Bleeding the horses

26 December

No longer kept

It was an old belief that on St Stephen’s Day horses should be galloped hard and then bled, to keep them free of disease for the coming year. Aubrey recorded that on that day the farrier always came and bled all the cart-horses. A farming writer of the eighteenth century gave the practical side: the horses were at rest over Christmas, with several idle days to follow, so it was a sensible time to do it.

On St Stephen's Day, the farrier came constantly and blouded all our cart-horses.

From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 2, p. 763. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Stephening No longer kept BuckinghamshireOn St Stephen's Day the whole parish of Drayton Beauchamp went to the rectory and claimed the right to as much bread, cheese and ale as they liked at the rector's expense.
The servants’ holiday at Chester No longer kept CheshireCheshire farm servants were hired from New Year's Eve to Christmas Day, and then took six or seven days off, leaving their masters to manage alone.
The Inner Temple Christmas No longer kept LondonThe lawyers of the Inner Temple kept Christmas with elaborate mock ceremony.
Christmas boxes Still kept England, LondonThe day after Christmas was called Boxing Day because tradesmen's boys, apprentices and servants went round the customers collecting money in their Christmas boxes.
Goose pies in the North Riding No longer kept YorkshireA memoir of Christmas in the North Riding of Yorkshire, printed in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1811, told how large goose pies were made on St Stephen's Day.
Hunting the wren at Middleton Still kept MunsterAn old woman of Middleton in County Cork remembered that on St Stephen's Day the young men of the neighbourhood, in holiday clothes trimmed with coloured ribbons, paraded the town carrying a furze bush with a wren secured in it.
Beating the lapstone No longer kept WiltshireAt Nettleton, near Burton, the shoemakers kept up a practical joke on the day after Christmas called beating the lapstone.
The Northumberland sword dancers Still kept NorthumberlandA correspondent of the Table Book, describing the miners of Northumberland, wrote that the old custom of sword dancing at Christmas was kept up there only by the pitmen.
No game laws on St Stephen’s Day No longer kept Northern EnglandIn the North, St Stephen's Day was given over to hunting and shooting by almost everyone.
No fasting on St Stephen’s even Lore and belief Northern EnglandA rhyme blessed St Stephen because nobody fasted on the eve of his day, which was Christmas Day itself.
Holly-beating on St Stephen’s Day No longer kept Pembrokeshire, WalesIn Wales anyone could whip anyone else's legs with holly on St Stephen's Day, and they often kept at it until the blood ran.

Bleeding the horses

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