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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376 to 400 of 411 entries

25 November

Every new moon

27 November

30 November

4 December, not tied to the day

6 December

16 December

21 December

24 December

Folklore from the old calendars

Carols after midnight in Wales Still kept WalesHone found that carol singing, unknown in Presbyterian Scotland, was kept up in Wales more fully than in England.
Dives on the serpent’s knee No longer kept WarwickshireAt Christmas the street carol singers of Warwickshire still sang Dives and Lazarus, in which two serpents come out of hell for the rich man's soul and tell him he has a place provided there to sit upon a serpent's knee.
Greening the church Still kept EnglandOld church calendars marked Christmas Eve with the words templa exornantur, churches are decked.
Hoodening Still kept KentAt Ramsgate the Christmas festivities began with a hoodening.
Kissing under the mistletoe Still kept EnglandBrand found that mistletoe was kept out of churches, where one sexton told him it had once been put up and the clergyman at once ordered it down, but that it was hung in state in the kitchen.
Lamb’s-wool on Christmas Eve No longer kept EnglandOn Christmas Eve apples were roasted on a string until they dropped into a large bowl of spiced ale, and the mixture was drunk as lamb's-wool.
Mistletoe at York Minster No longer kept YorkshireStukeley, writing in the eighteenth century, said that within the last hundred years mistletoe had been carried to the high altar of York Minster on Christmas Eve.
The charity boy’s Christmas piece No longer kept EnglandAt Christmas the charity boys went from door to door showing a fair copy of their best handwriting, and were given pence for it.
The Christmas Eve orchard wassail Still kept Devon, Hampshire, NorfolkOn Christmas Eve in parts of Devon the farmer, his family and friends ate hot cakes dipped in cider, then carried cake and cider to the chief apple tree in the orchard.
The Christmas waits Still kept Cumberland, Lanarkshire, LondonThe waits were bands of musicians who played through the streets at night for two or three weeks before Christmas, usually finishing on Christmas Eve, and then called at the houses for a Christmas box.
The cock crows all night Lore and belief EnglandIt was held that on the night before Christmas the powers of darkness were helpless and no evil could touch mankind.
The kneeling oxen Lore and belief Cornwall, DevonIn west Devon and Cornwall it was believed that at midnight on Christmas Eve the oxen in their stalls knelt as if in prayer, and after the change of calendar they were said to do it only on Old Christmas Eve.
The Quainton thorn No longer kept BuckinghamshireAfter the calendar change of 1752, crowds went to see whether the famous thorns would blossom on the new Christmas Day.