Into the fields to see the sun dance

Easter Sunday · England

Lore and belief

Ordinary country people rose before the sun on Easter Day and walked out into the fields to see the sun dance, which an old tradition told them it always did that morning. Bourne doubted it had ever danced, but allowed the saying a figurative sense, the heavens rejoicing at the Resurrection on a clear morning. He praised rising early at Easter as an ancient and commendable custom if it was used for meditation rather than sightseeing.

It is a common Custom among the Vulgar and uneducated Part of the World, to rise before the Sun on Easter-day, and walk into the Fields: The Reason of which, is to see the Sun Dance

From Bourne's Antiquitates Vulgares, p. 188. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Veal and bacon at Easter No longer kept EnglandWhen Easter came the farmer's table went over from fish to veal and bacon.
Eostre, the goddess who gave Easter its name Lore and belief EnglandBede wrote that the English named Easter after Eostre, a goddess of their heathen forebears whose feasts were kept in April, called Eosturmonath after her.
A pennyworth of eggs at Easter in Sebergham No longer kept CumberlandAt Easter every tenant in Sebergham owed the parson a penny, or a pennyworth of eggs, instead of a tithe hen.
The Flaun at Nettleham No longer kept LincolnshireNettleham's village wake was held at Easter and called the Flaun, after the flauns, or cheesecakes, eaten there.
Easter eggs for the vicar of Clee No longer kept LincolnshireEvery Easter the parishioners of Clee gave their vicar a quantity of eggs collected round the parish.
Corn-showing at Easter No longer kept HerefordshireAt Easter the country people round Ross went corn-showing: parties went into the wheat to pick out the cockle, taking cake, cider and, as one informant put it, a yard of toasted cheese.
Chopping at the tree at University College No longer kept OxfordshireOn Easter Day a mock tree dressed with evergreens and flowers was set up on a turf by the buttery at University College, Oxford.
What the hares have laid No longer kept YorkshireThroughout Yorkshire coloured Easter eggs were hidden in little nests out of doors for the children to hunt, and see what eggs the "hares" had been laying.
Jauping paste-eggs Still kept NorthumberlandNewcastle boys spent Easter jauping their dyed paste-eggs, knocking one against another until a shell gave way.
The Easter sacrament ring Lore and belief BerkshireIn Berkshire it was a popular belief that a ring made from a silver coin given at the communion would cure convulsions and fits of every kind.
Dancing for the cake in Westmeath No longer kept LeinsterSir Henry Piers wrote in 1682 that in most parishes of Westmeath, on the patron day and at Easter and Whitsuntide, the country people met in the afternoon on a convenient spot near the alehouse to dance for the cake, with a piper always in attendance.
Sunshine at Easter and Whitsun Lore and belief EnglandAn old country saying held that the weather of Easter Day foretold that of Whit Sunday seven weeks later, so that if the sun shone at Easter it would shine at Whitsun too.
Clearing the winter hearth on God’s Sunday No longer kept EnglandMedieval sermon books say Easter Day was called in some places God's Sunday, and describe a household custom that went with it.
Little Devil Doubt and the pace-eggers Still kept Northern EnglandIn the north of England groups of lads went pace-egging at Easter, singing at doors for eggs and strong beer and promising not to come again until the next year.
Tansies at Easter No longer kept EnglandA tansy was a pudding or cake of eggs, cream and sugar flavoured with the young leaves of the herb tansy, and it was the dish of Easter.
Eggs and green sauce at Gray’s Inn No longer kept LondonDugdale records that the gentlemen of Gray's Inn who came to breakfast on Easter Day, after the service and communion, were given eggs and green sauce.
Buckles and spurs at Ripon No longer kept YorkshireA Yorkshire clergyman told Brand that on Easter Sunday the young men of the villages took the girls' shoe buckles, and on Easter Monday the young women took the men's shoes and buckles in return.
New clothes for Easter Still kept Dorset, EnglandEveryone was supposed to wear at least one new thing on Easter Day, or have no luck all year.
The red herring on horseback No longer kept OxfordshireIt was said that at Queen's College, Oxford, the first dish brought to table on Easter Day was a red herring riding away on horseback.
Sugar-cupping at Dropping Tor No longer kept DerbyshireNear Tideswell in the Peak, children and young people used to go on Easter Sunday to the Dropping Tor, a spring that dripped from the rock.
The Twickenham Easter cakes No longer kept MiddlesexTwickenham once divided two great cakes among its young people in church on Easter Day.
The Lostwithiel prince No longer kept CornwallEach Easter Sunday the freeholders of Lostwithiel chose one of their number in turn to play a prince.
The sun dancing on Easter morning Lore and belief England, IrelandIn the middle districts of Ireland a fat hen or some bacon was put in the pot on the evening of Holy Saturday, and nobody dared taste it before cock-crow.
Pace eggs Still kept Cheshire, Lancashire, ScotlandThe pace or pasch egg, once given at Easter all over Christendom, was still handed out by children and country people in Lancashire in Chambers's day.

Into the fields to see the sun dance

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