Chambers's Book of Days

Robert Chambers, The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar (2 vols, 1862-1864).

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Two volumes, 1862 to 1864. Facsimile reprints are easy to find, and original sets turn up second-hand.

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126 to 150 of 439 entries

Palm Sunday

1 April

1 April, not tied to the day

3 days before Easter

Good Friday

Folklore from the old calendars

Good Friday bread Lore and belief EnglandBread baked on Good Friday was kept in the house all year, in the belief that a little of it grated into water would cure almost any illness, and diarrhoea especially.
Hot cross buns Still kept England, LondonIn London and all over England, though not in Scotland, Good Friday began with the street cry of hot cross buns, and a plate of them on every breakfast table.
The clerk’s Good Friday cakes No longer kept Devon, DorsetIn some parishes of Dorset and Devon the parish clerk carried a few white cakes round to every house as an Easter offering.
The king’s cramp-rings on Good Friday No longer kept EnglandOn Good Friday the English king crept along a carpet to a crucifix laid on a cushion in his chapel and there blessed rings in a silver basin, which were given out as sure cures for cramp.
Washing Molly Grime No longer kept LincolnshireIn Glentham church a tomb carries a carved figure the people called Molly Grime.

Easter Saturday

Easter Sunday

Easter Monday