The Inner Temple Christmas

26 December · Inner Temple, London

No longer kept

The lawyers of the Inner Temple kept Christmas with elaborate mock ceremony. On Christmas morning, after church, they breakfasted in hall on brawn, mustard and malmsey, and a boar’s head was carried in with minstrelsy at dinner. On St Stephen’s Day a constable marshal in gilt armour and a master of the game in green velvet petitioned the lord chancellor with speeches, and then a huntsman brought in a fox and a cat tied to a staff, which were set upon and killed by hounds beneath the fire. A Lord of Misrule then named his mock court, with such titles as Sir Morgan Mumchance, and ruled over the following days.

Then were the fox and cat set upon and killed by the dogs beneath the fire, to the no small pleasure of the spectators.

From Hone's Year Book, cols. 1512-1514; Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 1, cols. 1617-1618. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Bleeding the horses No longer kept EnglandIt was an old belief that on St Stephen's Day horses should be galloped hard and then bled, to keep them free of disease for the coming year.
Stephening No longer kept BuckinghamshireOn St Stephen's Day the whole parish of Drayton Beauchamp went to the rectory and claimed the right to as much bread, cheese and ale as they liked at the rector's expense.
The servants’ holiday at Chester No longer kept CheshireCheshire farm servants were hired from New Year's Eve to Christmas Day, and then took six or seven days off, leaving their masters to manage alone.
Christmas boxes Still kept England, LondonThe day after Christmas was called Boxing Day because tradesmen's boys, apprentices and servants went round the customers collecting money in their Christmas boxes.
Goose pies in the North Riding No longer kept YorkshireA memoir of Christmas in the North Riding of Yorkshire, printed in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1811, told how large goose pies were made on St Stephen's Day.
Hunting the wren at Middleton Still kept MunsterAn old woman of Middleton in County Cork remembered that on St Stephen's Day the young men of the neighbourhood, in holiday clothes trimmed with coloured ribbons, paraded the town carrying a furze bush with a wren secured in it.
Beating the lapstone No longer kept WiltshireAt Nettleton, near Burton, the shoemakers kept up a practical joke on the day after Christmas called beating the lapstone.
The Northumberland sword dancers Still kept NorthumberlandA correspondent of the Table Book, describing the miners of Northumberland, wrote that the old custom of sword dancing at Christmas was kept up there only by the pitmen.
No game laws on St Stephen’s Day No longer kept Northern EnglandIn the North, St Stephen's Day was given over to hunting and shooting by almost everyone.
No fasting on St Stephen’s even Lore and belief Northern EnglandA rhyme blessed St Stephen because nobody fasted on the eve of his day, which was Christmas Day itself.
Holly-beating on St Stephen’s Day No longer kept Pembrokeshire, WalesIn Wales anyone could whip anyone else's legs with holly on St Stephen's Day, and they often kept at it until the blood ran.

The Inner Temple Christmas

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