In a set of notes printed under 19 November, a correspondent signing himself Jehoiada recorded a wedding custom of the South Downs shepherds called lifting. The bride and bridegroom were carried round a flock of sheep on hurdles, seated on a fleece. Boys and girls played May horns made from sycamore bark as they went.
Lifting the shepherd’s bride
Printed under 19 November · South Downs, Sussex
No longer kept
The bride and bridegroom are carried round a flock of sheep; a fleece is put for their seat
From Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 2, col. 1562. Read the original
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