Folklore of England

6 January

Folklore from the old calendars

The Lady Mary’s Twelfth Night banquet No longer kept GloucestershireIn November of about 1525 the council of the young Princess Mary's household wrote from Tewkesbury to Cardinal Wolsey asking how she should keep the coming Christmas.
The Lord Mayor’s Twelfth Day sermon at St Paul’s No longer kept LondonOn the afternoon of Twelfth Day the Lord Mayor, the aldermen, all the crafts of London and the bachelors of the Mayor's company went in procession to St Paul's to hear a sermon, after the old custom.
The Piddle Hinton Old Christmas dole No longer kept DorsetOn Old Christmas Day the rector of Piddle Hinton handed every poor parishioner a pound of bread, a pint of ale and a mince pie.
The riche mount on Twelfth Night No longer kept Kent, LondonOn Twelfth Night in the fifth year of Henry VIII, while the court kept Christmas at Greenwich, a pageant mountain called the riche mount was drawn into the great hall by four wild men.
The Twelfth Night Wassail at Court No longer kept EnglandThe Royalle Book of Henry VII's household laid down how the king kept Twelfth Day, going crowned in his robes and offering gold, myrrh and incense.

7 January

7 January, not tied to the day

Every new moon

11 January, not tied to the day

the first Monday on or after 7 January

Folklore from the old calendars

Cock in the pot on Plough Monday No longer kept EnglandTusser counted Plough Monday among the ploughman's feast days, and Tusser Redivivus of 1744 explained the rhyme that went with it.
Goose-dancing in Scilly No longer kept Isles of ScillyHone's Table Book, quoting the Monthly Magazine of January 1827, says that at Plough Monday time the young people of the Isles of Scilly went goose-dancing.
Plough Monday Still kept LincolnshireOn the first Monday after Twelfth Day farm lads dragged a plough decked with ribbons, the Fool Plough, from house to house, led by a man dressed as an old woman called Bessy and a Fool, sometimes with morris or sword dancers.
Plough Monday morris at Claybrooke No longer kept LeicestershireAulay Macaulay, in his History and Antiquities of Claybrooke of 1791, wrote that every Plough Monday a company of morris dancers came into Claybrooke from the neighbouring villages of Sapcote and Sharnford.
The Lord Mayor’s Plough Monday wassail No longer kept LondonOn Plough Monday the Lord Mayor of London kept wassail with his household, with the Lady Mayoress at the head of their table.
The Madgy Pegs of Whitby No longer kept YorkshireOn Plough Monday at Whitby an extra band of six danced the sword dance, ending by plaiting their swords into a hexagon or rose that one of them held up above their heads.
The plough light at Holbeach No longer kept Lincolnshire, NorfolkMany churches before the Reformation kept a plough light burning before an image, paid for by the husbandmen, who feasted on Plough Monday and went about with a plough and dancers.
The plough-gathering at Wigtoft No longer kept LincolnshireIn 1575 the churchwardens of Wigtoft in Lincolnshire received a pound from two men for the plough-gathering, the money collected when the ploughmen went round with their plough.
The sock-men’s ploughs No longer kept Northern EnglandOn Plough Monday, ploughmen in the north dragged a plough from door to door and begged money for drink.

Folklore of England

6 January

7 January

7 January, not tied to the day

Every new moon

11 January, not tied to the day

the first Monday on or after 7 January

12 January

13 January

14 January, not tied to the day

14 January

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