devon, Hampshire, NorfolkOn Christmas Eve in parts of Devon the farmer, his family and friends ate hot cakes dipped in cider, then carried cake and cider to the chief apple tree in the orchard.
The ashen faggot Still kept DevonIn Devon the Yule log took the form of the ashen faggot, a bundle of ash sticks bound with bands of ash, ideally nine of them.

Friday 25 December 2026

Thursday 31 December 2026

Friday 1 January 2027

Tuesday 5 January 2027

Monday 1 February 2027

Tuesday 2 February 2027

Thursday 4 February 2027

Tuesday 9 February 2027

Monday 1 March 2027

Wednesday 17 March 2027

Sunday 21 March 2027

Friday 26 March 2027

Monday 26 April 2027

Friday 30 April 2027

Saturday 1 May 2027

Folklore from the old calendars

The Cadi and the May garland No longer kept WalesA correspondent told Hone that labouring people in Wales still kept the May dance, and for a fortnight beforehand the talk of the village was who would dance, who would carry the garland and who would be the Cadi.
The Hitchin Mayers No longer kept HertfordshireA letter from Hitchin in 1823 told Hone how, soon after three on May morning, townspeople and labourers paraded the streets singing the Mayers' Song and fixed large branches of may to the doors of nearly every respectable house.
May gads on Maypole Hill at Horncastle No longer kept LincolnshireStukeley recorded in 1724 that there was a Maypole Hill near Horncastle in Lincolnshire.
Guarding the bedwen No longer kept WalesIn Wales the maypole was called the bedwen, the word for a birch tree, because Owen's Welsh dictionary says it was always made of birch.
The Headington garlands No longer kept OxfordshireL.
Rise up, maidens No longer kept NorthumberlandBrand was more than once woken early on May morning in Newcastle by a woman singing in the streets with several garlands in her hands, which he believed she sold to anyone who would buy.
Whitethorn over the door against witches Lore and belief EnglandReginald Scot, in his Discovery of Witchcraft, recorded that people hung in their entries, among other things, hawthorn gathered on May Day to keep witches away.
A dish of cream for the hawthorn No longer kept SuffolkIn most Suffolk farmhouses it was an old custom that any servant who could bring in a branch of hawthorn in full blossom on the first of May earned a dish of cream for breakfast.
Sycamore boughs at the Cornish door No longer kept CornwallBorlase, the historian of Cornwall, wrote that the Cornish still decked their doors and porches on the first of May with green boughs of sycamore and hawthorn.
May branches at Eton No longer kept BuckinghamshireA manuscript account of Eton School in 1560 says that on the day of St Philip and St James, 1 May, the boys who wished might rise at four o'clock, if the weather was fair and the master allowed it, to gather May branches, provided they could do it without wetting their feet.
Cows’ horns on May night at Oxford No longer kept OxfordshireAubrey noted that the boys of Oxford blew cows' horns and hollow canes all through the night before May Day.
The Kingsthorpe garlands at Northampton No longer kept NorthamptonshireA Northampton correspondent told Hone in 1826 that on May morning girls from Kingsthorpe and the other villages round came into the town carrying May garlands from house to house, to show, as the townspeople said, what flowers were in season, and were given a trifle at each door.
Birch for a sweetheart, alder for a scold No longer kept CheshireIn Cheshire young men used to put birch boughs over their sweethearts' doors on May Day, and marked the house of a scold with an alder bough.
The Dublin May bush No longer kept LeinsterOn May morning young men and boys of Dublin went a few miles out of town to cut a May bush, a whitethorn four or five feet high, and planted it in the middle of their street.
The Debden May garland No longer kept EssexOn May morning little girls in the parish of Debden went from house to house with garlands of different sizes, the large ones with a doll dressed in white in the middle, singing a carol that began with rambling all the night.
The sweeps’ garland and Jack-in-the-green Still kept LondonMay Day was the great festival of London's chimney sweeps.

Thursday 6 May 2027

Sunday 16 May 2027

Thursday 20 May 2027

Thursday 27 May 2027

Saturday 29 May 2027

Friday 11 June 2027

Wednesday 23 June 2027

Folklore from the old calendars

Catching fern seed Lore and belief EnglandBecause the seed of the fern is too small to see, people reasoned that whoever held it would become invisible.
Midsummer men Lore and belief EnglandOn Midsummer Eve girls set sprigs of orpine in clay on a slate or potsherd and called them Midsummer men.
Green birch on the sign-posts at Little Brickhill No longer kept Buckinghamshire, LondonThe herbalist William Coles remembered riding through Little Brickhill, a town on the London road between Dunstable and Stony Stratford, and finding nearly every sign-post decked with green birch.
St John’s wort over the Welsh door No longer kept WalesPennant's manuscript notes that in Wales people had the custom of sticking St John's wort over their doors on the eve of St John the Baptist.
The Midsummer rose Lore and belief EnglandAmong the Midsummer Eve charms that a girl in the Connoisseur owned to trying was the rose.

Thursday 24 June 2027

Folklore from the old calendars

Well-flowering at Buxton Still kept DerbyshireFollowing Tissington's example, several Derbyshire towns took up dressing their wells.
The sermon in green boughs Still kept OxfordshireOn St John the Baptist's Day a sermon was preached at Magdalen College from a stone pulpit in the corner of the first court, and the court was hung with green boughs so that the preaching would look like the Baptist's in the wilderness.
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.
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.
Midsummer cushions No longer kept NorthumberlandIn Northumberland on Midsummer Day stools were dressed with a cushion of flowers.

Sunday 4 July 2027

Wednesday 21 July 2027

Sunday 25 July 2027

Sunday 1 August 2027

Tuesday 24 August 2027

Tuesday 14 September 2027

Saturday 18 September 2027

Not tied to a day

Plant and Tree Lore not tied to a day of the year.

Folklore from the old calendars

Buttercups and yellow butter Lore and belief EnglandIt was widely believed that the buttercups covering the meadows in May gave the butter its rich yellow colour at that season.
Crackling leaves and love powders Lore and belief EnglandDr Ferrand, in his Love Melancholy of 1640, complained that silly girls still tried feats they had learned from their mothers or nurses to learn about their loves.
Edward Rose’s Roses Still kept SurreyEdward Rose, a citizen of London who died in the seventeenth century, left the parish of Barnes twenty pounds a year for ever on two conditions: that the railing round his grave be kept up, and that rose trees be planted there and kept flourishing.
Houseleek against lightning Lore and belief EnglandOld writers held that the bay tree was never struck by lightning, and that whoever wore a bay leaf was safe from thunder.
John Barleycorn Still kept England, ScotlandFor 21 October, after a harvest with a good barley crop, Hone printed Burns's version of the old ballad of John Barleycorn.
Mushrooms Once Seen Lore and belief SuffolkIt was said in Suffolk that mushrooms will not grow any more once they have been seen.
Rich Man, Poor Man Lore and belief DorsetThe Dorset writer W.
Rose-a-ruby Lore and belief EnglandThe red pheasant's eye of the late summer cornfields was still called rose-a-ruby by country maidens in Chambers's day.
Rosemary for remembrance No longer kept StaffordshireA correspondent from the Staffordshire Moorlands wrote to Hone that flowers and herbs were given meanings that went with the sound of their names, rosemary standing for remembrance and rejoicing, gillyflowers for gentleness and marigolds for mirth and marriage.
Rosemary for Weddings and Funerals No longer kept EnglandRosemary served at both ends of life.
Rue and Wormwood against the Plague Lore and belief LondonOn 29 July 1760 a rumour ran round London, nobody could later say how, that the plague had broken out in St Thomas's Hospital.
Sidney’s Oak at Penshurst No longer kept KentAn oak was said to have been planted at Penshurst on the day Sir Philip Sidney was born, and it grew to more than twenty feet round before it was felled, by mistake it was said.
Slunk calves and moonwort Lore and belief Devon, SuffolkGrose recorded the belief, commonly acted on in Suffolk, that a slunk or stillborn calf buried in a highway used by cattle would stop cows casting their calves.
The Elder and the Lightning Lore and belief SuffolkA Suffolk child told Chambers's correspondent that it was quite safe to shelter from a thunderstorm under an elder tree.
The Even Ash-leaf Lore and belief DorsetA Dorset girl who wanted to know her future husband picked an ash leaf with an even number of leaflets.
The knotweed love charm Lore and belief NorthamptonshireHone printed for late May John Clare's lines on the charms Northamptonshire village girls tried when out of the old women's hearing.
The rush charm for thrush Lore and belief DevonIn his piece on rushes and rush-bearing, Chambers gives a Devonshire charm for thrush in a baby.
The rush-bearing wake at Runcorn and Warburton No longer kept CheshireAt Runcorn and Warburton the yearly rush-bearing wake was kept in grand style in Chambers's day.
Wearing the Willow No longer kept Cambridgeshire, EnglandHone's Cambridge correspondent said the willow was called the Cambridge oak in that county, and Fuller called it a sad tree, from which those who had lost their love made their mourning garlands.

Sunday 3 January

Saturday 9 January

Saturday 16 January

Monday 18 January

Saturday 23 January

Monday 3 May

Thursday 6 May🌑 New moon

Friday 7 May

Saturday 8 May

Sunday 9 May

Monday 10 May

Tuesday 11 May

Wednesday 12 May

Saturday 29 May

Saturday 10 July

Friday 13 August

Saturday 4 September

Sunday 5 September

Folklore from the old calendars

Tuesday 29 September 2026

Sunday 4 October 2026

Sunday 11 October 2026

Sunday 18 October 2026

Saturday 31 October 2026

Monday 21 December 2026

Thursday 24 December 2026

Friday 25 December 2026

Thursday 31 December 2026

Friday 1 January 2027

Tuesday 5 January 2027

Monday 1 February 2027

Tuesday 2 February 2027

Thursday 4 February 2027

Tuesday 9 February 2027

Monday 1 March 2027

Wednesday 17 March 2027

Sunday 21 March 2027

Friday 26 March 2027

Monday 26 April 2027

Friday 30 April 2027

Saturday 1 May 2027

Thursday 6 May 2027

Sunday 16 May 2027

Thursday 20 May 2027

Thursday 27 May 2027

Saturday 29 May 2027

Friday 11 June 2027

Wednesday 23 June 2027

Thursday 24 June 2027

Sunday 4 July 2027

Wednesday 21 July 2027

Sunday 25 July 2027

Sunday 1 August 2027

Tuesday 24 August 2027

Tuesday 14 September 2027

Saturday 18 September 2027

Not tied to a day

Image credits

Thursday 6 May New moon