Flitting Day

The 25th of May, the old Whitsunday term, was the day most Scots changed house, since houses were let by the year and tenants decided at Candlemas whether to sit or flit. Every outgoing tenant had to be out by noon, so the whole morning was a crush of carts, with furniture and bedding standing in the streets and the new tenant pressing at the door. Chambers says the family camped in the new house for a day before settling, and by the next Candlemas were often ready to move again.