Folklore of East Anglia

1 May

Folklore from the old calendars

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.
Lambs weaned at Philip and Jacob No longer kept Essex, SuffolkIn Essex and Suffolk the lambs were taken from the ewes on the feast of St Philip and St James, 1 May, by farmers who wanted to milk them.
May branches at the doors in Thaxted No longer kept EssexOn May morning the girls of Thaxted went round waving branches before the doors of the townspeople.
May Day at Lynn No longer kept NorfolkA correspondent told Hone that at Lynn the children raced to be first up on May morning, and those out early sometimes nailed up the doors of sleepy friends through the latch.
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 poor May Lady at Cambridge No longer kept CambridgeshireAt Cambridge on May Day children dressed up a doll in a grotesque fashion and called it the May Lady.