Plucking the fen geese at Lady Day

25 March · Fens near Revesby, Lincolnshire

No longer kept

The great flocks of geese in the Lincolnshire fens had their first plucking of the year at Lady Day, for feathers and quills. Four more pluckings, for feathers only, followed before Michaelmas. Pennant watched one and saw that even goslings six weeks old had their tails plucked, to get them used to what was coming.

The geese are plucked five times in the year; the first plucking is at Lady-Day, for feathers and quills, and the same is renewed, for feathers only, four times more between that and Michaelmas.

From Pennant's Tours, A Tour in Scotland, 1769, p. 8. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

The Tichborne Dole Still kept HampshireThe story is that the dying Lady Mabella asked her husband, Sir Roger Tichborne, for a dole of bread to be given every Lady Day, and he promised her as much land as she could go round while a brand burned, thinking she could not go far.
My Lord in my Lady’s lap Lore and belief EnglandAn old rhyme warned that when Easter Day fell on or near Lady Day, 25 March, England would suffer some misfortune.
Pope Ladies at St Albans No longer kept HertfordshireSt Albans sold buns called Pope Ladies on Lady Day, baked in the shape of ladies.
Our Lady’s smock at Lady Day Lore and belief EnglandCuckoo flower was called Our Lady's smock because it first flowered about Lady Day, and its name was taken to recall the Virgin's garment in honour of the Annunciation.
Entering the fallows at Lady Day No longer kept EnglandIn the open-field champion country a new farmer could enter on all the fallow land at Lady Day, half a year before his Michaelmas entry.
When Easter falls on Lady Day Lore and belief WalesThe Welsh held it a very evil omen for Wales when Easter Day fell on 25 March, Lady Day.
Monday fasts when Lady Day falls on a Monday Lore and belief EnglandIn the late fifteenth century some people fasted on every Monday of the year when Lady Day, the feast of Our Lady in Lent, fell on a Monday, trusting such new-found fasts to save them from sudden death.

Plucking the fen geese at Lady Day

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