Shere Thursday

3 days before Easter · England

No longer kept

Maundy Thursday had an old English name, Shere Thursday, from the priests’ custom of shearing their hair on that day. Chambers notes it alongside the better known name, which came from the maunds or baskets of food given to the poor.

Another popular old name of the day in England is Shere Thursday, from the custom of shearing the hair which the priesthood used to observe.

From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 1, p. 411. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Pelting the target on Maundy Thursday No longer kept WalesOn Maundy Thursday Welsh schoolboys set up a target of wood or stone and pelted it with pebbles.
Rice and almonds for Shere Thursday at Barking Abbey No longer kept EssexThe nuns of Barking Abbey marked Shere Thursday, the day before Good Friday, with a special dish from the convent kitchen.
Pottage crosses over the byre on Maundy Thursday No longer kept Highlands, Ross and CromartyOn the Thursday before Easter a cross cut on a stick and dipped in pottage was set over each sheep-cot, stable and cow-house.
The royal maundy Still kept LondonOn Maundy Thursday the sovereign gave food, clothes and money to as many poor men and women as the years of the royal age, and once washed their feet as well.
Wolsey’s maundy at Peterborough No longer kept NorthamptonshireOn Maundy Thursday 1530 Cardinal Wolsey washed and kissed the feet of fifty-nine poor men in the Lady Chapel of Peterborough Abbey.
Too late for fooling at Skipton No longer kept YorkshireAt Skipton in Craven the young people had a set answer for anyone who tried to play a trick a day late.

Shere Thursday

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