Folklore of West Country

25 December

Folklore from the old calendars

Christmas weather lore Lore and belief Devon, England, ScotlandAn old song in the Harleian manuscripts foretold the year by the weekday of Christmas: a Sunday Christmas meant a good winter, a fair summer and peace, while a Saturday one brought storms that killed man and beast, failing crops and dying children.
Christmas with the Devonshire farmers No longer kept DevonIn The Vindication of Christmas of 1653, Father Christmas said his best welcome in the Puritan years had been among the country farmers of Devonshire.
Geese-dancers in Cornwall Still kept CornwallBesides the St George players, Cornish guisards or geese-dancers went about at Christmas visiting the houses, the men and women often dressed in each other's clothes.
Goose in the West, turkey in London Still kept London, West CountryIn Sandys's day the Christmas dinner divided by region: goose was the dish in the western counties, while turkey prevailed in London.
Lighting the candle from the pole No longer kept CornwallOne of the Christmas games of the country people of west Cornwall was played on a round pole about ten feet long laid between two chairs, with a lighted candle on one of them.
St George and General Wolfe in West Cornwall No longer kept CornwallAt Christmas young people in the west of Cornwall went round the towns, inns and gentlemen's houses acting the doggerel play of St George for money.
The Ashton faggot at Lydeard No longer kept SomersetAt Christmas, Lydeard St Lawrence in Somerset burned a hooped bundle of sticks called the Ashton faggot, and a quart of cider went to those who watched.
The boy bishop tickled to death No longer kept WiltshireThe choristers of Salisbury Cathedral told of a boy bishop who fell melancholy in his term of office, so the other choirboys tickled him to make him merry and tickled him to death.
The Glastonbury Thorn Still kept SomersetGlastonbury tradition said Joseph of Arimathea stuck his hawthorn staff into Wearyall Hill, where it grew and blossomed every Christmas Day.
West Country church carols Still kept Cornwall, DevonDavies Gilbert, who published the old carols of the West of England with their tunes, said that on Christmas Day they were sung in place of the psalms in all the churches, above all at the afternoon service, with the whole congregation joining in.

26 December

27 December, not tied to the day

28 December

28 December, not tied to the day

30 December, not tied to the day

1 January

5 January

Folklore from the old calendars

Drinking to the ox with the crumpled horn No longer kept SomersetOn Twelfth Eve the Somerset ploughmen carried the wassail bowl into the ox-house and drank to the ox with the crumpled horn.
Rosemary blossoms at midnight in the Forest of Dean Lore and belief GloucestershireThe foresters of Dean held that Old Christmas, not the new, was the true Christmas, and that exactly at midnight that night the rosemary blossomed and the oxen knelt.
Twelve fires against the smut at Pauntley No longer kept GloucestershireOn Twelfth Night eve the farm servants of Pauntley gathered in a field sown with wheat and lit twelve straw fires in a row to keep the smut off the crop.
Twelve Fires and the Ox’s Cake No longer kept Gloucestershire, HerefordshireOn Twelfth Night eve Herefordshire farmers and their servants lit twelve small fires and one large one on the highest part of a wheat field, drank old cider and hallooed, and fifty or sixty other fires might be seen at once across the country.
Wassailing the Apple Trees Still kept DevonOn Twelfth Night eve the Devon farmer took his men into the orchard with a pitcher of cider, and they circled one of the best-bearing trees and drank to it three times with a rhyme wishing it hats full, caps full and sacks full of apples.

Folklore of the West Country

25 December

26 December

27 December, not tied to the day

28 December

28 December, not tied to the day

30 December, not tied to the day

1 January

5 January

6 January

the first Monday on or after 7 January

Image credits