On Old Michaelmas Day young men in Hertfordshire met in the fields, chose a leader and had to follow him wherever he went, through ponds and ditches and over brake and briar. Anyone they met was picked up by the arms and bumped or swung against another person. Each publican gave a gallon of ale and plum cake, eaten out of doors. Hone, following Brand, says it was kept every seventh year.
Ganging Day
11 October · Hertfordshire
No longer kept
Every person they met was taken up by the arms and bumped, or swung against another. Each publican furnished a gallon of ale and plum-cake, which was consumed in the open air.
From Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 1, cols. 1374-1375. Read the original
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