Hone's Every-Day Book

William Hone, The Every-Day Book, or Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements (2 vols, 1825-1827).

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Two volumes, 1825 to 1827. Later editions bind it with the Table Book, and old sets turn up second-hand.

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351 to 375 of 411 entries

31 October

Folklore from the old calendars

The Callander Stones No longer kept PerthshireAt Callander a bonfire was lit in every village on All Saints' Eve.
The Logierait Faggots No longer kept PerthshireThe minister of Logierait in Perthshire described the chief ceremony of Hallowe'en, kept there on 31 October by the old style calendar.
The St Kilda Hallowe’en Cake No longer kept Outer HebridesMartin's account of the Western Isles, quoted by Hone, recorded that the people of St Kilda baked a special cake on Hallowe'en.
The Three Luggies No longer kept ScotlandThree dishes, or luggies, were set on the hearth at Hallowe'en, one with clean water, one with foul water and one empty.
The Wet Sark Sleeve No longer kept Ireland, ScotlandIn the Scottish form of this Hallowe'en spell the seeker dipped the left shirt sleeve in a south-running burn where the lands of three lairds met.
Winnowing Three Wechts No longer kept ScotlandTo win three wechts of naething, a Scottish spell for Hallowe'en, the seeker went alone to the barn and opened both doors, taking them off their hinges if possible.

Folklore from the old calendars

Clementing in Worcestershire No longer kept WorcestershireA correspondent born in Worcestershire remembered boys going in a band from house to house on the afternoon of St Clement's Day.
Old Clem at Woolwich No longer kept Kent, LondonOn the evening of St Clement's Day the blacksmiths' apprentices of Woolwich dockyard chose one of their seniors to be Old Clem, in a greatcoat, a mask, an oakum wig and a long white beard.
St Clement’s pot No longer kept StaffordshirePlot's Staffordshire recorded an old custom of going about on the night of St Clement's Day to beg drink to make merry with.
The smiths’ ode for St Clement No longer kept LondonThe secretary of the Benevolent Institution of Smiths, writing from Southwark in 1825, asked Hone not to forget St Clement, the smiths' saint.