The Northumberland sword dancers

26 December · Northumberland

Still kept

A 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. At that season they could always be seen with their fiddler, a band of swordsmen and the grotesquely dressed Tommy and Bessy, going through their annual round of warlike figures. Sword dancing, as rapper and longsword, is still danced in the north east of England.

The ancient custom of sword-dancing at Christmas is kept up in Northumberland, exclusively by these people.

From Hone's Table Book, vol. 1, p. 329. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

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.
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.
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.
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.
The Inner Temple Christmas No longer kept LondonThe lawyers of the Inner Temple kept Christmas with elaborate mock ceremony.
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.
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.
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.

The Northumberland sword dancers

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