Folklore of England

12 March, not tied to the day

Folklore from the old calendars

Fig-pie Wake at Draycott-in-the-Moors No longer kept StaffordshireDraycott-in-the-Moors and its neighbouring villages kept Fig-pie Wake on Mid-Lent Sunday, when friends came visiting to eat fig pies.
Going a-mothering Still kept EnglandOn Midlent Sunday, the fourth in Lent, young people in service or apprenticed away went home to see their parents, especially their mothers, taking a cake or a trinket as a present.
Loins of veal on Mid-lent Sunday No longer kept HerefordshireIn Herefordshire Mid-Lent Sunday was kept by every rank, with children of all ages coming home to dine with their parents on loins of veal.
Mothering cakes at Bristol No longer kept GloucestershireA Bristol reader told Hone in 1827 that Mothering Sunday was kept scrupulously in the city and, he believed, all over the west of England, much as Twelfth Night was kept in London.
Pease for the king’s household on Mid-Lent Sunday No longer kept EnglandA roll of the household expenses of Edward I for 1290 records a penny spent on pease on Mid-Lent Sunday.
Shrewsbury simnels Still kept Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, ShropshireIn Shropshire and Herefordshire, and above all at Shrewsbury, rich simnel cakes were made in Lent and at Easter and Christmas.
Simnel Sunday crowds at Bury No longer kept LancashireOn Mid-Lent Sunday thousands of people poured into Bury from all over the district to eat simnels, and shops and public houses stayed open in defiance of the law.

Folklore from the old calendars

Boys pelting with carlings No longer kept Northern EnglandIn the North the fifth Sunday in Lent was called Care, Carle or Carling Sunday, and the proper food was grey peas soaked overnight and fried in butter.
Carlings on Carling Sunday Still kept Northern EnglandOn the second Sunday before Easter northern families ate carlings, grey peas soaked overnight and fried in butter.
The carling-groat No longer kept Northern EnglandAt carling time a northern drinker's carling-groat was the money he spent at the public-house, and in return the landlord set out the carlings free.
The gy-carling on Carling Sunday Lore and belief NorthumberlandOn the Borders people were told to eat carlings on Carling Sunday until they were too full for the gy-carling to get a grip of their belly.
Whirlin Sunday and whirlin cakes No longer kept CambridgeshireIn the villages round Wisbech the fifth Sunday in Lent was kept as Whirlin Sunday, when almost every family baked whirlin cakes.

Folklore from the old calendars

Entering the fallows at Lady Day No longer kept EnglandIn the open-field champion country a new farmer could enter on all the fallow land at Lady Day, half a year before his Michaelmas entry.
Monday fasts when Lady Day falls on a Monday Lore and belief EnglandIn the late fifteenth century some people fasted on every Monday of the year when Lady Day, the feast of Our Lady in Lent, fell on a Monday, trusting such new-found fasts to save them from sudden death.
My Lord in my Lady’s lap Lore and belief EnglandAn old rhyme warned that when Easter Day fell on or near Lady Day, 25 March, England would suffer some misfortune.
Our Lady’s smock at Lady Day Lore and belief EnglandCuckoo flower was called Our Lady's smock because it first flowered about Lady Day, and its name was taken to recall the Virgin's garment in honour of the Annunciation.
Plucking the fen geese at Lady Day No longer kept LincolnshireThe great flocks of geese in the Lincolnshire fens had their first plucking of the year at Lady Day, for feathers and quills.
Pope Ladies at St Albans No longer kept HertfordshireSt Albans sold buns called Pope Ladies on Lady Day, baked in the shape of ladies.