Romance Customs

Love, courtship and marriage: charms to see a future sweetheart, Valentine customs, wedding ways and the days for divining who you will marry.

Folklore from the old calendars

Tuesday 6 October 2026

Sunday 11 October 2026

Sunday 18 October 2026

Wednesday 28 October 2026

Saturday 31 October 2026

Folklore from the old calendars

The Three Luggies No longer kept ScotlandThree dishes, or luggies, were set on the hearth at Hallowe'en, one with clean water, one with foul water and one empty.
The Wet Sark Sleeve No longer kept Ireland, ScotlandIn the Scottish form of this Hallowe'en spell the seeker dipped the left shirt sleeve in a south-running burn where the lands of three lairds met.
Fathoming the Stack No longer kept ScotlandAnother Scottish Hallowe'en charm from Burns was to slip out unnoticed to a stack of barley, called a bear stack, and measure round it three times with outstretched arms.
Winnowing Three Wechts No longer kept ScotlandTo win three wechts of naething, a Scottish spell for Hallowe'en, the seeker went alone to the barn and opened both doors, taking them off their hinges if possible.
Sowing Hemp-seed No longer kept Ireland, ScotlandOn Hallowe'en a girl crept out unseen and sowed a handful of hemp-seed, dragging something behind her to harrow it in, and saying a rhyme over and over.
The Blue Clue No longer kept Ireland, ScotlandOne of the Hallowe'en spells Burns described among the country people of the west of Scotland had to be tried alone and in the dark.
Cyniver No longer kept WalesAmong the Hallowe'en customs he gathered, Hone gave a Welsh game from Owen's Welsh Dictionary.
The Apple and the Looking-Glass Lore and belief ScotlandA girl who wanted to see her future husband went alone with a candle to a looking-glass on Hallowe'en and ate an apple in front of it, some said while combing her hair.
Pulling the Kail Stocks No longer kept ScotlandThe first rite of a Scottish Hallowe'en was to go out hand in hand, eyes shut, into the kailyard and each pull the first cabbage stalk they touched.
Burning the Nuts Lore and belief England, Ireland, ScotlandOn Hallowe'en a pair of nuts was named for a lad and a lass and laid in the fire.

Wednesday 25 November 2026

Monday 21 December 2026

Thursday 24 December 2026

Wednesday 6 January 2027

Wednesday 13 January 2027

Wednesday 20 January 2027

Tuesday 9 February 2027

Saturday 13 February 2027

Sunday 14 February 2027

Folklore from the old calendars

Valentine pence in Oxfordshire No longer kept OxfordshireIn Oxfordshire the children went about on Valentine's Day collecting pence and singing a short rhyme asking each householder for a valentine.
Catching valentines before sunrise No longer kept NorfolkIn Norfolk children tried to catch one another for valentines on St Valentine's morning, and took special care to catch any elderly people in the family who were likely to be generous.
Good Morrow, Valentine at Weston Favell No longer kept NorthamptonshireReviewing John Cole's little history of Weston Favell, near Northampton, in 1827, Hone noted the village's round of customs.
The Valentine Letter-shower Still kept EnglandBy the 1860s the drawing of valentines had given way to sending anonymous letters.
When the Birds Choose Their Mates Lore and belief EnglandAmong the common people it was believed that St Valentine's Day was the day on which the birds chose their mates, and that something of the same influence lay on young men and women, so that a partner chosen by lot or chance that day was in some degree binding.
Good Morrow, Valentine No longer kept HertfordshireIn many parts of Hertfordshire the poorer children gathered on Valentine's morning and went together to the house of the chief person of the place, who threw wreaths and true lovers' knots to them from a window.
Drawing Valentines No longer kept England, ScotlandThe old ceremony of St Valentine's Day was a lottery.

Sunday 28 March 2027

Monday 29 March 2027

Saturday 24 April 2027

Saturday 1 May 2027

Monday 17 May 2027

Wednesday 23 June 2027

Thursday 24 June 2027

Wednesday 1 September 2027

Wednesday 8 September 2027

Not tied to a day

Romance Customs not tied to a day of the year.

Folklore from the old calendars

A Cumberland bidding wedding No longer kept CumberlandBell's Weekly Messenger of 28 May 1797 reprinted from the Cumberland Packet a bridegroom's advertisement for his own wedding.
Breaking a Piece of Money No longer kept EnglandA couple promising to marry would break a piece of gold or silver between them, the woman keeping one half and the man the other.
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.
Creeling the bridegroom No longer kept SelkirkshireAt Galashiels, the morning after a wedding, the neighbours brought a creel filled with stones and fixed it to the bridegroom's back.
Dancing in the hog’s trough No longer kept East Anglia, West CountryA clergyman writing to Chambers about marriage customs among East Anglian labourers said that when a younger sister married before the elder, the elder had to dance in the hog's trough.
Knives cut love Lore and belief EnglandGiving a knife, scissors, a razor or anything sharp to a sweetheart or friend was thought unlucky, because it would cut love and friendship.
Lifting the shepherd’s bride No longer kept SussexIn a set of notes printed under 19 November, a correspondent signing himself Jehoiada recorded a wedding custom of the South Downs shepherds called lifting.
Love Tokens No longer kept EnglandA correspondent told Hone that in olden times enamoured maids and gentlewomen gave their chosen swains little handkerchiefs as love tokens, about three or four inches square, embroidered round, with a button or tassel at each corner and a small one in the middle.
Marrowbones and cleavers No longer kept LondonAmong the London poor it was an old institution for butchers' men to serenade a wedding with marrowbones and cleavers, as Hogarth showed in his picture of the Industrious Apprentice's marriage.
Marry in Lent Lore and belief East AngliaThe same East Anglian correspondent gave Chambers two sayings about choosing when and whom to wed.
Marrying in a Smock Lore and belief Cumberland, EnglandIt was once a common belief that a man who married a woman wearing nothing but her shift would not be answerable for any debts she brought with her.
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 Weddings and Funerals No longer kept EnglandRosemary served at both ends of life.
Selling a wife at Carlisle Lore and belief CumberlandMany people in England believed a man could end his marriage by selling his wife at public auction.
St Keyne’s Well Lore and belief CornwallSt Keyne's Well in Cornwall was roofed by the roots of four trees of different kinds, withy, oak, elm and ash.
The Claddagh Ring Still kept ConnachtRings with two clasped hands were a common old wedding design, and Chambers found the fashion still in daily use among the fishing families of the Claddagh at Galway, a close community of five or six thousand who seldom married outside their own people.
The Creeling at Galston No longer kept AyrshireIn Galston a young man courted not at the girl's father's house but at the alehouse, where the landlady sent for her and the match was made over ale and whisky.
The dow purse No longer kept CumberlandChambers traced the old custom of a bridegroom giving his bride a gift of money on marriage, known in England as the dow purse.
The Dunmow Flitch Still kept EssexThe priory of Dunmow offered a flitch of bacon to any married couple who would swear that after a year of marriage they had never quarrelled nor wished themselves unmarried.
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 hair in the left shoe Lore and belief EnglandIt was a common belief that a girl who ran into the fields early in the morning to hear the first cuckoo, and took off her left shoe when she heard it, would find inside a man's hair.
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 Portland Betrothal No longer kept DorsetThe people of the Isle of Portland seldom married anyone from the mainland.
The Wedding Spoons No longer kept ScotlandIn the eighteenth century a Scottish country bridegroom went to the goldsmiths of the Parliament Close in Edinburgh a few weeks before his wedding to buy the silver teaspoons that always came before a marriage.
The Wychnor flitch No longer kept StaffordshireBeside the Dunmow flitch, Hone set out the similar custom of Wychnor in the Honour of Tutbury, from Dr Plot.
Trashing No longer kept YorkshireA correspondent writing from Morley on 21 July 1827 described a wedding custom common in parts of Yorkshire called trashing: pelting the couple with old shoes as they came home from church.
True-Love Knots and Bride Favours No longer kept EnglandLovers in the north of England and Scotland gave each other a true-love knot as a token of plighted faith, and Hone derived the name from a Danish word meaning to plight one's troth.
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.
Wedding dinners at the Maison Dieu No longer kept NorthumberlandOn 10 June 1412 Henry IV licensed the Maison Dieu, or House of God, built by Roger Thornton on the Sandhill at Newcastle to feed and clothe the poor.
Whitsun weddings at May Fair Chapel No longer kept LondonBefore the Marriage Act, Whitsuntide was one of the favourite seasons for marrying.

Folklore from the old calendars

Tuesday 6 October 2026

Sunday 11 October 2026

Sunday 18 October 2026

Wednesday 28 October 2026

Saturday 31 October 2026

Wednesday 25 November 2026

Monday 21 December 2026

Thursday 24 December 2026

Wednesday 6 January 2027

Wednesday 13 January 2027

Wednesday 20 January 2027

Tuesday 9 February 2027

Saturday 13 February 2027

Sunday 14 February 2027

Sunday 28 March 2027

Monday 29 March 2027

Saturday 24 April 2027

Saturday 1 May 2027

Monday 17 May 2027

Wednesday 23 June 2027

Thursday 24 June 2027

Wednesday 1 September 2027

Wednesday 8 September 2027

Not tied to a day

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