Hone's Every-Day Book

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

By tag

Get a copy

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

Amazon · Bookshop.org · AbeBooks

We may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

51 to 75 of 411 entries

48 days before Easter

Shrove Tuesday

Folklore from the old calendars

Fitz-Stephen’s Shrovetide No longer kept LondonThe earliest account of Shrovetide sport in England comes from William Fitz-Stephen, who died in 1191.
Football Day at Kingston No longer kept Middlesex, SurreyA Quaker travelling to Kingston upon Thames on Shrove Tuesday 1815 was told by the coachman that it was Football Day.
Going a-shroving near Salisbury No longer kept WiltshireIn the days before Shrovetide the boys round Salisbury went from door to door singing for apples, dumplings, cheese or pancake.
Ludlow Rope-pulling No longer kept ShropshireOn Shrove Tuesday the Ludlow corporation handed a thick rope, thirty-six yards long, out of a window of the Market Hall at four o'clock.
Sauty Bannocks and Dreaming Bannocks No longer kept HighlandsIn the Highlands the Fastern's E'en supper ended with sauty bannocks, made of eggs and meal with plenty of salt and toasted on the gridiron.
Shrove Tuesday Weather Lore and belief EnglandThe Shepherd's Almanack of 1676 recorded two pieces of weather lore for Shrove Tuesday.
The apprentices’ Shrove Tuesday No longer kept LondonUntil a few years before Hone wrote, Shrove Tuesday was the great holiday of the London apprentices.
The First Pancake No longer kept EnglandBy custom the first pancake off the pan was given to the laziest member of the household or the last one out of bed, though since nobody would own to it, it usually went to the dog.
The Hoddesdon Curfew and the Pancakes No longer kept HertfordshireA correspondent told Hone that the old curfew bell at Hoddesdon, once rung for putting out all fire and candle light, was still rung at four in the morning on Shrove Tuesday, as it had been time out of mind.
The Pancake Bell Still kept EnglandOn Shrove Tuesday the church bells were set ringing in the morning, and one bell in particular, the Pancake Bell, told every household that it was time to start frying.
The Pancake Greaze Still kept LondonAt eleven on Shrove Tuesday a verger of Westminster Abbey with a silver baton led the school cook, in white apron, jacket and cap, into the schoolroom carrying a pancake.
The Ring in the Crowdie No longer kept ScotlandEden wrote that crowdie was the never-failing dinner of all ranks in Scotland on Shrove Tuesday, as pancakes were in England.
The Wives’ Football at Inveresk No longer kept MidlothianSir Frederick Eden, drawing on the Statistical Account of Scotland, recorded a standing Shrove Tuesday football match in a Midlothian parish between the married and the unmarried women.
Threshing the Hen No longer kept Cornwall, WalesA hen that had not laid before Shrove Tuesday was counted useless.
Throwing at Cocks No longer kept England, NorfolkThrowing sticks at a tethered cock was an old and cruel Shrove Tuesday sport, which Hone was glad to see dying out among decent people.

Hone's Every-Day Book

48 days before Easter

Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday, not tied to the day

Ash Wednesday

25 February

28 February, not tied to the day

1 March

2 March, not tied to the day

Image credits