Hobthrust and the Fassen’s-eve cock

Shrove Tuesday · Northern England

Lore and belief

In some northern farmhouses a cock and bacon were boiled on Shrove Tuesday evening, and everyone was expected to eat their fill. Anyone who held back could expect a night visit from Hobthrust, a prankish local spirit, who would stuff him to the mouth with barley chaff. Brockett added that Grose thought the spirit haunted only woods.

In some farm-houses a cock and bacon are boiled on Fassen's-eve (Shrove Tueeday); and if any person neglect to eat heartily of this food, Hobthrust is sure to amuse himself at night with cramming him up to the mouth with bigg-chaff.

From Brockett's Glossary of North Country Words, p. 156. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

The Shrovetide ball and the bull-ring Still kept County DurhamIn a Durham town Hazlitt calls Sedgwick (Sedgefield), townspeople and country folk played a Shrovetide ball match.
Shrove Tuesday football at Dorking No longer kept SurreyDorking played football through its main streets every Shrove Tuesday, and shopkeepers barricaded their fronts for the afternoon.
Shrove Tuesday weddings at Kilrush No longer kept MunsterIn Kilrush Shrove Tuesday was the busiest wedding day of the year, and the Catholic priests were marrying couples from sunrise until midnight.
Leek pasties at Earls Barton No longer kept NorthamptonshireOn Shrove Tuesday the shoemakers of Earls Barton carried a chaff-cutter and a heap of leeks onto the village green and chopped them in public for leek pasties.
Crowdy and the ring in the Manx pancakes No longer kept Isle of ManOn the Isle of Man, crowdy was eaten for dinner on Shrove Tuesday instead of for breakfast, and supper was meat with a large pudding and pancakes.
Whemmeled on the muck-midden No longer kept Northern EnglandOn northern farms each servant, man or woman, had to fry and toss a pancake on Shrove Tuesday in order of seniority.
Pancakes from the church leads at Sheffield No longer kept YorkshireAt Sheffield, pancakes were said to be thrown from the church roofs on Shrove Tuesday as the clock struck twelve.
The Danes and the Shrove Tuesday cocks No longer kept EnglandThrowing at cocks on Shrove Tuesday was said to be revenge on the birds whose crowing had betrayed an English plot against the Danes.
Crying to Bacchus at Eton No longer kept BuckinghamshireOn Shrove Tuesday, as soon as the clock struck nine, every boy in Eton school yelled a Greek cry to Bacchus as loud as he could.
The victor of the Shrovetide cock-fight No longer kept West CountryOn Shrove Tuesday the schoolboy whose cock had beaten all the rest went through the streets in triumph, decked with ribbons.
Sown on Shrove Tuesday Lore and belief EnglandThe Book of Knowledge of 1703 held that whatever was planted or sown on Shrove Tuesday would always stay green.
Flowers, flowers, high-do No longer kept EnglandEllis noted that in some places at Shrovetide, if flowers could be found so early in the year, the younger children carried a small garland about to collect a few pence.
Great A, little A, this is pancake day No longer kept Northern EnglandIn parts of the north of England girls spent some of Shrove Tuesday playing battledore and shuttlecock, singing a rhyme as they played.
The football over Alnwick Castle wall Still kept NorthumberlandBrand was told, and saw for himself on 5 February 1788, that at Alnwick the town waits came playing to the castle at two o'clock every Shrove Tuesday.
The freshmen’s caudle at Merton No longer kept OxfordshireAnthony a Wood described how the freshmen of Merton College were put through their paces on Shrove Tuesday in 1647.
The pan’s hot No longer kept OxfordshireIn Oxfordshire the children went from door to door on Shrove Tuesday singing a shroving rhyme and begging for halfpence.
Dough-nut Day at Baldock No longer kept HertfordshireAt Baldock in Hertfordshire the children looked forward to Shrove Tuesday long beforehand and called it Dough-nut Day.
The noon bell at Newcastle No longer kept NorthumberlandAt Newcastle upon Tyne the great bell of St Nicholas's church was tolled at twelve o'clock on Shrove Tuesday.
Stoning the doors in Scilly No longer kept Isles of ScillyHeath's account of the Isles of Scilly says that every Shrove Tuesday, once the throwing at cocks was over, the island boys spent the evening throwing stones at the doors of the houses.
Cocks for the Poor Rate at Pinner No longer kept MiddlesexIn the hamlet of Pinner, by Harrow on the Hill, throwing at cocks on Shrove Tuesday was a parish occasion, and the money it raised went towards the poor rate: the accounts record twelve shillings received for cocks at Shrovetide in 1622.
Ringing the Pancake Bell in York Minster No longer kept YorkshireAt York it was an old custom that on Shrove Tuesday the apprentices, journeymen and servants of the city were free to go into the minster and ring the pancake bell.
Shrove Tuesday Weather Lore and belief EnglandThe Shepherd's Almanack of 1676 recorded two pieces of weather lore for Shrove Tuesday.
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.
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.
Fitz-Stephen’s Shrovetide No longer kept LondonThe earliest account of Shrovetide sport in England comes from William Fitz-Stephen, who died in 1191.
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.
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 Cock-penny No longer kept Ross and Cromarty, ScotlandCock-fighting was a regular Shrovetide sport, and in many schools it was sanctioned by the master, who took a small fee from each boy called the cock-penny.
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.
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 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.
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.
Lent Crocking No longer kept Dorset, WiltshireIn Dorset and Wiltshire boys went shroving in small bands, armed with the year's broken crockery.
Holly Boy and Ivy Girl No longer kept KentLate in the eighteenth century a Kentish village kept a Shrovetide custom in two halves.
Threshing the Hen No longer kept Cornwall, WalesA hen that had not laid before Shrove Tuesday was counted useless.
Barring Out the Master No longer kept CumberlandAt Fasten's Even the scholars of the free school at Bromfield claimed an old right to shut their master out for three days.
The Ba’ of Scone No longer kept PerthshireChambers knew of no place where Shrovetide football was played with more energy than Scone, near Perth.
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.

Hobthrust and the Fassen’s-eve cock

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