Running round the haystack on St Mark’s night

24 April · Beverley, Yorkshire

Lore and belief

On St Mark’s night a Beverley woman ran nine times round a haystack with a ring in her hand to learn whether she would win the man she wanted. As she ran she called out a rhyme about the sheath and the knife, and on the ninth round she thought she saw him coming home. The charm came to light in a Chancery case, Barker v. Ray, in August 1827, when a witness repeated what Ann Johnson, called Nanny Nunks, had told her. The man in question did not come home that night, but was brought from the Blue Bell at Beverley the next day.

On St. Mark's night I ran round a haystack nine times, with a ring in my hand, calling out, 'Here's the sheath, but where's the knife?'

From Hone's Table Book, vol. 2, col. 159. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

The church-porch watchers of Burton Lore and belief LincolnshireIn the north of England it was believed that anyone who watched in the church porch from eleven till one on St Mark's Eve would see the ghosts of all who would be buried there in the coming year.
Joe Brown the church watcher Lore and belief YorkshireIn Yorkshire a watcher at the church door at midnight on St Mark's Eve, Old Style, was said to see the souls of all who would be buried there within the year go into the church in the order they would die, those to drown coming in splashing and struggling.
The dumb cake Lore and belief NorthamptonshireA correspondent near Peterborough told Hone that girls in his district still made the dumb cake on St Mark's Eve.
Riddling the ashes Lore and belief EnglandCottage families on St Mark's Eve sifted the ashes over the hearth-stone at night, hoping not to find in the morning the footprint of anyone who would die that year.
The Scarborough watcher who saw herself Lore and belief YorkshireAbout eighty years before Henderson wrote, an old woman kept the St Mark's Eve watch in the porch of St Mary's, Scarborough, to see who would die that year.
Riddling chaff at Malton Lore and belief YorkshireIn Yorkshire people riddled chaff at midnight in a barn with its doors thrown open, to learn whether they would die within the year.

Running round the haystack on St Mark’s night

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