Folklore of England

By tag

801 to 825 of 1,392 entries

1 May

Folklore from the old calendars

My lord and my lady at Baldock No longer kept HertfordshireOn May morning the poor women of Baldock dressed up straw and rag effigies of a lord and lady in their husbands' and their own Sunday clothes and sat them side by side outside the cottage door.
Parish garlands in the Oxford churches No longer kept OxfordshireOn May Day the young maids of every Oxford parish carried their parish garland of flowers about the streets and afterwards hung it up in their church.
Porches of woven whitethorn on May morning No longer kept EnglandOn May morning every porch and door was turned into a green arbour of whitethorn woven into the frame, and young people who had gone out early came home laden with the blossom.
Ribbons for the waggoner’s team in May No longer kept EnglandIn May it was the custom for travellers by stage waggon to give the waggoner a ribbon at every inn to trim his horses.
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.
Robin Hood’s bower at Abingdon No longer kept BerkshireIn 1566 the churchwardens of St Helen's, Abingdon, paid eighteen pence for putting up Robin Hood's bower.
Rowan boughs at the Borrowdale Beltein No longer kept CumberlandUntil a few years before 1772 the people about the Borrowdale wad mines kept up the Beltein on the first of May, and those who took part brought boughs of the mountain ash with them.
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.
The battle on Rochester bridge No longer kept KentIreland's Views of the Medway tells of a yearly May Day fight on Rochester bridge between the boys of Frindsbury and the boys of the neighbouring town of Strood.
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 great shaft of Cornhill No longer kept LondonSt Andrew Undershaft takes its name from the great maypole that was set up every May morning in the street outside its south door, taller than the church steeple.
The Headington garlands No longer kept OxfordshireL.
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.
The hobby horse on May Day at St Mary’s, Reading No longer kept BerkshireIn 1557, in the brief return of the old ways under Queen Mary, the parish of St Mary in Reading paid minstrels and a hobby horse to perform on 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.
The Lady of the May doll No longer kept EnglandOn May Day children in a few out-of-the-way places went about with a finely dressed doll they called the Lady of the May, and little imitation maypoles.
The liars’ contest at Temple Sowerby No longer kept WestmorlandAt Temple Sowerby in Westmorland, time out of mind, people gathered on the green on May Day to hold a contest in the noble art of lying.
The Magdalen tower on May morning Still kept OxfordshireOn May Day the choristers of Magdalen College gathered at the top of the college tower to usher in the spring.
The Maidens’ Portion at Sutton Coldfield No longer kept WarwickshireJohn Herman, the Sutton-born Bishop of Exeter under Henry VIII (better known as Bishop Vesey), did much for his native town, and left money whose interest was to be shared every year among four poor maidens of good character, born or long living in Sutton, who had married in the past year.
The master sweeps’ May-day dinner No longer kept LondonOn 1 May 1826 the new United Society of Master Chimney Sweepers gave its apprentices a dinner at the Eyre Arms in St John's Wood instead of letting them go about the streets for money, and handbills warned householders not to give to the sweeps' May-day collections.
The May Day herd goes out to the common No longer kept EnglandMay morning was the day the herdsman blew his horn and the village cows, fed all winter in the straw yard, were driven out onto the common grass.
The maypole left untouched all year No longer kept EnglandThe rest of May Day was spent dancing round the maypole, set up in some convenient part of the village.
The milkmaids’ cow with gilded horns No longer kept LondonSome London milkmaids went round their customers on May Day with a cow instead of the usual pyramid of borrowed silver plate.
The milkmaids’ garland No longer kept LondonOn May Day the London milkmaids went round their customers' houses in their best clothes, dancing to a fiddle or pipe and tabor for the annual present.
The Paddington May-dance No longer kept London, MiddlesexHone remembered Jack-o'-the-Greens, figures dressed out in ribbons and flowers from the village May games, coming into the London suburbs to dance.

1 May

Image credits